A strong and growing Personal Lines business GMAC Personal Lines offers a variety of property and casualty insurance products — primarily personal and commercial auto, motorcycle and recreational vehicle insurance — through multiple distribution channels, including the Internet and independent agents. We serve the needs of customers through a nationwide network of claims professionals and a superior claims processing capability that includes a 24-hour toll-free claims hotline available 365 days a year.
Personal Lines contributed $62 million in underwriting income on premiums of $1.4 billion and achieved a combined ratio, a measure of underwriting profitability, of 95.5 percent. Personal Lines’ GM-related business grew by 19 percent in 2005. FamilyFirst, the foundation of our GM business, grew its customer base by 35,000 in 2005.
We continued to make progress on Convergence, Personal Lines’ multi-year corporate-wide initiative to develop and implement a single information processing system to support all distribution channels and operating needs. Designed to replace our less-efficient array of legacy systems, we expect all of our major programs to be up and running on the new platform by 2008.
Another highlight of the year was our acquisition of MEEMIC, a Michigan-based seller of automotive and homeowner’s insurance to educators through peer-to-peer marketing. We believe MEEMIC has significant potential as a growth driver — its education focus represents a profitable model that can be expanded to other states.
The year 2005 saw a record number of natural disasters, including Hurricane Katrina, one of the worst in our nation’s history. In addition to our work with customers, employees joined in with Project: We Care, an initiative created to respond to specific needs of those whose lives were devastated by Katrina.
