This article takes a detailed look at a list of car insurance companies.
The first company we’ll look at is Farmers Insurance. They were founded in 1927 and have assets of $10 billion. Their financial position is rated between good and very strong by financial rating companies. In 2003, they were ranked as the worst for problems with claims and delayed payments by Consumer Reports but by 2006, they had gained the rank of “most improved.” Farmers also owns 21st Century Insurance.
Allstate Insurance is the largest publicly held insurer in the United States. They have revenues of almost $30 billion. Both Business Week Magazine and CNN have criticized Allstate for denying policyholders legitimate benefits.
AIG Casualty – the American Insurance Group – was actually founded in Shanghai, China in 1919. They’re now located in New York City and have revenues of almost $30 billion. AIG was hit badly in the 2008 financial crisis and has yet to recover its full strength. It was one of the companies that was helped by the government bailout. AIG is the principle sponsor of the Manchester United football team.
Next in our list of car insurance companies is Nationwide. Nationwide is a mutual insurance company founded in 1926. It has revenues of just over $25 billion per year. It started by offering auto insurance exclusively to Ohio farmers. Later, they offered services to farmers in bordering states. Only in 1934 did they offer services to the general public. Nationwide is seen as a very diverse company and supports many gay and African American causes.
Liberty Mutual is a truly international insurance group owning all or parts of property insurance companies in places from Argentina to Vietnam. The company was founded in 1912 and has revenues of nearly $30 billion. Liberty Mutual runs a research institute for safety which conducts field and laboratory studies to make the workplace safer.
Focusing primarily on Car insurance, Progressive is seen as a leader in adapting technology to streamline the insurance process and cut down on overhead costs. They were the first to accept insurance sales over the phone and were also an early adapter in the web arena. Progressive has been embroiled in controversy over whether they directed their policy holders to make repairs at unlicensed shops.
No list of car insurance companies would be final without a word about GEICO whose Gecko has launched the company into a household word and been spoofed on t.v. shows like David Letterman. The company started by offering insurance solely to government employees but now sells to everyone. They are wholly owned by Berkshire Hathaway (which in turn is owned by Warren Buffet.)
There are other insurance companies of course, but these are the major players that deserve to be included on any list of car insurance companies.
