First Auto Policy Sold 110 Years Ago Today
Today marks a significant anniversary in the history of insurance: 110 years since the first auto insurance policy.
That policy was sold in 1898 by Traveler’s Insurance Co. to Dr. Truman Martin of Buffalo, N.Y., according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The policy gave Martin $5,000 in liability coverage. At the time, Martin would likely have been more concerned with crashing into one of the country’s 18 million horses, rather than another of the 4,000 cars in the U.S.
Oh, how times have changed: Over a century later, cars and trucks outnumber horses 237 million to 9 million.
Martin’s 1898 policy, which gave him coverage well below what most insurers would consider appropriate, cost $12.25.
In today’s dollars, that would be about $316.25.
Today, the average car costs about $821 a year to insure.
- Beyond the Claim: How Social Canvassing is Transforming Insurance Fraud Detection
- California Sees Two More Property Insurers Withdraw From Market
- Florida’s Home Insurance Industry May Be Worse Than Anyone Realizes
- EPA Designates PFAS Chemicals as Superfund Hazardous Substances
- Poll: Consumers OK with AI in P/C Insurance, but Not So Much for Claims and Underwriting
- Ship Owner in Bridge Collapse Seeks to Limit Its Liability
- California Chiropractor Sentenced to 54 Years for $150M Workers’ Comp Scheme
- Millions of Recalled Hyundai and Kia Vehicles, With Dangerous Defect, Remain on Road