Erie Insurance, based in Erie, Pennsylvania, is a property and casualty insurance company offering auto, home, business and life insurance through a network of independent insurance agents. As of 2021[update], Erie Insurance Group is ranked 347th on the 2021 Fortune 500 list of largest American corporations, based on total revenue for the 2020 fiscal year.[1]
Rated A+ (Superior) by A.M. Best,[2] ERIE has more than 6 million policies in force and operates in 12 states and the District of Columbia, including Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.[3] It also owns the naming rights to the Erie Insurance Arena in downtown Erie, Pennsylvania.[4]
Erie Insurance Exchange began in 1925 when two salesman for the Pennsylvania Indemnity Exchange, H.O. Hirt and O.G. Crawford, left to create their own insurance company. In three months and 20 days, the two convinced 90 stockholders to invest using a hand-written business plan, raising $31,000 to begin their own auto insurance company.[5]
The Pennsylvania Insurance Department issued a license to the Erie Insurance Exchange as an automobile insurer, beginning operations on April 20, 1925. Erie Insurance Exchange was formed as a reciprocal and Erie Indemnity Company was formed as its managing company. The annual premium charge per auto was $34.[6]
Co-founder H.O. Hirt hoped to create a company built on service, developing the mantra "The ERIE is Above all in SERvIcE," with the letters "E-R-I-E" raised out of the word service. Customers, who were encouraged to call the company collect, could even expect the cofounders to answer the phone themselves. The company's first adjuster and full-time claims manager, Sam P. Black Jr., had a phone extension installed in his room at the local YMCA, offering 24-hour service to policyholders.[5]
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