The Auto Channel: North America | Europe

California Leads Nation in Hybrid Ownership;

HARTFORD, Conn.--On the heels of the recently signed legislation by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that promises to reduce California's greenhouse emissions by 25 percent by the year 2020, Travelers announced today a solution to help support that goal. California hybrid owners can now take advantage of a 10 percent discount(a) on auto insurance offered by Travelers.

“The new legislation aimed at reducing greenhouse emissions shows California is taking noticeable measures to improve the environment,” said Peter Betts, Travelers regional vice president for California. “We hope our discount offer for hybrid owners will help support an eco-friendly action plan for California and its residents.”

Commonly known as an eco-conscious state, Californians registered 52,619 new hybrid vehicles in 2005. At a distant second, Florida registered 10,470 hybrids, followed by Texas, New York and Virginia. Los Angeles tops the list of hybrid-driving cities with 22,922 new hybrid cars registered, followed by San Francisco with 15,828. New York, Washington D.C. and Boston complete the top five.¹

“California has long been a trendsetting state whose example the rest of the nation often follows, and Californians have embraced the hybrid car in a big way,” said Greg Toczydlowski, senior vice president of product management for Travelers. “We salute this spirit of forward-looking innovation and will continue to develop products and services that evolve to fit the changing needs of our California customers.”

At www.hybridtravelers.com visitors can review up-to-date information on federal and state tax benefits for hybrid drivers and enjoy other community incentives, such as discounted or free parking, and can share their stories as “hybrid travelers.” For fun, the site features the Early Adopt-o-meter, which ranks visitors’ penchants for embracing new technologies. Visitors can also access an agent locator and obtain policy information.

Earlier this year, Travelers became the first auto insurance company to offer a discount to hybrid drivers on a national level and has been steadily rolling out the discount state by state. The company has recently made the discount available in New York, Maryland, Florida, Washington and Texas, bringing the total number of states in which the discount is offered to 42 plus the District of Columbia.

The discount for hybrid drivers is the latest in a long series of firsts for the company that wrote the first automobile insurance policy in 1897. Other firsts include the first policy covering electronic data processing liability in 1961, the first policy to protect individuals using personal computers for online banking in 1997, and the first insurance company to offer consumers protection against identity fraud in 1999.

About Travelers

Travelers understands that life and business are inherently dynamic and that the best way to serve agents and policyholders is to deliver insurance that evolves to stay in-synch with life and business as they change. For more information on being in-synch, visit www.travelers.com.

Travelers is a business of The St. Paul Travelers Companies, Inc. , a leading property casualty insurer selling primarily through independent agents and brokers. The company’s diverse business lines offer its global customers a wide range of coverage in both the personal and commercial settings, including automobile, homeowners, construction, small business, oil and gas, ocean marine, financial and professional services, global technology and public sector services. St. Paul Travelers is ranked 85 in the Fortune 500, with 2005 revenues of $24.4 billion and total assets of $113.2 billion. The company has approximately 32,000 employees.

(a)A discount of up to 10% applies only to certain coverages. The discount may not be available in all states and is subject to individual eligibility.

¹ R. L. Polk & Co., 2006