Tag Archives: discounts

Factbox: Insurers return part of auto premiums as coronavirus cuts driving

(Reuters) – Major U.S. insurers are offering credit to auto and motorcycle policyholders following a decline in driving, as most Americans stay at home under widespread orders to help contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Following is a list of companies that have offered to return premiums.

ALLSTATE CORP

Allstate, one of the largest U.S. auto insurers, said on Monday it would return more than $600 million in premiums to customers. Most customers will receive a “payback” of 15% of their monthly premium in April and May, the company said.

AMERICAN FAMILY INSURANCE

The auto insurer said it would return a total of $200 million to auto insurance customers beginning in mid-April. Customers will receive $50 per vehicle covered by their policies, the company said.

AVIVA CANADA

Aviva Canada said it was offering $100 million in additional immediate relief measures to drivers, including options that would reduce insurance premiums. Customers who have stopped driving entirely could reduce their auto insurance premiums by up to 75%.

CHUBB

The world’s largest-listed property and casualty insurance company said it will give personal auto insurance clients in the United States credit on annual renewal premiums, reflecting a 35% cut for the months of April and May.

ERIE INSURANCE

The insurer said it would reduce rates for personal and commercial auto insurance customers in 12 states and the District of Columbia. It estimated the amount of financial relief for Erie Insurance customers to be about $200 million.

FARMERS INSURANCE

Farmers and 21st Century-branded auto customers will receive a 25% reduction in their April premium. The insurer said it has also implemented flexible payment plans and a temporary pause on cancellations.

GEICO

Geico Corp, part of billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc , said it will offer about $2.5 billion of credits to its 19 million auto and motorcycle policyholders. The insurer said it will offer a 15% credit on policies up for renewal between April 8 and Oct. 7, averaging about $150 per auto policy and $30 per motorcycle policy.

HANOVER INSURANCE GROUP

The company said  it will return 15% of April and May auto premiums to its eligible personal lines customers. Hanover will also offer flexible bill payment options.

LIBERTY MUTUAL INSURANCE

Liberty Mutual Insurance will give personal auto insurance customers a 15% refund on two months of their annual premium, returning about $250 million to Liberty Mutual and Safeco personal auto insurance customers.

METLIFE

The company said it is providing financial relief and preserving coverage in the event of missed payments. Active MetLife auto customers, who have paid to date, will receive a 15% credit for April and May based on their monthly premiums.

PROGRESSIVE INSURANCE CORP

Among the largest U.S. auto insurers, Progressive said it would provide about $1 billion to personal auto customers. The company will credit eligible customers 20% of their April and May premiums.

STATE FARM

The largest U.S. auto insurer said it would pay $2 billion in dividend to its customers, with premium credit of about 25% for the period between March 20 and May 31.

TRAVELERS COMPANIES INC

The insurer said  it was giving U.S. personal auto insurance customers a 15% credit on their April and May premiums through its new stay-at-home auto premium credit program. It said it will continue to provide auto coverage to customers whose jobs include using their personal vehicles to make food, grocery, pharmacy and medical supply deliveries.

USAA

USAA, America’s fifth largest property-casualty insurer, said  it will return $520 million to its members. Every member with an auto insurance policy in effect as of March 31 will receive a 20% credit on two months of premiums in the coming weeks.

(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni, Leslie Adler, Stev Orlofsky and Shinjini Ganguli)

U.S. holiday shoppers spend record $126 billion online

FILE PHOTO: Shoppers walk through the King of Prussia Mall, United States' largest retail shopping space, in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, U.S., December 8, 2018. REUTERS/Mark Makela

By Melissa Fares

(Reuters) – U.S. shoppers spent a record $126 billion on online shopping during the 2018 holiday season, taking advantage of early discounts on Amazon.com and other websites and with more people using smartphones to place their orders, Adobe Analytics said on Tuesday.

Adobe, which collects its data by measuring 80 percent of all online transactions from the top 100 U.S. web retailers, said the amount was 16.5 percent higher than last year’s total.

Mobile platforms made up 51 percent of traffic to retail websites during the November-December period and were responsible for nearly a third of all online spending.

Online shoppers spent $3.7 billion on Thanksgiving and $6.2 billion on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving.

Cyber Monday the Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday — was the biggest U.S. online shopping day ever, with $7.9 billion spent.

Top-selling items online were L.O.L. Surprise Fingerlings toys; Take-Two Interactive Software’s video game Red Dead Redemption 2; Nintendo’s Switch console; streaming devices; and Dell and Apple laptops, Adobe said.

Consumers spent an average 40 percent more per day during the three weeks after Cyber Monday than in the first three weeks of the season, Adobe said. Sales continued to grow until Dec. 17.

While the online sales figures showed how low U.S. unemployment rates and rising wages boosted consumer confidence during the holiday season, department stores continue to struggle.

Further, consumer confidence in 2019 is seen as likely to be strained by rising U.S. interest rates, the ongoing trade dispute with China, market volatility due to concerns over global growth and political deadlock in Washington.

Macy’s Inc shares plunged 18 percent on Thursday after the department store chain slashed its full-year profit and sales forecast on the back of an anemic holiday season.

Kohl’s Corp reported similarly muted comparable sales growth for the holidays, sending its shares down as much as 9 percent on Thursday. Shares of Target Corp were down nearly 4 percent even after the retailer posted relatively strong holiday sales growth of nearly 6 percent on Thursday.

Overall sales for the 2018 U.S. holiday shopping season rose 5.1 percent to over $850 billion, hitting a six-year high, as shoppers were encouraged by early discounts, according to a Mastercard report in late December.

(Reporting by Melissa Fares in New York; Editing by Frances Kerry)