motorcycle insurance companies

Markel Corporation is an insurance holding company.

Never declaring a stock split, their stock has risen from $8. 33 per share in its 1986 IPO to over $300 a share in 2005.

In 2005, Markel suffered an underwriting loss of $12 million due to Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita, and Hurricane Wilma.

History

Company founder Samuel A. GuideOne Motorcycle Insurance Products. Markel ran a small insurance agency in Norfolk, Virginia. In the 1920s, the city of Norfolk passed a law mandating that all jitney buses be insured. Unable to find backing from any large insurance firms, Markel organized a mutual insurance company composed of the jitney bus owners, called the Mutual Casualty Association. Company headquarters later moved to Richmond, Virginia.

The Mutual Casualty Company structure was rearranged in 1926 and transformed to a stock company, American Fidelity & Casualty Company. Humble, Texas Insurance. At this point, the company began insuring motor freight carriers. At one point, AF&C became the largest insurer of trucks and buses in the country. Markel assisted in passing the National Motor Carrier Act of 1935 which allowed state and federal authorities to regulate truckers.

In 1930, Markel established Markel Service, a separate company to handle direct and reinsurance of AF&C. His older twins Lewis and Irvin helped start Markel Service, and younger twins Stanley and Milton joined later. Foremost Insurance Group.

In 1951, the company expanded into Canada by founding Markel Service Canada, Ltd. , headquartered in Toronto, Ontario.

In 1959, the national claims division of AF&C became National Claims Service, an independent adjuster which could be contracted by other insurance firms. The Safety Engineering Division also began offering services to other firms.