Availability of Coverage

Many scientists warn that the United States can expect more frequent and more powerful hurricanes in the coming years.  To ensure that the company will continue to be in a strong position for its 17 million customer households across the country, Allstate has taken a number of steps to prudently manage catastrophe risk.

To provide added protection to our customers, Allstate expects to spend about $760 million in 2008 for “reinsurance,” or insurance purchased by insurance companies.  In addition, in certain areas we restructured coverage and pricing, changed policy terms and conditions, and increased rates to more accurately reflect our exposure. We limited new business and did not offer to continue coverage to customers in some coastal areas. In most areas, we have provided customers with options from other insurance companies where we could no longer provide coverage.