Allstate Considers Insuring Gadgets

Sept. 14--Allstate, the nation's biggest publicly traded home and auto insurer, is floating the idea of offering additional types of coverage, including policies for your gadgets.

"We're not really in the personal device insurance business today," Chairman and Chief Executive Tom Wilson said Tuesday at Barclays Global Financial Services Conference. "If you buy cellphone insurance, it's incredibly expensive for not a lot of value."

Allstate "could do something better and different in those spaces," he said. "We look at it: Do people have needs to be protected?"

Allstate generates more than 90 percent of its premiums from car and home insurance, with the rest coming from such lines as renters, condominium, and commercial coverage, as well as roadside services.

"We think we can broaden our customer offering," Wilson said.

The topic arose when Wilson was asked whether the need for auto insurance would go away soon, given the expected advent of driverless cars that will make the roads safer.

"People are going to own cars for a long time," Wilson said. "They're going to have accidents with them."

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