Archive for February, 2010

Erie Insurance Works with Red Cross for Haiti Relief

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

Erie Insurance Group has been providing insurance services in Pennsylvania since 1925.  They work in many eastern states offering personal auto, life, & property insurance as well as commercial coverage, annuities, and reinsurance.  Since 2000, Erie Insurance has had a partnership with the Erie chapter of the American Red Cross.  The “Serving Together” program has provided relief efforts and services to tsunami victims in southern Asia and eastern Africa, 9/11 charities, and Hurricane Katrina victims in recent years.  Erie Insurance and the Red Cross are partnering again to provide International relief to Haiti in the wake of their devastating earthquake.

The president and CEO of Erie Insurance, Terry Cavanaugh, said that their response to the Haiti disaster came directly from employees searching for a way in which they could help Haitians.  Erie decided to match their employees’ and agents’ donations up to $100,000, in addition to making a corporate donation to the Haiti Relief Fund.  When you compare car insurance companies with Erie Insurance, one can only hope that they offer as much to the community as Erie does.  As one of the top 20 auto and property/casualty insurers in the United States, Erie Insurance has a good balance of business practices with corporate responsibility to the communities they serve and beyond.

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Mercury Insurance Chairman Talks Prop 17

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

Proposition 17 will be on California voters’ ballots in June, according to Steve Lopez of the Los Angeles Times.  Lopez sat down with the Chairman of Mercury Insurance, George Joseph, for his article “Talking car insurance with Mercury’s top man.”  Joseph is bankrolling Prop 17 because he says it is in the best interest of California drivers.   While Mercury often gets bad press in California, they offer customers low rates and have been the leading independent car insurance broker in California for nearly 50 years.  Maybe the bad press comes from competitors’ attacks?  As a Mercury Insurance customer, Lopez wanted to talk with Mr. Joseph to get his side.

Proposition 17 would offer loyalty discounts to customers even when they switch companies.  If a good customer was insured through Bristol West Car Insurance for years and switched to Mercury Insurance, or vice verse, they could retain their customer loyalty discount.  This sounds like a great advantage for California drivers, but Mercury adversary Consumer Watchdog believes differently.  The company  said that along with that small discount to some consumers would come large increases for others.  They believe that a lot more uninsured drivers would be on the road because of the surcharges that would be implemented for drivers who do not have the industry standard ‘perfect’ records.  This battle will remain strong until the vote in June.

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Winter Storm May Effect Allmerica Car Insurance

Friday, February 12th, 2010

According to the Associated Press‘ “Latest storm sets record in DC, Baltimore,” Nafeesa Syeed says that Washington DC and Baltimore have just had their snowiest winter on record.  The airports in both cities had measured snow amounts greater than previous records as of Wednesday, February 10 and winter is not nearly over yet.  Roads on the east coast were just treacherous, from Baltimore to New York City.  With all of the accidents, including a fifty car pile-up in Pennsylvania, insurance companies will be working overtime.  Allmerica car insurance holds a strong presence in the northeast and could be hit hard with insurance claims.

With five feet of snow on the ground in many eastern states, many people have been holed up at home.  Grocery stores haven’t been restocked because many roads were impassible.  Even snow plow drivers had to pull to the side of the road at points because they couldn’t get through the snow.  The Governor of Pennsylvania actually closed off portions of some highways because travel on them was too dangerous.  As many businesses closed for days, including the federal government, some major cities were nearly vacant.  Hundreds of flights were canceled at all the major airports as well.  With the northeast finally digging out from these two huge back to back storms, cities like Washington DC and Baltimore are hoping for some weather relief.

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Farmers Auto Insurance Gets a New VP & Chief Underwriting Officer

Thursday, February 4th, 2010

According to dBusinessNews, Farmers auto insurance has a new VP.  In “Susan Bithell Named Farmers Insurance and Chief Underwriting Officer,” Bithell’s new position and qualifications are summarized.  Farmers Insurance is based in Los Angeles but operates in forty-one states.  They are the third-largest seller of private car insurance and homeowners insurance.  Bithell’s new position “will oversee the continued alignment of the company’s underwriting strategy, processes and methodology across a number of business units.”

In 1983 Susan Bithell started working for Farmers Insurance as an auto underwriter.  The next year she started moved to their regional marketing department and worked in several different positions.  After a promotion in 1991, Bithell took over the home office position of Zone Life Marketing Manager.  Throughout the 1990′s Bithell moved up farther in the company then began the new position of Director of Customer Advocacy in 2000.  After a decade out in the field operations in Nevada and Washington, Bithell returns to Farmers Insurance with great analytical skills and years of field experience that will be important in her new position.

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