The 25 Strongest Auto Insurers

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The 25 most financially sound auto insurers have at least one thing in common: A dedication to conservative underwriting and investment practices that have positioned them well in the economic downturn.

TheStreet.com Ratings recently completed its quarterly review of the financial strength of auto insurance companies, identifying 25 widely available companies worthy of an "excellent" financial strength rating of A+, A, or A-. The companies on the list are those that had total annual premium volume in 2007 (the most recent full-year data available) of $100 million or more, indicating that they offer coverage in several states.

TheStreet.com Ratings determines the financial strength of an insurance company through measuring a company's performance over time in many areas, including capitalization, profitability, reserve adequacy, liquidity and stability of operations. Insurers with the highest financial strength ratings are those with conservative underwriting practices that accurately price the risks they assume and set aside a sufficient amount of reserves to pay future claims while consistently earning profits to build capital.

High-rated companies may suffer problems during difficult economic times, but because of their historically sound practices, they have the capital built up to withstand tough times.

25 Strongest Auto Insurers Company Domicile State TheStreet.com Financial Strength Rating 2007 Annual Auto Premium ($Mil) UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASN Texas A+ 3,256.0 USAA CASUALTY INS CO Texas A+ 2,121.9 INTERINS EXCH OF THE AUTOMOBILE CLUB Calif. A+ 1,841.8 MERCURY INS CO Calif. A 1,360.2 AUTO-OWNERS INS CO Mich. A 866.4 COUNTRY MUTUAL INS CO Ill. A 466.1 HOME-OWNERS INS CO Mich. A 437.7 KENTUCKY FARM BUREAU MUTUAL INS CO Ky. A 424.6 DAIRYLAND INS CO Wis. A 345.5 FRANKENMUTH MUTUAL INS CO Mich. A 129.0 ALLSTATE INS CO Ill. A- 7,649.6 CALIFORNIA STATE AUTO ASN INTER-INS Calif. A- 1,504.0 CINCINNATI INS CO Ohio A- 760.4 MERCURY CASUALTY CO Calif. A- 566.4 SOUTHERN FARM BUREAU CAS INS CO Miss. A- 566.4 TENNESSEE FARMERS MUTUAL INS CO Tenn. A- 501.5 OWNERS INS CO Ohio A- 476.1 GRANGE MUTUAL CAS CO Ohio A- 441.7 NORTH CAROLINA FARM BU MUTUAL INS CO N.C. A- 418.5 FARM BUREAU MUTUAL INS CO Iowa A- 374.1 AMERICAN NATIONAL PROPERTY & CAS CO Miss. A- 321.9 UNITED FARM FAMILY MUTUAL INS CO Ind. A- 266.2 STATE FARM CTY MUTUAL INS CO OF TX Texas A- 203.7 USAA GENERAL INDEMNITY CO Texas A- 192.6 COOPERATIVA D SEGUROS MULTIPLES D PR P.R. A- 133.1 A=Excellent; B=Good; C=Fair; D=Weak; E=Very Weak

The top two insurers on our list, United Services Automobile Association and USAA Casualty Insurance Co., are not household names, but reach a sizable amount of customers. While they only sell coverage to those in the military and their families, memberships are for life -- meaning the child of a current or former military person who joins can go on to cover spouses and children, and so forth. The club gets pretty big as evidenced by the $5.3 billion in premiums these two companies collected in 2007, plus the additional $193 million in premiums collected by USAA General Indemnity, further down on the list.