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Henrico’s Elephant Insurance expands into Illinois, creates jobs

August 10, 2011
By John Reid Blackwell / Richmond Times-Dispatch

For the second time this year, Elephant Auto Insurance has expanded its business into a new state.

Henrico County-based Elephant Insurance Services LLC said Tuesday that it has started selling automobile insurance in Illinois, an expansion that has prompted the company to do some local hiring.

"It's a good time to be Elephant," said Andrew Rose, the company's chief executive officer.

In March, Elephant expanded its sales into Maryland, the firm's first venture outside Virginia since it opened its U.S. headquarters in Henrico in 2009.

Elephant has a direct-to-consumer business model, selling its products online and over the telephone. That enables the company to support its expansion into Illinois from its offices on East Shore Drive off Nuckols Road.

Rose said the company has added about 30 employees in the past few months and now has 120 employees, with about 20 openings for various jobs. Some of that growth is to support the expansion into Illinois.

"By expanding into Illinois, we have effectively doubled the available marketing audience," Rose said.

Also, Rose said the company reduced its rates in Virginia this year. "It has really been driving the volumes for us," he said.

"We looked for (a) market that was large in size, and then we looked for a market that had a great deal of regulatory freedom," he said of the decision to expand into Illinois. "One of the things that we pride ourselves on is being very different."

Elephant is one of four international insurance divisions of Cardiff, Wales-based Admiral Group PLC, one of the United Kingdom's leading insurers with 2.75 million policyholders. The company started 18 years ago with 57 employees and now has more than 3,000 employees.

 

Copyright Richmond Times-Dispatch. Used by permission.

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