Mercury General

Last updated
Mercury General
Company type Public
NYSE:  MCY
S&P 600 Component
IndustryInsurance
Founded1960
Headquarters4484 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, California
Key people
Gabriel Tirador, CEO & President, George Joseph, Founder & Chairman
RevenueDecrease2.svgUS$3.380 billion (2018) [1] [2]
Decrease2.svgUS$30.61 million (2018) [2]
Decrease2.svgUS$5.728 million (2018) [2]
Total assets Increase2.svgUS$5.433 billion (2018) [2]
Total equity Decrease2.svgUS$1.617 billion (2018) [2]
Owner George Joseph and family (35.3%) [3]
Number of employees
4,300 [4]  (2017)
Website www.mercuryinsurance.com

Mercury General Corporation is a multiple-line insurance organization that offers personal automobile, homeowners, renters, and business insurance. Founded in 1961 and located in Los Angeles, Mercury has assets of over $4 billion, [5] employs 4,500 people, and more than 8,000 independent agents in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Texas, and Virginia. [5]

Contents

Mercury's primary focus is automobiles and homeowners' insurance. However, the company also writes personal liability policies (umbrella), business insurance, mechanical breakdown protection (similar to an extended warranty for vehicles), renters, service line protection, home systems protection, identity management protection and ride-hailing insurance. [6]

History

Mercury was founded by George Joseph, who flew 50 World War II missions over Africa and Italy as a navigator before graduating from Harvard on the G.I. Bill in 1949. Joseph then spent more than a decade in the insurance industry before founding Mercury Insurance in 1961 as a low-cost alternative to larger insurance companies. [7]

Mercury General Corp, which consisted of six employees, sold its first policy April 1, 1962. [8]

Mercury's California expansion began in 1964 with the opening of its first Orange County office. [9] Two years later, the company spread into the San Fernando Valley and also began operations in San Diego. Mercury offices opened in Northern California by 1968. [10]

Mercury wrote $1 million in premiums every month by 1970 and sold its first homeowners policy in 1972. In 1973, the company celebrated its 10th consecutive year of revenue growth. [10] The newly created Mercury Insurance Company wrote its first auto policy in 1977. [10]

In 1989, Mercury began expansion outside of California, opening offices in Georgia and Illinois. [11]

The company insured more than 1 million vehicles in California by 1998. [10] This led to further expansion to Florida in 1998, New York in 2001, and Virginia in 2001. [10]

Forbes listed Mercury Insurance on its “100 Most Trustworthy Companies” in 2012 [12] “America’s 50 Most Trusted Financial Companies” in 2014, [13] 2015 [14] and 2016. It has been rated A “Excellent” by insurance industry rating agencies A.M. Best and Fitch. [15]

In 2017, the company was named a “Top Five Best Auto Insurance Company” by Insure.com, who surveyed more than 3,700 U.S. insurance customers on the criteria of “customer service,” “claims handling,” “pricing,” “plans to renew current policy,” and “would recommend the insurer.” [16] Additionally, Mercury Insurance was named one of “America’s Best Midsize Employers” by Forbes in 2017. [17]

Mercury is currently led by president and CEO Gabriel Tirador, with Joseph being chairman of the board. [18]

Products

Personal auto insurance – Mercury provides liability, collision, comprehensive, medical, personal injury protection, uninsured/underinsured motorist, rental car reimbursement, and roadside assistance. [19] [20]

Homeowners insurance – A policy specifically tailored to individual needs for single-family homes that includes the structure, belongings and liability coverage. It may also provide additional living expenses if policyholders are forced to vacate their homes due to a covered loss or peril. [21]

Renters insurance – Renters insurance provides coverage for personal property and liability protection. It also covers temporary living expenses should one's property become uninhabitable due to a covered loss or peril. [22]

Condo insurance – Specifically designed for condo owners, these policies provide coverage for personal property, liability protection, guest medical protection, and condo unit additions and alterations. It also covers temporary living expenses should one's property become uninhabitable due to a covered loss or peril. [23]

Umbrella insurance – Additional liability protection for personal auto and/or homeowners in the event losses exceed the underlying policy's liability limits. [24]

Dwelling fire insurance – A policy specifically designed for landlords to protect rental properties – providing coverage for the structure, contents and general liability. Should the property become uninhabitable due to a covered loss or peril, fair rental value will be provided for lost rents until the property is livable again.

Business auto insurance – Provides protection for individuals, sole proprietorships, partnerships and corporations with vehicles that are used for business purposes. [25]

Business insurance – Three different policies – Business Owners Policies (BOPs), Commercial Property, and Commercial Liability – that protect various aspects of a business. The most common policy coverages include liability, medical, building coverage, business personal property and business income.

Mechanical protection – Commonly referred to as extended warranty coverage, Mercury's mechanical protection pays for covered vehicle repairs after the vehicle manufacturer's warranty expires. Certain benefits are also available during the vehicle manufacturer's warranty period. [26]

Ride-hailing insurance – An endorsement to Mercury's personal auto policy that covers the gaps between auto insurance and a ridesharing company's commercial insurance coverage when the driver working for a ridesharing company turns on the ride-hailing app.

Service line protection – An endorsement to a homeowner's policy that covers damage to exterior underground service lines, which includes water piping, sewer lines, power lines and more. [27]

Home systems protection – An endorsement to a homeowner's policy that covers HVAC systems, appliances, electronics and more. [28]

Identity management protection – An endorsement to a homeowner, condo or renters' policy that help protect a person's identity from fraud. [29]

Mercury Insurance Blog

Mercury Insurance helps educate consumers about insurance by publishing insurance articles on its blog. The articles discuss a variety of topics, including: how insurance protects homeowners, renters and their property, how to save money and reduce debt through proper budgeting; insurance considerations surrounding weather events; how to prepare for and handle natural disasters; insurance claim instructions; advice on finding the insurance deals and coverage options; instructions on how to protect personal property while away on extended trips; and articles promoting financial literacy. The blog also features lifestyle pieces, covering subjects such as travel, technology, parenting and teen driving. [30]

Driver safety program

Mercury Insurance created the Drive Safe Challenge [31] in 2016 to help promote teen driver safety. It began as a collaboration between Mercury Insurance, the Anaheim Ducks and the California Highway Patrol in Anaheim, [32] and has since expanded to Florida through a partnership with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Tampa Police Department. [33] The program has also been broadened to include drivers 55 and older to help improve their driving skills.

The Drive Safe Challenge includes an interactive classroom session and behind-the-wheel training to teach drivers of all ages the necessary skills to help them stay safe while driving. Participants learn collision avoidance tactics, car-handling, maneuvering on slippery surfaces, emergency braking maneuvers and more.

Mercury has also developed a free online extension that includes interactive tools, quizzes, driving safety information and discussion topics to help parents prepare their children for driving. [34]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Insurance</span> Equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another in exchange for payment

Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to protect against the risk of a contingent or uncertain loss.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vehicle insurance</span> Insurance for road vehicles

Vehicle insurance is insurance for cars, trucks, motorcycles, and other road vehicles. Its primary use is to provide financial protection against physical damage or bodily injury resulting from traffic collisions and against liability that could also arise from incidents in a vehicle. Vehicle insurance may additionally offer financial protection against theft of the vehicle, and against damage to the vehicle sustained from events other than traffic collisions, such as keying, weather or natural disasters, and damage sustained by colliding with stationary objects. The specific terms of vehicle insurance vary with legal regulations in each region.

Home insurance, also commonly called homeowner's insurance, is a type of property insurance that covers a private residence. It is an insurance policy that combines various personal insurance protections, which can include losses occurring to one's home, its contents, loss of use, or loss of other personal possessions of the homeowner, as well as liability insurance for accidents that may happen at the home or at the hands of the homeowner within the policy territory.

In law, a warranty is an expressed or implied promise or assurance of some kind. The term's meaning varies across legal subjects. In property law, it refers to a covenant by the grantor of a deed. In insurance law, it refers to a promise by the purchaser of an insurance about the thing or person to be insured.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Property insurance</span> Insurance that protects against most risks to property

Property insurance provides protection against most risks to property, such as fire, theft and some weather damage. This includes specialized forms of insurance such as fire insurance, flood insurance, earthquake insurance, home insurance, or boiler insurance. Property is insured in two main ways—open perils and named perils.

Liability insurance is a part of the general insurance system of risk financing to protect the purchaser from the risks of liabilities imposed by lawsuits and similar claims and protects the insured if the purchaser is sued for claims that come within the coverage of the insurance policy.

Personal injury protection (PIP) is an extension of car insurance available in some U.S. states that covers medical expenses and, in some cases, lost wages and other damages. PIP is sometimes referred to as "no-fault" coverage, because the statutes enacting it are generally known as no-fault laws, and PIP is designed to be paid without regard to "fault," or more properly, legal liability. That is, even if the person seeking PIP coverage caused the accident, they are entitled to make a claim under the PIP portion of their policy. "No-Fault" does not mean that insurance premium of the person making the claim will not increase. Typically a PIP claim is made by the insured driver to their own insurance company, however, there are several exceptions that allow persons who have been injured in an accident to make a PIP claim if they do not own a vehicle. The particular state law and policy language of the insurer should be reviewed to see what exceptions exist in that state.

Extended coverage is a term used in the property insurance business. All insurance policies have exclusions for specific causes of loss that are not covered by the insurance company. An extended coverage endorsement (EC) was a common extension of property insurance beyond coverage for fire and lightning. Extended coverage added insurance against loss by the perils of windstorm, hail, explosion, civil commotion, riot and riot attending a strike, aircraft damage, vehicle damage, and smoke damage.

The California Earthquake Authority (CEA), established in September 1996 by the California Legislature following the Northridge Earthquake, is a privately financed, publicly managed entity based in Sacramento, California.

Damage waiver(DW) or, as it is often referred to, collision damage waiver (CDW) or loss damage waiver (LDW) is a term that can be included or purchased as an option in a car rental agreement, by which the rental company waives the right to pursue compensation from the renter if the vehicle is damaged or stolen. Although it involves a transfer of risk, a damage waiver option is not insurance but instead a modification to the basic rental contract.

Umbrella insurance is a kind of liability insurance. It typically applies when liability exceeds the limits of other policies, although it may also serve as primary insurance for losses not covered by other policies.

Expatriate insurance policies are designed to cover financial and other losses incurred by expatriates while living and working in a country other than one's own.

TruStage Financial Group, Inc., formerly known as CUNA Mutual Group, is a mutual insurance company that provides financial services to cooperatives, credit unions, their members, and other customers worldwide. TruStage Financial Group sells commercial and consumer insurance and protection products. TruStage Financial Group provides retirement plan services to small businesses and credit union employees. The Madison, Wisconsin-based company also provides auto, home, life and loan protection products to credit union members through its TruStage brand.

Renters' insurance, often called tenants' insurance, is an insurance policy that provides some of the benefits of homeowners' insurance, but does not include coverage for the dwelling, or structure, with the exception of small alterations that a tenant makes to the structure. It provides liability insurance and the tenant's personal property is covered against named perils such as fire, theft, and vandalism. It also pays expenses when the dwelling becomes uninhabitable. Due to renters' insurance existing mainly to protect against losses to the tenant's personal property and provide them with liability coverage but not to insure the actual dwelling, it is significantly less expensive than a homeowners' policy.The owner of the building is responsible for insuring the dwelling itself but bears no responsibility for the tenant's belongings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armed Forces Insurance</span>

Armed Forces Insurance (AFI) is a reciprocal insurance exchange that provides property and casualty insurance to military professionals throughout the United States and overseas. AFI is headquartered in Leavenworth, Kansas, approximately 20 miles northwest of Kansas City, Missouri.

NJM Insurance Group is an American mutual insurance group of companies, offering personal auto, commercial auto, workers' compensation, homeowners, condo, renters, and umbrella insurance. It is headquartered in the West Trenton section of Ewing Township, Mercer County, New Jersey, and serves markets in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

Vehicle insurance in the United States is designed to cover the risk of financial liability or the loss of a motor vehicle that the owner may face if their vehicle is involved in a collision that results in property or physical damage. Most states require a motor vehicle owner to carry some minimum level of liability insurance. States that do not require the vehicle owner to carry car insurance include Virginia, where an uninsured motor vehicle fee may be paid to the state, New Hampshire, and Mississippi, which offers vehicle owners the option to post cash bonds. The privileges and immunities clause of Article IV of the U.S. Constitution protects the rights of citizens in each respective state when traveling to another. A motor vehicle owner typically pays insurers a monthly or yearly fee, often called an insurance premium. The insurance premium a motor vehicle owner pays is usually determined by a variety of factors including the type of covered vehicle, marital status, credit score, whether the driver rents or owns a home, the age and gender of any covered drivers, their driving history, and the location where the vehicle is primarily driven and stored. Most insurance companies will increase insurance premium rates based on these factors, and less frequently, offer discounts.

Encompass Insurance is a subsidiary of Allstate Corporation and is one of the largest personal property and casualty insurance brands sold through a network of more than 6,500 independent agent locations across the United States. The company that would become Encompass was founded in 1897 and officially became the Encompass Insurance Company in the 1990s. The company has its headquarters in Northfield Township, Illinois, near Northbrook, Illinois.

A business owner's policy is a special type of commercial insurance designed for small and medium-sized businesses. BOPs are cost-effective and convenient for business owners, as they provide comprehensive protection against common risks like property damage, lawsuits, and income loss due to unforeseen events. By bundling general liability insurance and property insurance into a single policy, BOPs typically offer a reduced premium, often making them a more cost-effective option than separately purchased policies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Connect (insurance company)</span> American insurance company, subsidiary of American Family Insurance

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References

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