Erie Insurance

Erie Insurance:

  • Serves 12 states— Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin—and the District of Columbia.
  • Was founded in 1925 by H.O. Hirt and O.G. Crawford.
  • Has more than 5.8 million policies in force for auto, home and business insurance.
  • Has more than 339,000 life, annuity and disability income policies in force.
  • Works with more than 12,400 independent insurance agents.
  • Employs over 5,300 employees who work at the company’s Home Office in Erie, Pa., and in the field offices. The Home Office alone employs more than 3,000 people.

Erie Insurance Group is:

  • The 17th largest property/casualty insurance group based on policyholder surplus (Best’s Aggregates and Averages Property/Casualty 2016).
  • The 15th largest property/casualty insurer in the United States based on total lines net premiums written (Best’s Aggregates and Averages Property/Casualty 2016).
  • The 11th largest auto insurer and 10th largest home insurer in the country based on direct premiums written (Best’s Insurance Reports 2017).
  • The 2nd largest auto insurer in Pennsylvania (A.M. Best).
  • Erie Insurance Group ranks on the FORTUNE 500® list. The list ranks the largest American companies based on total revenue.
  • Erie Family Life ranks as the 138th largest life insurance company based on admitted assets (Best’s Review 2017).
  • Erie Family Life is the 23rd largest life insurance company based on net premiums (Best’s Insurance Reports 2017).

FINANCIAL STABILITY

  • ERIE’s property/casualty companies are rated A+ (Superior) by A.M. Best, a global credit rating agency with a unique focus on the insurance industry. Best's Financial Strength Rating is an independent opinion of an insurer's financial strength and ability to meet its ongoing insurance policy and contract obligations.
  • The Erie Family Life Insurance Company is rated A (Excellent) by A.M. Best.

The Early Years

The two founders – H.O. Hirt and O.G. Crawford – had a plan, which they wrote on a 10-cent tablet (today’s equivalent of a business prospectus), but they needed money. It took 3 months and 20 days – about the length of one Erie winter – to raise the $31,000 they needed, winning over 90 stockholders with their hand-written business plan, their tenacity and their true belief in what they were about to do. 

On April 20, 1925, the Erie Insurance Exchange was born – one of the first policies written was on H.O.’s own Dodge touring car. The company’s mantra became “The ERIE is Above all in SERvIcE,” with the “erie” raised in the word service. That still serves as the company’s tagline today.

Evidence of this service was that customers were encouraged to call collect. And if a policyholder had a problem with a claim, he or she could make a phone call directly to H.O. Hirt.
After only three years, ERIE was already expanding. A second office was opened in Pittsburgh in 1928. The company took its first steps outside of Pennsylvania in 1953 when it opened a branch in Silver Spring, Maryland.

At the same time ERIE was expanding its territories, it also expanded its product offerings. In 1934, ERIE introduced the “Super Standard Auto Policy.” It included many features that have since become industry standards. Fire insurance was added in 1940, and inland marine in 1954.