Profile: Mercury General Corporation (MCY)

Mercury General Corporation (Mercury General) and its subsidiaries are engaged primarily in writing automobile insurance principally in California. The Company also writes homeowners, mechanical breakdown, commercial and dwelling fire, and commercial property insurance. The types of coverage offered by the Company to automobile policyholders include bodily injury liability, underinsured and uninsured motorist, personal injury protection, property damage liability, comprehensive, collision and other hazards. During the year ended December 31, 2008, private passenger automobile insurance and commercial automobile insurance accounted for 83.7% and 3.9%, respectively, of the Company’s total direct premiums written. On January 1, 2009, the Company’s subsidiary Mercury Casualty Company (MCC) acquired AIS Management LLC, a parent company of Auto Insurance Specialists, LLC (AIS) and PoliSeek AIS Insurance Solutions, Inc.

The Company's insurance operations are conducted through its insurance company subsidiaries, which include Mercury Casualty Company (MCC), Mercury Insurance Company (MIC), California Automobile Insurance Company (CAIC), California General Underwriters Insurance Company (CGU), Mercury Insurance Company of Illinois (MIC IL), Mercury Insurance Company of Georgia (MIC GA), Mercury Indemnity Company of Georgia (MID GA), Mercury National Insurance Company (MNIC), American Mercury Insurance Company (AMI), American Mercury Lloyds Insurance Company (AML), Mercury County Mutual Insurance Company (MCM), Mercury Insurance Company of Florida (MIC FL) and Mercury Indemnity Company of America (MIDAM). The Company sells its policies through approximately 4,700 independent agents and brokers, of which approximately 1,000 are located in each of California and Florida. The remainders are located in Georgia, Illinois, Texas, Oklahoma, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada and Michigan.

The Company sets its own automobile insurance premium rates, subject to rating regulations issued by the Department of Insurance or similar governmental agency of the applicable states. In states outside of California, the Company offers non-standard, standard and preferred private passenger automobile insurance. Private passenger automobile policies in force for non-California operations represented approximately 20% of total private passenger automobile policies in force at December 31, 2008. In addition, the Company offers mechanical breakdown insurance in many states outside of California and homeowners insurance in Florida, Illinois, Oklahoma, New York, Georgia and Texas.