21st Century Insurance Company Announces Collaboration with Insurance Institute for Highway Safety; Unveils Crash Test Ratings Guide at the L.A. Auto Show

    WOODLAND HILLS, Calif.--Jan. 3, 2002--Continuing a long tradition of personalized customer service, 21st Century Insurance today announced a unique collaboration with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, producing a crash test ratings guide that provides savvy consumers with nationally recognized safety rankings for 2002 vehicle models. Unveiled at the 2002 Greater Los Angeles Auto Show, the informative and easy-to-use brochure is intended to assist consumers in evaluating potential new vehicle purchases.
    Each year, the world renowned Insurance Institute for Highway Safety ranks crashworthiness evaluation results for a broad spectrum of vehicles, spanning a range of manufacturers and the largest portions of new car sales. The rankings, widely considered a national standard for consumer protection, evaluate different safety criteria and rank vehicles as "poor", "marginal", "acceptable", "good" and "best picks". Historically, the data has been solely housed on the Institute's web site. Seeking to leverage industry data and consumer group protections, 21st Century Insurance joined forces this year with the Institute to prepare the first-ever printed version of the performance rankings, delivering the important and critical evaluations to a far wider audience than ever before.
    "Since 1958, 21st Century has been a leader in providing reliable and high quality automobile insurance to Californians," said Bruce Marlow, chief executive officer for 21st Century Insurance Group. "The vehicle safety guide, produced in cooperation with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, illustrates our company's continuing commitment to a quality product but also to great customer service."
    "We are pleased to participate in this year's Los Angeles Auto Show and hope our comprehensive ratings guide will prove useful to consumers as they consider new vehicles for themselves and their families," added Marlow.
    The annual Greater Los Angeles Auto Show is the West Coast's premiere auto show, debuting 2002 trend setting production and concept vehicles for both the automobile industry and the greater public, and launches a year-long string of international automobile shows and conferences. 21st Century Insurance is one of the few insurance companies with a significant presence at the show, which runs January 5-13, 2002.
    Celebrating its California birthplace and 1958 founding date, the company has recreated a fully functional fifties diner, complete with a mint condition, cherry red 1958 Ford Thunderbird convertible, for its showcase booth at the Auto Show.
    "The diner represents a time when service focused on the specific individual needs of the customer," said Joyce Prager, community marketing director for 21st Century Insurance Group. "As evidenced by the new safety guide, 21st Century is successfully combining this tradition with the advancements of the new millennium."
    Founded in 1958, 21st Century Insurance Group is a pioneer of the direct-to-consumer marketing of personal automobile insurance, serving customers in California, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. The company provides full service 24 hours a day, 365 days a year at 1-800-211-SAVE and its company web site, www.i21.com. 21st Century is ranked as one of the top ten vehicle insurance companies in the nation by J.D. Power and Associates and also holds an A+ (Superior) by A.M. Best, the world's oldest independent insurance rating and information service, and A+ by Standard and Poors.