NU Online News Service, April 12, 3:42 p.m.EST

Spokesmen for Allstate and State Farm said today their companieshad begun the subrogation process. Neither company would go intomuch detail.

Mike Siemienas, speaking for Allstate, said it has notifiedToyota that "we have claims that we believe are the result of aproduct defect," adding that the company has started thesubrogation process.

"Allstate continues to investigate claims involving recalledvehicles," he noted, but declined to say how many of its 17.7million auto policyholders owned Toyotas and how many mightpossibly have claims that could be subrogated. The firm is thesecond largest U.S. auto insurer.

Phil Supple of State Farm, whose company acknowledged it wasreviewing Toyota claims on Feb. 9, said he could not go into detailon current subrogation activity with the auto manufacturer. "Wedon't share that stuff. You sit down and negotiate," he said.

"On any given day we sit down with manufacturers. Subrogation iscommon," he added.

In February, Mark Bunin, president and chief executive of CaseClosure--a New York-based insurance arbitration and mediationfirm--said large auto insurers would be amalgamating their seriousclaims involving Toyotas over the past five or six months, to see"how many of them are tied to or could be tied to the gas pedalrecall."

A spokesperson for Toyota said by e-mail that the auto giant,which has 17 percent of the U.S. market does not have "informationto provide" concerning subrogation action by insurers.

At Progressive auto insurance spokesperson Leah Knapp sent amessage regarding Toyota issues that the firm is "continuing toreview claims and subrogating as appropriate. We don't have anynumbers to share."