MERCURY GENERAL CORP

Mercury was founded by George Joseph, who flew 50 World War II missions as a navigator before graduating from Harvard on the G.I. Bill in 1949. Joseph then spent more than a decade in the insurance industry before founding Mercury Insurance in 1961 as a low-cost alternative to larger insurance companies.

Mercury's California expansion began in 1964 with the opening of its first Orange County office. Two years later, the company spread into the San Fernando Valley and also began operations in San Diego. Mercury offices opened in Northern California by 1968. Mercury wrote $1 million in premiums every month by 1970 and sold its first homeowners policy in 1972. The newly created Mercury Insurance Company wrote its first auto policy in 1977.

In 1989, Mercury began expansion outside of California, opening offices in Georgia and Illinois. The company insured more than 1 million vehicles in California by 1998. This led to further expansion to Florida in 1998, New York in 2001, and Virginia in 2001.