2013 State Specialist P/C Insurers Revealed

State Specialists are often an independent agent’s most reliable and consistent market. These companies are focused on a specific geographic area, understand it and consistently strive to serve it.

The Demotech Company Classifi-cation System categorizes insurers into one of 11 categories based on an analysis of data reported by the companies to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). The 11 categories that comprise the system are: Nationals, Near Nationals, Super Regionals, Regionals, State Specialists, Coverage Specialists, Strategic Subsidiaries, Risk Retention Groups, Surplus Lines Carriers, Reinsurers and Companies with less than $1 million in direct written premium.

To be categorized as a State Specialist, a carrier must be an individual, active company reporting data to the NAIC using the property/casualty annual statement format at Dec. 31, 2012. It must report at least $1 million in direct written premium at Dec. 31, 2012, with 90 percent or more in one state. Further, it cannot be a surplus lines company, risk retention group or reinsurance company.

In total, 766 companies were categorized as State Specialists for 2013. This is more than 28 percent of the 2,716 companies that were classified based on Dec. 31, 2012, data. State Specialists wrote more than $72 billion of direct written premium, which was 14 percent of the industry’s direct written premium in 2012.

When examining the state of specialty of the 2013 State Specialists, Texas had the most companies, with 99. Florida was next with 82, followed by New York with 72, California with 55 and New Jersey with 50. When looking at the line of business mix, 46 percent of the State Specialists’ 2012 direct written premium was private passenger auto. More than 24 percent was homeowners multiple peril and nearly 9 percent of was workers’ compensation.

Space limitations precluded an enumeration of each of the 766 State Specialists. The accompanying list includes the 296 State Specialists that were not affiliated with a group at Dec. 31, 2012. A full list is available by contacting bkoestler@demotech.com.

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