iPedia Free Information Center

Information about Allstate

This article is about the American insurance company. For the line of automobiles, see Allstate (automobile).
Allstate Corporation
Public (NYSE: ALL)
Founded1931
HeadquartersNorthbrook, Illinois, USA
Key peopleThomas J. Wilson, CEO
IndustryInsurance & Finance
ProductsAuto, Home, and Business Insurance
Revenue$35.383 billion USD (2005)
Operating income$2.418 billion USD (2005)
Net income$1.765 billion USD (2005)
Websitewww.allstate.com


The Allstate Corporation NYSE: ALL is the largest publicly held personal lines insurer in the United States. Allstate was founded in 1931 as part of Sears, Roebuck and Company.

The company slogan is "You're in good hands." The current advertising campaign, in use since 2004, asks, "Are you in good hands?" Their current spokesperson is Dennis Haysbert. Allstate sponsors various sporting events, including the Allstate Sugar Bowl, the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard NASCAR race, and the United States Olympic Committee.

Products Available

Allstate sells auto insurance, home insurance (in certain localities), life insurance, umbrella insurance, and commercial insurance, to name a few. Its advertising campaign is centered around its "Your Choice Auto" product, which offers accident forgiveness and lower deductibles for all drivers willing to pay an extra premium.[1]

Accolades

Allstate has been recognized with numerous awards, including
  • The World's Leading Top 100 Companies- Forbes magazine, (2004-2005).
  • America's Most Admired Companies - Fortune
  • 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers – Working Mother
  • Top 50 Companies for Diversity, DiversityInc[2]

Catastrophe Exposure Management

Allstate, like many other insurance companies, has stated intentions of reducing its exposure in hurricane-prone Florida. In November, Allstate began dropping 120,000 policies that were up for renewal at that time. Governor Charlie Crist and the Florida Cabinet passed a 90-day emergency order to temporarily prevent insurance companies from dropping policies.[3] On February 20, 2007, Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty clarified the order, stating that insurance companies can drop policies if they satisfy certain conditions, including filing new, lower rates with the state and give customers 100 days notice.[4]

On May 11th, 2007 Allstate announced it would no longer offer a homeowners insurance product in California, however, Pacific Specialty Insurance Company homeowners insurance is available in every California Allstate Agency.

Competition

Major insurance competitors include State Farm, American Family Insurance, Farmers Insurance Group, Nationwide, Progressive, and GEICO.

Criticism

Auto Insurance Claims

An article published on May 2006 in Business Week details how Allstate routinely tries to deny its policy-holders their full legitimate benefits, often paying out less than they're entitled to. Quoting a critic of Allstate, Business Week writes that "Claimants in the 'good hands' category may get swift reimbursement, but they will end up with less than they're entitled to," he says. Those who hold out for more — and retain a lawyer to help them get it — face battering in the courts and potentially years of delay. "You can get your claims resolved promptly or fairly," he argues, "but not both." Also according to the article, "Allstate deploys a variety of systems...to make sure it pays the minimum necessary — and it plays hardball with those who seek more."[5] This last statement may carry negative implications, however, it should be noted that the purpose of insurance is to reinstate a policyholder to the condition he or she enjoyed before a loss, not a superior condition.

An investigative report in February 2007 by CNN found that major car insurance companies, Allstate Insurance, are increasingly fighting auto insurance claims from those who incurred soft-tissue injuries by their insured members.[6]

Home Owners Insurance

The PBS television program "Now",[7] in conjunction with Bloomberg Markets magazine, did an exposé regarding Allstate's home owners insurance policy change. The idea was to increase profit by not living up to the customers' policy expectations.

Allstate changed the terminology of the policy to "extended coverage", in order to convince the policy holders that coverage was still the same or even better. In reality the coverage was lowered.

Interviewed customers said insurance agents lied about what was covered with the policy change. When claims were filed, Allstate fought tooth and nail to avoid paying the full amount of the claims. Allstate used delay tactics in court, in order to make the customer give up.

The program also mentioned State Farm as having used the same consulting firm that came up with this idea. State Farm customers were complaining as well.

The unhappy insurance customers urged everyone to review their policies to make sure their coverage is adequate.

Business Process Outsource

In 2006, Allstate's HR department decided to outsource some of its major, transactional functions to IBM. This transformation was designed to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of HR services, while allowing HR’s retained services to concentrate on Allstate's overall talent strategy.

In the fall of 2006, Allstate signed an outsourcing contract with IBM to deliver some of the transactional HR work. IBM will provide Allstate with an integrated HR technology platform and improved HR processes, decommissioning much of the legacy HRIS system in place. This will lead to better data collection, tracking, and reporting and trend analysis - and, ultimately, better data-driven talent decisions, per the HR leadership.

The transition of work from Allstate to IBM began with a first wave on May 1, 2007. The second wave, initially due to occur on August 1, 2007, was postponed and is now due to take place on August 27, 2007. To date, it has not been announced how many HR employees will be affected by this outsource, but several HR groups have been identified. Some of the groups that will be affected by the outsource are the HR Service Center, Talent Acquisition, Payroll and Education. IBM will be utilizing their facilities in the United States as well as the Philippines to absorb these functions. Allstate will administer 60 day notices to those employees whose current job functions will be outsourced.

See also

References

1. ^ Allstate Insurance
2. ^ Awards and Recognitions
3. ^ Garcia, Beatrice E.. "Date set for insurance rate filings; Insurers can resume policy cancellations as soon as they file required rate reductions in mid-March", The Miami Herald, February 21, 2007. 
4. ^ Zucco, Tom. "Ruling: Insurers can drop policies", St. Petersburg Times, February 20, 2007. 
5. ^ Business Week
6. ^ In some cases, Allstate proposed settlement amounts as small as $50, asking claimants to "take it or leave it". The investigative report found that insurance companies often make it so expensive and time consuming to go to court to get full settlement amounts, that it would not be worth the victims time. The claims handled in the matter were very minor collision type losses that did not result in any ($0) damage to the car, and therefore was the insurance company protecting it assets and the premium paying public money, by keeping rates as low as possible."Auto insurers play hardball in minor-crash claims", CNN, February 9, 2007. 
7. ^ PBS.org

External links

Allstate was an American automobile offered for sale through the Allstate auto accessory chain of Sears, Roebuck during the 1952 and 1953 model years. The Allstate was built by Kaiser-Frazer (Kaiser-Willys from 1953), in Willow Run, Michigan, (Toledo, Ohio from 1953) and was based
..... Click the link for more information.
A public company usually refers to a company that is permitted to offer its securities (stock, bonds, etc.) for sale to the general public, typically through a stock exchange.
..... Click the link for more information.
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), nicknamed the "Big Board", is a New York City-based stock exchange. It is the largest stock exchange in the world by dollar volume and, with 2,764 listed securities[1], has the second most securities of all stock exchanges.
..... Click the link for more information.
19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1900s  1910s  1920s  - 1930s -  1940s  1950s  1960s
1928 1929 1930 - 1931 - 1932 1933 1934

Year 1931 (MCMXXXI
..... Click the link for more information.
Northbrook is a village located at the northern edge of Cook County, Illinois. The population was 33,435 at the 2000 census, and estimated to be 34,190 as of 2005.
..... Click the link for more information.
Motto
"In God We Trust"   (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum"   ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
..... Click the link for more information.
Thomas J. Wilson, 49, is president and chief executive officer of The Allstate Corporation and Allstate Insurance Company. Wilson is also a member of the corporations board of directors. Wilson currently lives in Chicago.
..... Click the link for more information.
Industry (from Latin industrius, "diligent, industrious"), is the segment of economy concerned with production of goods. Industry began in its present form during the 1800s, aided by technological advances, and it has continued to develop to this day.
..... Click the link for more information.
This article or section needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone and/or spelling.
You can assist by [ editing it] now. A how-to guide is available, as is general .
This article has been tagged since August 2007.
..... Click the link for more information.
Finance studies and addresses the ways in which individuals, businesses, and organizations raise, allocate, and use monetary resources over time, taking into account the risks entailed in their projects.
..... Click the link for more information.
Aspinwall Classification System (Leo Aspinwall, 1958) classifies and rates products based on five variables:
  1. Replacement rate (How frequently is the product repurchased?)
  2. Gross margin (How much profit is obtained from each product?)

..... Click the link for more information.
Vehicle insurance (or auto insurance, car insurance, motor insurance) is insurance purchased for cars, trucks, and other vehicles. Its primary use is to provide protection against losses incurred as a result of traffic accidents.
..... Click the link for more information.
Home insurance, also commonly called hazard insurance or homeowners insurance (often abbreviated in the real estate industry as HOI), is the type of property insurance that covers private homes.
..... Click the link for more information.
Business law
Business organizations
Basic forms:
Sole proprietorship
Corporation
Partnership
(General · Limited · LLP)
Cooperative
USA:
Business trust · LLC · LLLP
Delaware corporation
Nevada corporation
UK/Commonwealth:
Limited company
..... Click the link for more information.
This article or section needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone and/or spelling.
You can assist by [ editing it] now. A how-to guide is available, as is general .
This article has been tagged since August 2007.
..... Click the link for more information.
Revenue is a business term for the amount of money that a company receives from its activities in a given period, mostly from sales of products and/or services to customers.
..... Click the link for more information.
United States dollar
dólar estadounidense (Spanish)
dólar amerikanu (Tetum)
dólar americano
..... Click the link for more information.
20th century - 21st century - 22nd century
1970s  1980s  1990s  - 2000s -  2010s  2020s  2030s
2002 2003 2004 - 2005 - 2006 2007 2008

2005 by topic:
News by month
Jan - Feb - Mar - Apr - May - Jun
..... Click the link for more information.
In financial and business accounting, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) is a measure of a firm's profitability that excludes interest and income tax expenses.[1]

EBIT = Operating Revenue – Operating Expenses + Non-operating Income
..... Click the link for more information.
United States dollar
dólar estadounidense (Spanish)
dólar amerikanu (Tetum)
dólar americano
..... Click the link for more information.
20th century - 21st century - 22nd century
1970s  1980s  1990s  - 2000s -  2010s  2020s  2030s
2002 2003 2004 - 2005 - 2006 2007 2008

2005 by topic:
News by month
Jan - Feb - Mar - Apr - May - Jun
..... Click the link for more information.
Net income is equal to the income that a firm has after subtracting costs and expenses from the total revenue. Net income can be distributed among holders of common stock as a dividend or held by the firm as retained earnings.
..... Click the link for more information.
United States dollar
dólar estadounidense (Spanish)
dólar amerikanu (Tetum)
dólar americano
..... Click the link for more information.
20th century - 21st century - 22nd century
1970s  1980s  1990s  - 2000s -  2010s  2020s  2030s
2002 2003 2004 - 2005 - 2006 2007 2008

2005 by topic:
News by month
Jan - Feb - Mar - Apr - May - Jun
..... Click the link for more information.
A website (alternatively, Web site or web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos or other digital assets that is hosted on one or several Web server(s), usually accessible via the Internet, cell phone or a LAN.
..... Click the link for more information.
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), nicknamed the "Big Board", is a New York City-based stock exchange. It is the largest stock exchange in the world by dollar volume and, with 2,764 listed securities[1], has the second most securities of all stock exchanges.
..... Click the link for more information.
This article or section needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone and/or spelling.
You can assist by [ editing it] now. A how-to guide is available, as is general .
This article has been tagged since August 2007.
..... Click the link for more information.
Motto
"In God We Trust"   (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum"   ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
..... Click the link for more information.
19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1900s  1910s  1920s  - 1930s -  1940s  1950s  1960s
1928 1929 1930 - 1931 - 1932 1933 1934

Year 1931 (MCMXXXI
..... Click the link for more information.
Sears, Roebuck and Company

Subsidiary of Sears Holdings Corporation
Founded 1886 (Chicago, Illinois, USA)
Headquarters Hoffman Estates, Illinois, USA

Industry Retail
..... Click the link for more information.


This article is copied from an article on Wikipedia.org - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. The text was not checked or edited by anyone on our staff. Although the vast majority of the wikipedia encyclopedia articles provide accurate and timely information please do not assume the accuracy of any particular article. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License.
Herod_Archelaus


page counter