21st Century Insurance has every right to be proud of its whopping achievements. Founded in Los Angeles by an insurance agent, Louis W. Foster in 1958, it has now grown to be California’s seventh biggest personal and auto insurance provider and is continuing to strengthen its roots in other major US states. It is registered in the New York Stock Exchange in the name NYSE:TW. The company provides jobs to more than 2,500 people and is catering to the needs of over 1.2 million automobile owners. It is headquartered in two, eleven stories Woodland Hills building with 14 division service offices, 9 drive-in claims center plus 5 centers for vehicle inspections. 21st Century has been highly renowned for its direct-to-customer auto insurance strategy.
After five decades from its establishment, the company has achieved a striking growth in the insurance world. From its humble beginnings, operating as an inter-insurance exchange company made up of just a troupe of policy holders insuring each others losses,(functioning similarly like a cooperative) is now an impressive, well-known insurance empire. This once struggling insurance company started with just one employee, but thanks to its founder, Mr. Foster, it has quickly grew and expanded into a conglomerate with several subsidiaries – 21st Century Casualty Company, 21st Century Insurance Company of California, and 21st Century of the Southwest, just to name a few. Mr. Foster’s extensive experience as an insurance agent greatly benefited 21st Century. By the year 1966, the company has surpassed the 1 million US dollar annual premium landmark. With the company’s ongoing growth and expanding number of employees, it transferred to its new offices in Century City. In 1968, 21st Century became a capital stock company.
The change from being an inter-insurance exchange into being a capital stock company is deemed extraordinary in the Californian insurance business arena. The once policyholders of the inter-insurance exchange became certified stockholders! Just several years after the conversion, in 1975 it already has 10 million dollars annual premium and has moved in 1980 to a larger base in Woodland Hills. From then on, the company’s success continued to soar and has reached $1 billion premium landmark by 1993.
Being so much endowed and blessed as an insurance company, 21st Century has in mind the practices of philanthropy, which is primarily inspired and led by Mr. Foster, himself. The company contributed to various community projects and has sponsored several organizations like The Union Rescue mission and The United Way campaigns. 21st Century employees are also highly encouraged to render voluntary services. Through these ways, 21st Century Insurance is able to give back a portion of what it earns while helping the community.
In 2008, 21st Century Insurance will be celebrating the company’s fifty years of quality and dependable insurance services while still conquering milestones of national expansions. They are now operating in 18 US states, several of which embody America’s widespread insurance market. They have also increased the fraction of 34 to 66 percent of personal auto market since 2006.
