Progressive Corporation — BrandWiki

Progressive Corporation

Overview

The Progressive Corporation

type	Public
traded as	nyse: PGR S&P 500 component
key people	Lawton W. Fitt (Chairperson) Tricia Griffith (President and CEO)
industry	Insurance
revenue	US$75.37 billion (2024)‡R1R‡
operating income	US$11.467 billion (2024)‡R1R‡
net income	US$8.463 billion (2024)‡R1R‡
assets	US$105.203 billion (2024)‡R1R‡
equity	US$27.159 billion (2024)‡R1R‡
num employees	61,400 (2023)‡R1R‡
founded	March 10, 1937
location	Mayfield, Ohio, U.S.
website	https://www.progressive.com

The Progressive Corporation is an American insurance company. Progressive is currently the #2 auto insurer in the United States behind State Farm.[2] The company was co-founded in 1937 by Jack Green and Joseph M. Lewis, and is headquartered in Mayfield, Ohio.[3] The company insures passenger vehicles, motorcycles, recreational vehicles (RVs), trailers, boats, personal water craft (PWC), and commercial vehicles. Progressive also provides home, life, pet, and other types of insurance through select companies.

The company ranked #62 on the 2024 Fortune 500 list of the top American corporations.[4]

History

Progressive was formed in 1937 by Joseph Lewis and Jack Green as Progressive Mutual Insurance Company.[5]

Products

According to a February 2011 Wall Street Journal article, Progressive has a leg up on its rivals in Pay As You Drive insurance, a form of vehicle insurance also generically known as usage-based insurance.[31] Progressive has seven U.S. patents covering usage-based insurance methods and systems, with more patents pending. Progressive began working on the concept in the mid-1990s and continues to refine the concept and bring it to the mass market.

Snapshot is Progressive's Pay As You Drive, or usage-based insurance program. Snapshot is a voluntary discount program where drivers can save money on their car insurance by sharing their driving habits with Progressive. According to Progressive, Snapshot is best for people who drive less, in safer ways and during safer times of day.[32] Snapshot customers can make changes to their driving habits that will lead to bigger discounts by checking their driving data and projected discount on progressive.com over the course of their initial policy period.[33]

Drivers plug a device the size of a garage door opener into the on-board diagnostic (OBD) port of their car. The device records and sends the driving data to Progressive, and Progressive uses that information to calculate the rate. After 30 days, customers find out if they're eligible for a discount based on that 30-day "snapshot" of their driving habits. At the end of a six-month policy period, Progressive calculates the customer's renewal discount and customers return the device to Progressive. The company doesn't take into account how fast the car goes although it does take into account how fast and frequently the vehicle operator brakes. Snapshot is voluntary and customers can opt out at any time. The customer is charged up to $50.00 if they do not return the snapshot device to Progressive should they decide not to engage in the program after receiving it.[33]

Snapshot is currently available in 45 states plus the District of Columbia. Because insurance is regulated at the state level, Snapshot is currently not available in Alaska, California, Hawaii, and North Carolina.[32]

Corporate sponsorship

Naming rights

In 1999, Progressive Auto Insurance was the title sponsor of the Super Bowl XXXIII halftime show.[34]

In January 2008, Jacobs Field in Cleveland, Ohio, home of the Cleveland Guardians, was renamed Progressive Field. Progressive signed a 16-year contract for the naming rights, as well as sponsorship rights to become the Official Auto Insurer of the Cleveland Guardians. The agreement costs around $3.6 million per year.[35] (Mayfield Village, Ohio, where the company is based, is a suburb of Cleveland.) Naming rights for Progressive were extended on April 3, 2024 for an additional 12 years until at least 2036, with an option to extend by 5 years to 2041 if the current lease on the ballpark was extended.[36]

In March 2008, Progressive announced its title sponsorship of the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE and their funding of the $10 million prize purse. The Progressive Automotive X PRIZE is an international competition designed to inspire a new generation of viable, super fuel-efficient vehicles. The competition is open to teams from around the world that can design, build, and bring to market 100 MPGe (miles per gallon energy equivalent) vehicles.[37]

On December 14, 2010, the Gator Bowl Association announced that Progressive Insurance would become the title sponsor for the 2011 Gator Bowl[38] college football bowl game.

On September 24, 2019, Progressive became the official sponsor of Friday Night SmackDown broadcast on Fox.[39] it will later serve as presenting sponsor for NXT on The CW.

Starting in 2021, Progressive sponsored Sesame Street on PBS Kids replacing Blue Lizard Australian Sunscreen.

In 2025, Progressive sponsored the ‘’Rocket League Championship Series’’ to hold the naming rights for the RLCS 2025 season events, such as the Birmingham Major, Raleigh Major and the World Championship in Lyon-Decines.

NASCAR

In 2020, Progressive sponsored Roush Fenway Racing's No. 6 car for Ryan Newman at races at Atlanta and Pocono. In 2025, Progressive signed a deal to sponsor Joe Gibbs Racing's No. 11 car for Denny Hamlin for 18 races, replacing FedEx.[40]

Motorcycle

Progressive has been the Title Sponsor of the International Motorcycle Shows (IMS) since 2010.[41]
Progressive has been the Title Sponsor of Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in Sturgis, SD since 2017.
Bikes, Blues and BBQ: Title Sponsor, 2015 – Current
The Handbuilt Bike Show: Presenting Sponsor, 2018 – Current
Laconia Motorcycle Week: Title Sponsor, 2012 – Current
Leesburg Bikefest: Presenting Sponsor, 2014 – Current
Motoblot: Presenting Sponsor, 2015 – Current
Ohio Bike Week: Title Sponsor, 2016–Present

Boat

Progressive has been the Title Sponsor of the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) boat shows since 2012, and will maintain title sponsorship through at least 2022.[42]

Fred Hall Shows: Title Sponsor, 2016–Present
LEMTA (Lake Erie Marine Trades Association): Title Sponsor, 2016–Present

Outdoors

Hay Days: Official Insurance Sponsor, 2018 – Current
Quartzsite Sports, Vacation and RV Show: Official Insurance Sponsor, 2014 – Current

Controversies

In 2002, the company settled with the State of Georgia in a class action lawsuit over diminished value claims brought by policyholders.[43] Five years later, the company apologized after it was revealed they hired private investigators to infiltrate a church group and pose as congregation members to collect information on litigants seeking redress from the company. Another lawsuit was filed by the litigants over the affair against the company for invasion of privacy and fraud.[44]

In 2009, Progressive was sued for allegedly deceiving policyholders by employing illegally operated, unlicensed body shops to make repairs on vehicles for their clients in order to save money.[45] The court ruled in the company's favor on two of the counts and the other four were dropped, pending appeal.[46]

In 2012, the company was widely criticized online for how it handled the claims filed by the family of Kaitlynn Fisher. The 24-year-old died when the car she was driving was hit by another that had run a red light in Baltimore. Progressive fought to avoid paying out the claim to Fisher's estate. Fisher's insurance policy with Progressive included coverage in the event of an accident with an underinsured driver. The underinsured driver was found to be negligent in a jury trial brought by the Fisher family, in which the Fisher family contended that Progressive provided legal assistance to the defense.[47][48][49] In two followup statements, Progressive explained that they did not "serve as the attorney for the defendant in this case"[50] and then clarified that "[a]s a defendant in this case, Progressive participated in the trial procedures on our own behalf."[51] The company's position was that fault for the accident had not been clearly established, since three witnesses (the driver of the other car, that car's passenger, and Ms. Fisher's passenger) believed that Fisher had run a red light, and filed a motion to intervene to assert that she had been at fault, and therefore was not liable to pay the underinsured motorist claim. The lawyer for the Fisher family countered by noting that two of the three witnesses were not independent, saying "I have an issue with how they examined the evidence to abandon their insured" and introduced the idea the state insurance commissioner could find Progressive had acted in bad faith. As noted, Progressive lost the case and was ordered to pay the underinsured motorist claim in addition to a separate settlement with the Fisher family "to avoid a hearing before the state insurance commissioner."[52]