NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Chief executive of Allstate Corp. , the largest publicly traded US auto and home insurer, on Tuesday said the carrier is working to bolster auto sales, as it curtails sales of home policies in hurricane-prone, coastal areas.

The pricing environment for auto policies remains ?competitive but rational,? Edward Liddy said at an insurance conference in New York, adding that Allstate isn?t relying on price alone to get drivers to buy their policies.

Allstate has stopped selling new homeowners policies in many areas along the Eastern Seaboard and Gulf Coast, and raised prices for some existing policyholders.

Auto insurance sales can fill part of the gap, and Liddy said the carrier is bolstering its advertising efforts, distribution methods and product range.

Allstate, a carrier that had shied away from insuring accident-prone drivers in years past, now has policies for drivers with spotty records.

Liddy said that Allstate?s auto policies were not always the cheapest, but it was winning business through customer service.

Liddy, who retires as CEO at the end of this month, said new auto insurance products include tiered pricing to give drivers various options, including a pricier policy that allows for multiple accident forgiveness.

Allstate is putting a greater focus on its auto insurance after scaling back on home insurance policies in areas that may be at risk of hurricane and earthquake activity.

Based in Northbrook, Illinois, Allstate is trying to lower its exposure to catastrophes after suffering $5 billion of losses from 2005 Gulf Coast storms including Hurricane Katrina by scaling back on sales of policies to home owners in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida.

It is also cutting back home insurance policies in Delaware, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Allstate said in June that it was dropping earthquake coverage from homeowner policies, where laws allowed.

Risk Management Solutions, a California-based firm that sells computer models to insurers to help assess risk warned that a major earthquake could cost $60 billion or more, citing earthquake prone areas along the West Coast and in central states surrounding the New Madrid seismic zone: Missouri, Illinois, Tennessee, Kentucky and Arkansas.

Thomas Wilson, who is set to replace Liddy as Allstate CEO, said after 2005 catastrophe losses the company took a serious look at its home insurance business.

?We stepped back and said we want to be in the business but we could not see a way to do it.?

Liddy hoped the industry would be able to work with the federal Government to eventually create a state-funded catastrophe insurance scheme.

In addition to working to bolster its shares of the auto insurance market, Liddy said Allstate wanted to bolster returns by increasing profitability within Allstate Financial, a unit that sells financial and retirement products, such as mutual funds and life insurance.

Allstate Financial operating income in the third quarter was $148 million, versus $156 million a year earlier.

Allstate?s shares on Tuesday gained 75 cents, or 1.17 percent, to $64.95 in trading on the New York Stock Exchange.