Interinsurance Exchange of the Auto Club Invests in Caliber Collision Centers

    LOS ANGELES--Oct. 25, 2001--The Interinsurance Exchange of the Automobile Club, an affiliate of the Automobile Club of Southern California, today announced a minority investment in Caliber Collision Centers of Irvine, Calif.
    Caliber, which has been part of the Exchange's Immediate Repair Program (IRP) since 1991, is known throughout the collision repair industry as a high-quality business focused on customer service.
    "Caliber represents a strategic investment for the Exchange," said Jim Gilmartin, senior vice president for insurance operations. "It helps ensure that as the collision repair industry changes, our insureds will continue to have access to a high-quality provider of collision repair services."
    "We are extremely pleased to have the Interinsurance Exchange of the Automobile Club join our primary investors, Keystone Inc., an affiliate of Oak Hill Capital Management Inc., and an affiliate of Zurich Financial Services Group, in our latest equity investment round totaling $40 million," said Matthew Ohrnstein, Caliber's CEO.
    "The Exchange's investment validates our operating model as one that consistently provides the consumer and our insurance clients with repair quality, customer service and pricing that exceeds the industry norm."
    The Exchange's investment provides a minority interest in Caliber, which has 62 collision repair centers in California and Texas. As a minority investor, the Exchange will not participate in Caliber's board of directors, will have no control over day-to-day operations of the company and will not have access to non-Exchange information.
    Caliber Collision Centers has been part of the Exchange's Immediate Repair Program (IRP) since 1991. Policyholders and claimants, who choose to participate in this customer service program, can select from a number of pre-approved shops where repairs can begin immediately, rather than waiting for an adjuster.
    Policyholders and claimants receive lifetime warranties for repairs, often have their vehicles returned quicker than at non-IRP shops and are assured that the repair shops meet the Exchange's high repair standards which include use of Original Equipment Manufacture (OEM) collision parts. However, customers are not required to use the IRP and may select a repair shop of their choice.
    "The trend toward consolidation within the collision repair industry was a critical factor in our investment decision," said Gilmartin. "The continued success of our IRP depends upon having the capacity to offer high-quality collision repair services to policyholders and claimants who choose to use our program."
    The Exchange currently has more than 200 collision repair shops in its IRP network throughout the 13 Southern California counties.