State Farm Group maintains lead among insurers.

No. 2 Farmers, No. 3 Allstate write fewer premiums

State Farm Group, the nation's largest insurance company, again tops The List of the 25 largest property-casualty insurers in Los Angeles County, as ranked by 1992 statewide property-casualty premium volume (see opposite page).

Bloomington, Ill.-based State Farm increased its market share slightly in 1992, writing 11.3 percent of the state's property/casualty premium compared to 10.9 percent in 1991.

State Farm, which covers the Los Angeles market through its regional Westlake Village and Costa Mesa offices, wrote $3.647 billion worth of premiums in 1992. compared with $3.520 billion in 1991, an increase of 3 percent, according to The List

Meanwhile, the No. 2 and No. 3 insurers, Los Angeles-based Farmers Insurance Group of Cos. and Allstate Insurance Group of Northbrook, Ill., respectively, both reported a decline in premium written in 1992, compared with 1991.

Farmers wrote $2.798 billion in statewide premium in 1992, compared with $2.832 billion in 1991, a decline of 1 percent.

Allstate's California premium volume decreased by 7 percent in 1992, compared with 1991, according to The List. Specifically, Allstate's premium volume dropped from $2.130 billion in 1992 to $1.978 billion in 1991.

Bob Lapinski, Allstate spokesman, said the insurer's agreement to refund to refund $110 million to policyholders under Proposition 103 in August was part of the reason for the premium volume drop in 1992. "There was an accounting done that dropped premium written to compensate for the anticipated $110 million related to the Proposition 103 rebate," he said.

The drop in premium volume in no way indicates that the company is pulling back from the California market, Lapinski added. "The fact that we paid the $110 million rebate on Aug. 17 shows that we are committed to the California market and that we want to put the 1980s' issues behind us and move into the 1990s," he said.

In addition to the $110 million rebate, the drop in premium volume reflects the recession in California, Lapinski said. "When the economy is down, people stop buying new cars, new homes, and consequently, insurance premium is down," he said.

But not all insurers saw premium volume drop in 1992. Woodland Hills-based 20th Century Insurance Group experienced a 10 percent increase. The insurer moved up from No. 6 on last year's List to No. 5 on this year's List and the company increased its California market share from 2.6 percent to 2.9 percent, according to The List.

"We've had phenomenal growth," said Ric Hill, vice president of corporate relations for the insurer. He noted that not only has the company increased its market share of the auto insurance market, but also has increased its homeowners' insurance business in the last year.

The company is the eighth-largest homeowner policy writer in the state, based on 1992 volume, up from No. 9 in 1991 results, Hill noted. He said the rise is "remarkable because we've only been writing homeowners' (insurance) since 1982."

The company, which was founded in 1958, ranks No. 5 in the state in writing auto insurance premiums. The company, which is always among the lowest-cost insurers on the state Department of Insurance's annual auto insurance survey, is able to provide auto insurance cheaper than many of its competitors because it has lower overhead, Hill said. In addition "we are a direct writing company, so we don't have to pay commissions to agents," he added.

Twentieth Century plans to continue to grow and could catch up with big insurers Allstate, Farmers and State Farm, Hill said. "Our potential is to do just that, and then, go right past them," he boasted.