Top 30 Auto Insurers Ranked

U. S. auto property writers took a hit in the second quarter of 2011, thanks to tornadoes and thunderstorms in the South and Midwest.

According to SNL Insurance, an SNL Financial company, the industry loss ratio, before consideration of reinsurance, climbed to 70.6 percent, the industry's second worst performance since 2001. This loss ratio also outpaced the loss ratios of 58.1 percent and 56.2 percent for the 2010 and 2009 second quarters, respectively. The industry premium remained essentially flat, decreasing just 0.2 percent from the 2010 second quarter.*

State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., the largest U.S. auto writer, experienced a direct loss ratio of 86.3 percent for auto physical damage, approximately 2,000 basis points higher than the loss ratios reported for the previous two second quarters. State Farm writes almost a quarter of all auto physical damage premium in the tornado-affected states of Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri and Oklahoma, more than the next three largest writers combined, notes SNL.

The rest of the top overall writers — Allstate Corp., Berkshire Hathaway Inc. — including GEICO Corp., Progressive Corp. and Zurich Financial Services Ltd. — including 21st Century and Farmers Group Inc. — all saw their loss ratios increase compared to the second quarter of 2010, though these increases were smaller than that experienced by State Farm.

Travelers Cos. Inc., Erie Indemnity Co., Southern Far Bureau Casualty Insurance Group and State Auto Financial Corp. also saw hits to their loss ratios. Southern Farm Bureau is a regional insurer that wrote 26percent of its private auto business in Mississippi in 2010, producing considerable exposure to the April 27 tornadoes in Smithville and Greensburg, Miss., as well as other damaging storms in the Southeastern U.S.

Not all of the top auto carriers were exposed to the tornadoes. Mercury General Corp., Fundacion MAPFRE, Auto Club Insurance Association Group, Hanover Insurance Group Inc. and New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance Co. are all regional writers whose auto business experienced minimal or no impact from the tornadoes that affected most of the industry.

However, while Hanover experienced only a 55.8 percent loss ratio for its auto physical damage business for the quarter, according to SNL, the homeowners report shows a statutory loss ratio of 99.5 percent for the company. Hanover disclosed in its second-quarter Form 10-Q a GAAP loss ratio for homeowners of 105.6 percent, including catastrophe losses representing 58.8 percent of premium for the quarter.

For a complete listing of the top 50 carriers, click here.

*This analysis ranks SNL-defined groups, which represent aggregations of individual filers within a given company's corporate structure, as well as companies independent of any group.