- Program Offers Agents Opportunity to Help Clients Steamroll $1 Billion Construction Equipment Theft Problem - WORCESTER, Mass., June 23
WORCESTER, Mass., June 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Hanover Insurance
Group, Inc. (NYSE: THG), a leading super regional property and casualty
company, today announced a program to help contractors protect themselves
against heavy equipment theft, a growing problem that involves more than one
billion dollars in expensive construction equipment theft in the United States
each year.
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Through the program -- being offered in conjunction with the National
Equipment Register (NER) -- The Hanover will waive up to $10,000 of an inland
marine policy's deductible if a piece of construction equipment registered
with NER is stolen and not recovered within 60 days. At the same time, The
Hanover's inland marine policyholders also will receive a 20 percent discount
on NER's theft prevention and equipment recovery services.
NER enables equipment owners to register each piece of equipment's serial
number in a national database, giving police the ability to quickly identify
the owner of a piece of stolen equipment through a 24-hour hotline. Warning
decals are provided to registered machines to caution thieves that the chances
of being detected while moving, storing or selling equipment are greatly
increased.
"We know the customer is the first line of defense against theft, and that
offering strong loss prevention incentives is the key to keeping theft down
and minimizing risk for our policyholders," said Sophia Phillips, vice
president commercial lines/inland marine at The Hanover. "This program is yet
another example of The Hanover's commitment to offering its agent partners
specialty insurance programs that meet the unique needs of their customers."
David Shillingford, president of NER noted that, "NER has been able to
develop a range of services that are making life riskier for equipment
thieves. In a recent case, a stolen backhoe was stopped from crossing the
Mexican border because it was registered with NER, even though the owner had
yet to report it stolen. We look forward to helping policyholders of The
Hanover in this way."
The Hanover's inland marine coverage is complemented by dedicated
underwriting, claims and loss control specialists trained to understand the
businesses' unique risks.
In addition, The Hanover also offers agent partners a total solution for
commercial lines, helping them to improve customer service and retention. The
Hanover's broad menu of competitive, commercial lines products include
business owner's policy (BOP), commercial package, commercial auto, umbrella,
workers' compensation, bond, inland marine and ocean marine.
About NER
Created in 2001, National Equipment Register manages a national database
of heavy equipment thefts and ownership to help equipment owners, the
insurance industry and law enforcement identify and recover stolen equipment.
For more information, go to http://www.StopEquipmentTheft.com.
About The Hanover
The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE: THG), based in Worcester, Mass.,
is the holding company for a group of insurers that includes The Hanover
Insurance Company, also based in Worcester; Citizens Insurance Company of
America, headquartered in Howell, Mich., and their affiliates. The Hanover
offers a wide range of property and casualty products and services to
individuals, families and businesses through an extensive network of
independent agents, and has been meeting its obligations to its agent partners
and their customers for more than 150 years. Taken as a group, The Hanover
ranks among the top 40 property and casualty insurers in the United States.
For more information, please visit http://www.hanover.com.
CONTACTS:
Investor Relations
Sujata Mutalik
smutalik@hanover.com
(508) 855-3457
Media Relations
Amy Lynn Banek
abanek@hanover.com
(508) 855-4486
National Equipment Register
Stacy Kaufman
SKaufman@NERusa.com
(866) 663-7872
SOURCE The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc.
