Travelers vs. Mercury Insurance

Travelers vs. Mercury: What You Need to Know

For more than 160 years Travelers Insurance has been protecting homes, cars, valuables, and businesses. Today they have the reputation of being one of the best property and casualty companies in the industry and are the only one in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company has 30,000 employees and 13,500 independent agents and brokers in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Brazil. In 1864, a stonecutter, James G. Batterson, and several other townsman in Hartford Connecticut began organizing a company to introduce accident insurance to the U.S. James E. Bolter, a local banker, asked Batterson how much he’d charge to insure his four-block home. Batterson said it would cost “two cents.” Today, the two-cent “premium” is Traveler’s treasured souvenir. The following year, Travelers began selling life insurance and in 1897 they issued their first automobile insurance policy. In 1889, they offered liability insurance to employers (workers compensation). By 1901 Travelers Insurance offered health and liability insurance. In 1903, they opened an insurance school and the following year organized a corps of safety engineers. In 1919, Travelers offered aircraft liability insurance with a full aviation program. During World War II, Travelers underwrote the Manhattan Project, the building of the first atomic bomb. In 1956, they established a weather research center and two years later offered life insurance to women at lower rates than men.

George Joseph founded Mercury General Corporation in Los Angeles with a promise to provide more affordable rates than other carriers and the best customer service in the industry. The first policy was sold in 1962 when the company had only six employees and 90 agents. Two years later Mercury Insurance opened an office in Orange County, CA. In 1966 they opened their first office in the San Fernando Valley and a year later earned an A+ rating from A.M. Best. They continued expanding in southern California with an office opening in San Diego. In 1968 Mercury established a holding company, then acquired shares of Mercury Casualty Company and made it a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mercury General Corp. They then moved into their newly opened San Jose office. In 1970, Mercury wrote $1 million in premiums in one month and grew to employ 467 agents. In 1972 they sold their first homeowners policy. In 1973 Mercury formed a subsidiary for underwriting preferred risk, thereby increasing business using a 34-page manual written by the company’s founder. In 1974, Mercury opened its first Sacramento office and by 1977, Mercury Insurance becomes the largest insurance subsidiary, producing over $1 billion in premiums by 2011. In 1978, Mercury established a Special Investigations Unit (SIU) to fight insurance fraud.

Below is a list of average rates, rankings, products, and discounts for the two companies. For full company overviews, you can visit Travelers Overview and Mercury Overview.

Travelers vs. Mercury: How much are the Average Rates?

Travelers vs. Mercury: Rates by Number of Vehicle

Travelers vs. Mercury: Rates by Homeownership

What is Travelers and Mercury Insurance Rating?

Which car insurance company is better? We've made it easy to compare companies side by side. See how Travelers and Mercury ranked among the industry ratings.

Travelers or Mercury: Insurance Products Offered

What coverage is available through Travelers and Mercury? Both insurance companies offer Auto, Commercial, Condo, Home, Renters, and Umbrella insurance. Additional products from Travelers insurance also includes Health and RV insurance. Considering these two top insurance providers? Check out the list below. To view a full list of products that are available, visit Travelers and Mercury Insurance page.

Travelers or Mercury: Ways To Save

Mercury offers a wide range of discounts to its policyholders, including Auto Pay, E-signature, and Good Driver discounts. However, Travelers also offers a few discounts that Mercury doesn’t, including Student Away at School, Safe Driver, and New Car discounts. Start taking advantage of discounts offered by insurance providers like Mercury and Travelers insurance and save yourself some money. You can review the full list of discounts that these two companies offer below.

Travelers or Mercury Mobile Apps Options

The Travelers Mobile app is available for iOS and Android. This award-winning mobile app can help manage insurance and banking accounts, request roadside service, file and track claims and pay bills.

The Mercury Mobile app is available for android. This insurance tool is where you can manage payments, view auto policy information, download ID cards and more.

Travelers & Mercury Contact Info

Methodology
The statistics listed on this page are from our own in house reporting. We track and record quotes that carriers have provided based on various criteria. The rates and averages shown on this page should only be used as an estimate.