AIG May Stop Selling Car Insurance in N.J.

American International Group Inc., the No. 2 financial services company, is the second insurer in as many weeks to tell New Jersey regulators it plans to pull out of the state’s auto insurance market.

The New York-based company has been trying to increase prices on its auto insurance policies because of rising losses that cut its personal lines segment’s pretax earnings by 70% in the first quarter and caused a loss in the segment in the fourth quarter.

AIG’s plan to exit the state comes a week after State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., the biggest U.S. auto and home insurer, said its New Jersey unit, State Farm Indemnity Co., filed to exit the business. Berkshire Hathaway’s Geico Corp. and Progressive Corp. already have left the state.

An exit can take up to five years to be completed.