The Hanover Waives up to $10,000 Theft Deductible for Contractors' Equipment Listed With National Equipment Register

WORCESTER, Mass., June 23, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- THG | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE: THG), a leading super regional property and casualty company, today announced a program to help contractors protect themselves against heavy equipment theft, a growing problem that involves more than one billion dollars in expensive construction equipment theft in the United States each year.

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Through the program -- being offered in conjunction with the National Equipment Register (NER) -- The Hanover will waive up to $10,000 of an inland marine policy's deductible if a piece of construction equipment registered with NER is stolen and not recovered within 60 days. At the same time, The Hanover's inland marine policyholders also will receive a 20 percent discount on NER's theft prevention and equipment recovery services.

NER enables equipment owners to register each piece of equipment's serial number in a national database, giving police the ability to quickly identify the owner of a piece of stolen equipment through a 24-hour hotline. Warning decals are provided to registered machines to caution thieves that the chances of being detected while moving, storing or selling equipment are greatly increased.

"We know the customer is the first line of defense against theft, and that offering strong loss prevention incentives is the key to keeping theft down and minimizing risk for our policyholders," said Sophia Phillips, vice president commercial lines/inland marine at The Hanover. "This program is yet another example of The Hanover's commitment to offering its agent partners specialty insurance programs that meet the unique needs of their customers."

David Shillingford, president of NER noted that, "NER has been able to develop a range of services that are making life riskier for equipment thieves. In a recent case, a stolen backhoe was stopped from crossing the Mexican border because it was registered with NER, even though the owner had yet to report it stolen. We look forward to helping policyholders of The Hanover in this way."

The Hanover's inland marine coverage is complemented by dedicated underwriting, claims and loss control specialists trained to understand the businesses' unique risks.

In addition, The Hanover also offers agent partners a total solution for commercial lines, helping them to improve customer service and retention. The Hanover's broad menu of competitive, commercial lines products include business owner's policy (BOP), commercial package, commercial auto, umbrella, workers' compensation, bond, inland marine and ocean marine.

About NER

Created in 2001, National Equipment Register manages a national database of heavy equipment thefts and ownership to help equipment owners, the insurance industry and law enforcement identify and recover stolen equipment. For more information, go to http://www.StopEquipmentTheft.com.

About The Hanover

The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE: THG), based in Worcester, Mass., is the holding company for a group of insurers that includes The Hanover Insurance Company, also based in Worcester; Citizens Insurance Company of America, headquartered in Howell, Mich., and their affiliates. The Hanover offers a wide range of property and casualty products and services to individuals, families and businesses through an extensive network of independent agents, and has been meeting its obligations to its agent partners and their customers for more than 150 years. Taken as a group, The Hanover ranks among the top 40 property and casualty insurers in the United States. For more information, please visit http://www.hanover.com.

CONTACTS: Investor Relations Sujata Mutalik smutalik@hanover.com (508) 855-3457 Media Relations Amy Lynn Banek abanek@hanover.com (508) 855-4486 National Equipment Register Stacy Kaufman SKaufman@NERusa.com (866) 663-7872

SOURCE The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc.

http://www.hanover.com

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