Ian Holland's questions to Mercury General Corp (MCY) leadership • Q4 2024
Question
Ian Holland, a private investor, pressed for the specific total insured value (TIV) of the 800 structures identified as total losses and questioned why the company uses historical data percentages instead of the known value of the destroyed properties to calculate its loss estimate.
Answer
An executive stated the company is not reporting the specific TIV figure. CEO Gabriel Tirador and another executive clarified a misunderstanding, explaining that they are using the current TIV for all known total losses. The historical data is used only to determine the likely percentage of that TIV that will ultimately be paid out (e.g., 80-90%), which is a standard practice for estimating ultimate losses from a large number of claims.