Esurance Partners with Zimride to Provide a Social Carpool Service

SAN FRANCISCO, April 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Esurance, the direct-to-consumer personal auto insurance company, announced an exclusive partnership with Zimride, the online social rideshare community, to provide a carpool service for its commuting associates and to promote carpooling for attendees of sponsored events around the nation.

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"Carpooling is an excellent way for our customers and associates to save on commuting costs, as well as reduce their carbon emissions," said John Swigart, Esurance's Chief Marketing Officer. "Our partnership with Zimride reinforces Esurance's commitment to reducing our impact on the environment by providing customers and associates with a simple and social way to share rides."

Esurance launched an internal rideshare portal for its more than 1,700 associates in early March, and has started promoting a public network to support various sponsored events, including the Sasquatch! Music Festival in Washington and Go Green Night with the Golden State Warriors. This summer, Esurance will promote carpooling to Earth Day events with two of their minor league baseball partners: the Long Island Ducks and the Sacramento River Cats.

John Zimmer, Zimride's Chief Operations Officer, said, "Esurance's innovative brand and understanding of social networks makes them a perfect partner for Zimride. We're excited to expand the reach of our fast-growing rideshare community to Esurance customers and associates who are looking to save money and make a collective difference for the environment."

As presenting sponsor of the Sasquatch! Music Festival, Esurance created Esurance Rideshare Rewards, an incentive program to encourage attendees to carpool to the event. Esurance will select a Carpooler of the Week every week from now through May. Winners will each receive a free music download and the chance to win VIP access for Saturday's show. In addition, everyone who signs up to carpool to the festival will qualify to win other prizes. For more details, check out http://www.esurance.com/roadtrip

Swigart concluded, "Esurance strives to be a leader in raising awareness to protect and preserve our environment for the future, with simple acts such as carpooling every individual can truly make an impact. Our partnership with Zimride empowers our customers and associates to make a difference, and we're proud to be able to offer this social carpool service."

For more information about Esurance's carpooling initiatives, visit http://www.esurance.com/carpool

To learn about Esurance's Carpooler of the Week, visit http://www.esurance.com/roadtrip

About Esurance®

Esurance, a subsidiary of White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd. (NYSE: WTM), provides personal car insurance direct to consumers online and through select agents, including sister company Answer Financial. Because of Esurance's virtually paperless online customer experience, Esurance car insurance customers have saved thousands of trees since the company's inception. As of the end of 2009, Esurance has also helped plant and maintain over 85,000 trees by supporting a variety of urban reforestation programs. Esurance is also committed to safeguarding the environment through its own operational practices, including a fleet of hybrid claims vehicles and investment in renewable energy sources to offset the electricity used in each of its permanent office locations.

Over the years, Esurance's environmental initiatives have earned the company awards and recognition. For the past two years, Esurance has earned a position within U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Green Power Leadership Club for its purchase of renewable energy credits to offset 100% of its electricity use. For more information about Esurance's green initiatives, visit: http://www.esurance.com/environment

Answer Financial, also a subsidiary of White Mountains, is one of the largest personal insurance agencies in the country. Answer Financial offers comparison quotes and provides auto and property insurance from more than a dozen top-rated insurance companies through its website, www.answerfinancial.com, and over the phone.

About Zimride

Zimride is the largest online social rideshare community in North America with over 300,000 users. Zimride has implemented private rideshare communities for over 50 of the nation's leading companies and universities including Esurance, CIGNA, Wal-Mart, Stanford, UCLA and University of Michigan.

Zimride embraces ridesharing as a social activity and integrates with Facebook and Twitter to make it fun and easy for users to share the seats in their car or find a ride. On Zimride, participants create profiles that show their favorite car music, radio stations and even smoking preferences to ensure an enjoyable ride.

Zimride's site, http://www.zimride.com, empowers individuals to create social, sustainable and convenient transportation.

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SOURCE Esurance