Direct Response Corporation

Direct Response Corporation

The holding company to the Response Insurance Group of companies, Direct Response Corporation, commenced as of September 1995. In the latter half of 1997, Response Insurance began to market automobile insurance in New York State.

Then the Response Corporation opened a claims office in Melville, NY. Soon this company operated out of an office in White Plains, New York and a then newer, more recent addition, in Suisun City, California, before it entered Florida, Illinois, and more of California.

James M. Stone, a former Massachusetts Insurance Commissioner and founder of Plymouth Rock Assurance, and Peter J. Wood, a British insurance pioneer, took the initiative and innovated this outfit. Stone founded The Plymouth Rock Company, which operates several regional insurance carriers in New England, and Wood is the founder of Direct Line Insurance, the first direct response carrier in the U.K., which is also now this country's largest auto carrier. The Company begins by using an animated red telephone on wheels icon to represent the friendly accessibility of a direct-to-the-consumer auto insurance company. Coverage is always valuable, and indeed needed, especially in the case of auto insurance. Since they feature its identifying trademark, an animated red telephone on wheels, Response Insurance marketing initiatives are all recognizable. So of course that logo went well in the practice of launching this national direct-to-the-consumer automobile insurance company to the absolute top.

Response ranked on the Top 20 List for best service in January 2001

when the New York State Insurance Department released the list of companies with fewest consumer complaints. This ranking placed Response above Allstate, State Farm, Progressive, and Geico.

This company's catchword is "Response Insurance for Responsible People" tm; the toll-free number is 1-888-REDPHONE; and the Company's website is www.response.com. Since the launch of this website in mid-1998, the use of this Internet generated medium has nearly diverted the majority of sales and service activity, which previously took place over the telephone.

Since this Company's focus has always been to make accessible a more economical insurance plan for safe, responsible people, more of a no-nonsense, cordial, and solemn method has prevailed. Sincerity on both ends, in order to maintain the equal importance of both, has been the elemental design of confluence in order to surpass a certain profit margin. The Company provides low-cost automobile insurance directly to consumers by means of its insurance operating subsidiaries.

Thus, numerous car insurance companies acquired whose histories can be traced back more than 30 years are what conduct the basis of the Response Insurance Group.

...As does their tradition of excellence enduring under the guise of Direct Response.

Direct Response Corporation History

As of April 1996 this group of investors within the Morgan Stanley Capital Partners began the first of numerous contributions, ultimately totaling $315 million, which accumulated in order to fund the Company now known as Direct Response Corporation. A driver from New York State, who turned out to be an employee of Geico auto insurance company, purchases the initial auto insurance policy from Response Insurance in October 1997, and a month later Response Insurance became even more of an established name with its first televised advertisement crusade (November 1997).

The first Response Insurance National Driving Habits Survey, established in November 1999, distinguished the very first serious investigation into the scope of driving distractions resulting from cell phone use while driving. Featured in USA Today, The Washington Post, Time magazine, and virtually every major newspaper and media outlet in the nation, this drew great amounts of awareness at the same time as it became quite the promotional landmark.

Direct Response Corporation announced on August 24, 1999 that it recently received $92 million as the culmination of its original equity financing commitment for $215 million, and that it has also received a commitment for an extra $100 million of equity financing to be completed by the end of the year. A total $315 million will mark all of the financing arranged for Direct Response, which is the parent of the Response Insurance group of companies, by Morgan Stanley Dean Witter (MSDW) Capital Partners. Intended for the sustained expansion of the Company's auto insurance writings, which have increased at an overtly rapid pace, these fees spawned much growth regarding strategy, management team, and the foundation Response Insurance had built at this point catapulted Response Insurance into a much more common noun.

MSDW Capital Partners along with the remainder of the family of Direct Response Corporation investors, partners from its origination, reinforced their commitment from this point to build one of the largest, most respected and technologically advanced automobile insurance companies in the country.

The investment group arranged by MSDW Capital Partners includes Morgan Stanley Capital Partners III, L.P., The Plymouth Rock Company, and other institutional investors. MSDW Capital Partners is the private equity unit of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co., the global financial services firm.

Response Insurance is a direct-to-the-customer automobile insurance company dedicated to insuring responsible people. By focusing on insuring responsible drivers with better driving records and by reaching consumers directly, rather than through commissioned insurance brokers and agents, Response Insurance is able to offer lower insurance prices, more efficient service and excellent value.

Direct Response Corporation, the parent company of Response Insurance and Response Indemnity, was initially financed in 1996 with an equity commitment from an investor group led by Morgan Stanley Capital Partners, the private equity unit of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. Among the founders of Direct Response Corporation are some of the world's most innovative leaders in the insurance industry. They include Peter J. Wood, the founder of Direct Line, Great Britain's largest private auto insurer, protecting millions of motorists, and James M. Stone, the founder and Chairman of The Plymouth Rock Company, which operates several regional insurance companies in the northeast. The Company's national headquarters is in White Plains, NY. The Company's sales number is 1-800-610-5928.

Real Time Quoting propelled with force on January 2000. This features the Response.com website which provides a quick and easy way to obtain an instant quote for insurance shoppers.

A New York based insurance program for educators to join the Response Insurance Group, Teachers' Insurance Plan^TM, took off in April 2000. As an acquisition to build on the Company's model of insuring safe, responsible people, consequently this program, acquired from Lancer Insurance Company, resulted into a nation wide expansion.

Response is one of the first carriers to endorse real-time transactions, technology process patent pending, over the Internet by July 2000, but soon thereafter the Company sold its first policy over the Internet - Response.com - in December 2000.

Response ranked on the Top 20 List for best service in January 2001

when the New York State Insurance Department released the list of companies with fewest consumer complaints. This ranking placed Response above Allstate, State Farm, Progressive, and Geico.

Soon thereafter, in an effort at offering customers additional flexibility for paying their insurance premium, providing billing information, account balance, payment plans and electronic fund transfers through Response.com, Account On-Line took off in February 2001.

Then in June of 2001, a respected auto insurer in Connecticut, Connecticut Life & Casualty Insurance Company united with the Response Insurance Group. Also, the Teachers' Insurance Plan National Education Survey, which covers numerous issues of school vouchers and standardized testing, becomes released publicly. Cited by the Harvard Family Research Project, USA Today, Inside AFT, Curriculum Administrator, Church & State, CNN, and others, this survey set ground for the Direct Response Corporation.

By October 2001, the Response Insurance Group obtained Warner Insurance Company; they had been formerly doing business as Fireman's Fund Direct. So Response quickly acquired the company from Fireman's Fund Insurance Company, gaining policyholders in 30 states

Ranking Connecticut Life & Casualty as the lead, making note that this Company had no justified consumer complaints, the Connecticut Insurance Department, the Connecticut Insurance Department released its list of top rated auto insurers in November of 2001.

Then the Direct Response Corporation National Headquarters relocated in June 2002 from White Plains NY to Meriden, CT, and became approved for inclusion in the new Meriden IT Zone in September of 2002.

The Response Insurance Group and Worldwide Insurance Company and Worldwide Direct Auto Insurance Company merge in April 2003, which doubles the size of the Company, launching it among the 15 largest direct auto insurance companies in the nation. This integrated the new office in St. Louis, MO, which now serves as a call center. Purchased from Great American Insurance Company, the IT department successfully unites all the new company's systems together.

Making note of this Company's favorable capitalization, no long term debt, and operating performance trends, next the nation's leading insurance rating organization, AM Best, assigns an initial financial strength rating of B++ to the Response Insurance Group in May 2003.

Also in May 2003, Mory Katz, the Chairman & CEO of the Response Insurance Group, accepts an appointment to the Board of Directors of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. This is to clarify the Response Insurance Group's continuation of a long term commitment to the community and consumer safety. Conducting crash tests to rate vehicles, researching traffic safety and driver behavior, famous for their Crash Test Dummies, this constitutes the influential safety organization that is best known to the public.

Next a highly respected auto insurer in Washington State, National Merit Insurance Company, joins the Response Insurance Group in December 2003. Unigard Insurance Company, a subsidiary company of Winterthur Swiss Insurance Company, granted notice of National Merit. This accomplishment also introduces the Company's Bellevue WA office, which is now known as the company's claims office.

The Teacher of the Year Awards in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and New York were sponsored in June 2004 by the Teachers' Insurance Plan, a program that was later expanded to California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Missouri, and Washington.

Covered by Fox News, National Public Radio, ABC's Good Morning America, CNN, the Associated Press, right along side nearly every major newspaper in North America, the Response Insurance National Driving Habits Survey was discharged in December 2004 regarding the least and most stressful ways of identifying parking spots while shopping for the holidays.

Response begins a series of rate cuts for its customers in January 2005, which began introducing new rate levels to include a fairly narrow range of drivers, thus helping to ensure that drivers with the most similar driving records and other risk factors are grouped together for a particular rate. This innovative initiative spawned a program, called Advantage, to elicit the advantage good drivers deserve when selecting car insurance.

According to the New York State Department of Insurance, all of the ten largest auto insurers in New York were left in the dust on January 2005 by Direct Response Corporation. According to number of complaints and ratio of complaints to company size, the Response Insurance group exhibited the largest insurers in two separate measurements, which marks the second consecutive year Response has been on the Department's "Top 25" list; the majority of the state's largest insurers were in the bottom half of the list.

January 2005 marks the arrival of Mory Katz, chief executive officer of the Response Insurance group, to the Direct Response Corporation Board during its Annual Meeting which was held in Chicago. This also marks its incorporation with the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America.

Bringing customers some of the most affordable car insurance rates in the state, the Advantage product first becomes introduced to the state of Maryland in March 2005, next to Virginia May 2005, and then July 2005 marks the incorporation of Arizona, shortly before this Advantage product is introduced to Texas in June 2005.

Then once again the Response Insurance group beat all of the ten largest auto insurers in New York state, in accordance with the ratings by the NYS Department of Insurance in January 2006. By producing their Top 25 List for three consecutive years, the Company was also noted by the Department as a "Best Performer"; Direct Response Corporation defeated all ten of the state's largest insurers in both the number of complaints and the ratio of complaints to company size.

Then educators in Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Nebraska, Nevada, Oklahoma and Wisconsin adapted to the introduction of the Teachers' Insurance Plan^TM of Response Insurance in January 2006.

Immediately thereafter, Response follows out with provocative and entertaining studies, such as the Response Insurance National Driving Habits Survey, which in December 2006 revealed that ultimately one-half of drivers on the road who are subjected to aggressive driving behavior react assertively, which may invite a more serious confrontation. Other studies or this nature have been performed as well.

The Response Insurance Group beat all of the ten largest auto insurers in New York state. According to ratings by the NYS Department of Insurance again in January 2007, the cycle held consistent. By making their "Top 25" List for four consecutive years, the Company graduated to number 5 on the annual list, and was also highlighted by the Department as a "Best Performer" due to the almost perfect record. As a side note, based on premium in the state, Response beat out GEICO, Allstate, State Farm, Progressive, St. Paul Travelers, Liberty Mutual, White Mountains, Central Services, Metropolitan, and Nationwide with only one upheld complaint in both the number of complaints and the ratio of complaints to company size.

Then in May 2007 Direct Response Corporation alleged that it has signed an agreement under which an affiliate of J.C. Flowers LLC will become the largest investor in Direct Response Corporation, a transaction which is subject to regulative commendation.

2008 Super Bowl 42

Super Bowl XLII Tickets

Direct Response Corporation Auto insurance is also a mandatory need in the case of the upcoming Super Bowl. Here are some suggestions to check into pertaining to the purchase of 2008 Super Bowl Tickets:

Stadium Location

1 Cardinals Drive Glendale, AZ 85305

University of Phoenix General Phone Number: (623)433-7100

The University of Phoenix Stadium is located between the Loop 101 and 91st Avenue, and Maryland and Bethany Home roads.

Contact a ticket broker such as TicketsNow.com

TicketMaster: www.TicketMaster.com; with this medium, Ticketmaster outlets are available for personal purchase from a vendor.

Also, in the case of ticket inavailablility with TicketMaster, they will post an alert that the tickets are available, pending that the customer provides an e-mail address.

EBay also has tickets for sale for the 2008 Super Bowl (the least expensive tickets range roughly at around $5,200.00).

As a note, any attendee would be far better off to have too much clothing as opposed to not enough. While in attendance, pants are advisable over shorts. By layering clothing, removal is always a better option than needing to leave due to chill. On the other hand, sunscreen should be brought along in case of any removal of cothing during the 2008 Super Bowl. And remember, a sunburn in accordance with a hangover is never any fun an can even be dangerous. So plan ahead.

Since the glare may bother the eyes, sunglasses to join the sunscreen will be a bonus. Most of all, however, don't foget to get those Super Bowl 42 tickets in Glendale Arizona now, so as not to miss out entirely by going to make a purchase too late.

If you are attending the game, here is a bit of crucial information concerning the game to keep in mind ahead of time:

Date:

February 3, 2008

Location of this Years Stadium: University of Phoenix Stadium

1 Cardinals Drive

Glendale, Arizona 85305

(623)433-7100

Kick-off:

4:18 P.M. (6:18 P.M. EST)

Television:

FOX TV

Radio:

Westwood One Radio

2008 Super Bowl Arizona will be a huge success! So plan ahead and be there early and come armed with all of these concerns comfortably in mind.

Lack of Current Insurance is Punishable by Law

Vehicle Registration and/or Driver License will be suspended unless viable proof of applicable liability insurance can be displayed upon request. Aside from that, this penalty will be followed by both short-term and long-term financial penalties. Reinstatement of revoked driver license fees, clerk fees / office fees, test fees, legal fees, CAD fees, MVD fees, suspended driver license fee, duplicate driver license fee, additional clerical office fees for testing and legal fees, and then, unless no more hidden fees follow, the parking fees required for the extra time it has taken to pay all the fees constitute the financial fees that will immediately follow. Or perhaps that "mandated payment" will make up that last step before that unfinished paperwork will be processed. In other words, it's less the expense, excludes the time waste, and altogether is downright better to avoid the offense from the start.

The same Minimum Insurance Requirements exist:

Vehicle Registration and/or Driver License will be suspended unless viable proof of applicable liability insurance can be displayed upon request. Except, of course, in the case of fleeing the scene of a crime, which rarely ever, it at all, works out in the driver's favor; so it's not advisable. Aside from that, this penalty for lack of Vehicle Registration and/or Driver License will be followed by both short-term and long-term financial penalties. Reinstatement of revoked driver license fees, clerk fees / office fees, test fees, legal fees, CAD fees, MVD fees, suspended driver license fee, duplicate driver license fee, additional clerical office fees for testing and legal fees, and then, unless no more hidden fees follow, the parking fees required for the extra time it has taken to pay all the fees constitute the financial fees that will immediately follow. So perhaps that "mandated renewal payment" should make up that last step before that unfinished paperwork will be processed. In other words, it's less the expense, excludes the time waste, and is altogether downright better to avoid the offense from the start.

Minimum Insurance Requirements

Proof of insurance will be required any time a driver is pulled over in the state of Arizona, and the Motor Vehicle Division will request it before registering an automobile. The driver must be insured for $15,000, in case of bodily injury liability, while two people must be insured for $30,000. The Arizona Department of Transportation also has a $10,000 minimum coverage requirement for property damage. And this is not taken lightly. All insurance companies are legally required to inform the MVD upon cancellation or failure of renewal regarding liability coverage.

De-Insured Vehicles

In any case of a mobilized vehicle, an application for permission not to insure an unused vehicle should be filed as an Insurance Requirement Exemption with the Arizona Department of Transportation [https://www.azdot.gov/mvd/vehicle/DeInsuredCertificate/default.asp].

However, Arizona state law does not require vehicles to be insured if they are not in use, even if on the roadways for purposes of storage or restoration. Even with a resident inside.

Nevertheless, if any type of homeowners insurance, renters insurance, mobilized auto insurance, or any other type of insurance that would compensate for any value of the vehicle could be attributed in the case of theft or robbery or vandalism, if the vehicle is indeed of any documented worth whatsoever, then the vehicle owner is advised to file the Insurance Requirement Exemption form.