Mercury General Corp.  

(323) 937-1060

4484 Wilshire Boulevard

Los Angeles, California 90010
www.mercuryinsurance.com

Sales

$2.3 billion

Business Description

Mercury General Corporation (“Mercury General”) and its subsidiaries (collectively, the “Company”) are engaged primarily in writing all risk classifications of automobile insurance in a number of states, principally California. During 2003, private passenger automobile insurance and commercial automobile insurance accounted for 87.4% and 4.0%, respectively, of the Company’s total gross premiums written. The percentage of gross automobile insurance premiums written during 2003 by state was 84.0% in California, 7.2% in Florida, 4.5% in Texas, 1.2% in Oklahoma, 0.9% in Illinois, 0.8% in Georgia and 1.4% in all other states. The Company also writes homeowners insurance, mechanical breakdown insurance, commercial and dwelling fire insurance and commercial property insurance. The non-automobile lines of insurance accounted for 8.6% of gross written premiums in 2003, of which approximately 12% was in commercial lines.

The Company offers automobile policyholders the following types of coverage: bodily injury liability, underinsured and uninsured motorist, personal injury protection, property damage liability, comprehensive, collision and other hazards. The Company’s published maximum limits of liability for bodily injury are $250,000 per person, $500,000 per accident and, for property damage, $250,000 per accident. Subject to special underwriting approval, the combined policy limits may be as high as $1,000,000 for vehicles written under the Company’s commercial automobile plan. However, under the majority of the Company’s automobile policies, the limits of liability are equal to or less than $100,000 per person, $300,000 per accident and $50,000 for property damage.

In 2003, all of the Company’s subsidiaries actively writing insurance, except American Mercury Insurance Company (“AMI”) and American Mercury Lloyds Insurance Company (“AML”), maintained a rating of A+ (Superior) by A.M. Best & Co. (“A.M. Best”). This is the second highest of the fifteen rating categories in the A.M. Best rating system, which range from A++ (Superior) to F (In Liquidation). Each of AMI and AML, which accounted for approximately 5% of the Company’s 2003 net written premiums, maintained an A.M. Best rating of A- (Excellent).

The principal executive offices of Mercury General are located in Los Angeles, California. The home office of its California insurance subsidiaries and the Company’s computer and operations center is located in Brea, California. During 2003, the Company opened a new 130,000 square foot office building in Rancho Cucamonga, California which is used to support the Company’s recent growth and future expansion. The Company maintains branch offices in a number of locations in California as well as branch offices in Richmond, Virginia, Latham, New York, Vernon Hills, Illinois, Atlanta, Georgia, Clearwater, Florida, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio, Texas. The Company has approximately 3,800 employees.

Business Insurance -  Category Directory