Investment bankers and insurance analysts said they expected, as one banker put it, "significant interest in this situation."

Alice Schroeder (born December 14, 1956) is an American author, columnist and former insurance analyst.

Over the last year, insurance analysts say, prices for most lines of commercial insurance appear to have peaked and have begun to decline.

Judges and jurors are sensitive to critics who say extremely high settlements are pushing up health care costs, insurance analysts said.

"This creates a real powerhouse," said Gloria Vogel, an independent insurance analyst for more than 20 years.

But if the companies make good on their plans to leave, insurance analysts said, the reduced competition among the remaining insurers could mean higher costs to drivers.

Mr. Daily, the insurance analyst, prepared an example that looks at Vanguard's funds and its variable annuity.

The deal could push pet insurance into the mainstream in just a few years, insurance analysts say.

Yet many consumers, and even a few insurance analysts, are generally unaware of their existence because most public adjusters do not advertise.

Her father is a retired insurance analyst.