Safeco auto insurance review and ratings

Safeco scored well for renewal and policy offering in Insure.com’s 2023 Best Car Insurance Companies survey. Most customers say they plan to renew their policies with Safeco.

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Our take

In Insure.com’s 2023 Best Insurance Companies survey Safeco scored well in the categories of renewals and policy offerings. 

As a subsidiary of Liberty Mutual, Safeco has solid financial backing. Like its parent company, Safeco doesn’t make its rates available through Insure.com’s third-party data source, Quadrant. Rates are crucial in our rating system, so the editors could not rank Safeco. However, it remains a notable company.

Below is Insure.com’s review of the company. It’s based on third-party metrics and an in-depth survey of insurance customers. Find the full methodology here, including an explanation of our survey scores.

Pros and Cons

Pros:
  • Scored well for renewals and policy offerings
  • Solid financial backing from Liberty Mutual
Cons:
  • Scored behind competitors for ease of service
  • Also scored below other companies in customer satisfaction

How Safeco scores for customer satisfaction

Of the Safeco customers who responded to our survey, 78% said they were satisfied or highly satisfied with the company. However, most companies surveyed had results in the 80th or 90th percentile.

Although J.D. Power’s Auto Insurance survey doesn’t rate companies on a national level, instead rating by region, we averaged out Safeco’s score across the areas in which it was rated. That average came out to 825/1,000, just below the average of 834.

Insurance company Percent of customers satisfied with the company overall
Safeco 78%
Erie and Travelers 96%
The Hartford 74%

How Safeco scores on ease of service

Of the Safeco customers who responded, 72% rated the company highly for the ease of getting the service they need. Safeco’s parent company – Liberty Mutual – and USAA scored highest in this category. 

Insurance company Percent of customers satisfied with the company’s ease of service
Safeco 72%
Liberty Mutual and USAA 92%
Auto-Owners 73%

How Safeco scores on policy offerings

When it comes to policy offerings, Safeco is one of the best: 89% of customers surveyed said they were satisfied or highly satisfied with the company’s offerings. While it didn’t beat every other company on our survey, it’s a solid score. USAA came out on top in this category.

Insurance company Percent of customers satisfied with the company’s policy offerings
Safeco 89%
USAA 96%
Auto-Owners 73%

Would current customers recommend Safeco to others?

Customers would, without question, recommend Safeco to their friends and relatives. In the survey, 94% of customers said they’d recommend the company to others. Erie and Travelers had the top score in this category – but Safeco wasn’t far behind.

Insurance company Percent of customers who would recommend their auto insurance company to others
Safeco 94%
Erie and Travelers 96%
The Hartford 89%

How trustworthy is Safeco?

When asked if they trust their insurance company, only 65% of customers said they did – but most companies received scores in the 70th and 80th percentiles.

Insurance company Percent of customers who say they trust their auto insurance company
Safeco 67%
The Hartford 79%
Auto-Owners 77%

Do Safeco customers plan to renew?

Yes, with 94% of respondents said they would renew their auto insurance with Safeco. That’s not the highest score in the survey, but still a good number. Erie and USAA topped this category.

Insurance company Percent of customers who plan to renew with their auto insurance company
Safeco 94%
Erie and USAA 100%
The Hartford 89%

Safeco car insurance coverages

  • Car
  • Motorcycle
  • RV 
  • Classic car
  • ATV/Off-road vehicle
  • Golf cart and low-speed vehicle

Safeco additional insurance policies

  • Homeowners
  • Renters
  • Condo
  • Landlord
  • Home warranty
  • Umbrella
  • Pet
  • Identity recovery
  • Commercial insurance
  • Boat and watercraft

Safeco car insurance coverage options

  • Liability
  • Personal injury protection/medical payments
  • Uninsured/underinsured motorist
  • Collision
  • Comprehensive
  • New vehicle replacement
  • Rental car reimbursement
  • Accident forgiveness

Discounts

  • Claims-Free cashback: Get 2.5% of your policy premium for every six months you are claim free.
  • Diminishing deductible: Deductible goes down each year a claim isn’t filed.
  • RightTrack: A discount program for safe drivers.

Company background

Safeco

Safeco was founded in Seattle, Washington, in 1923, and the company is still headquartered there to this day. Safeco is a consolidated version of the former company name, Selective Auto and Fire Ensurance Company.

The company was acquired by Liberty Mutual in 2008, but Safeco still offers personal insurance policies through independent agents.

Resources & Methodology

Sources:

J.D. Power. “Insurers Struggle to Manage Expectations in Auto Claims Process as Repair Times Increase, J.D. Power Finds.” Accessed December 2022.

J.D. Power. “Usage-Based Auto Insurance Takes Center Stage as Satisfaction Flatlines, J.D. Power Finds.” Accessed December 2022.

Safeco. “Auto insurance quotes” Accessed December 2022.

Safeco. “Right Track – Safe driver rewards.” Accessed December 2022.

Methodology

Insure.com in the fall of 2022 surveyed more than 1,500 people with auto, home, life and health insurance (1,080 people with auto insurance). The survey was conducted by online market research company Slice MR. Respondents were asked to name their insurer and the editors then selected – based on the number of responses – the top companies for this year’s Best auto insurance companies ranking. Insure.com needed 20 or more of a company’s customers to respond to the survey for that insurer to be included in the ranking, although in some categories the editors did consider companies with 18 or 19 responses.

Respondents were first asked to grade their insurer in the following categories – customer satisfaction, claims satisfaction and policy offerings. The percentage of respondents who said they were satisfied or very satisfied with their insurer is presented in the results.

Survey score calculation: Respondents were then asked to rank their insurer’s top three attributes out of more than a dozen presented – including customer satisfaction and policy offerings. For a number one choice, five points were given; for a second choice, three points; and for a third choice, a single point. The total points for each choice – first, second and third – were then divided by the number of each company’s customers who responded to that survey question to create a percentage. Those percentages are presented in the results as scores. 

Respondents were then asked if they would recommend their insurer to someone else. The percentage who said yes is presented in the results.

They also were given the statement “I trust my insurance company” and asked if they strongly agreed, agreed, disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement. The percentage of those who said they agreed or strongly agreed is presented in the results.

The editors compiled the survey results and then collected National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ complaint data, which ranks a company by the number of customer complaints it receives, and A.M. Best data, which measures financial strength. 

They also collected insurance rate data from Quadrant Information Services (for auto and home insurance), Compulife (for life insurance) and the public health marketplace (for health insurance).

With the help of Prof. David Marlett, Ph.D., managing director of the Brantley Risk and Insurance Center at Appalachian State University, the editors created a rating system to determine which insurance companies were best in each sector. For auto and home insurers, we used the following weights to calculate the overall score for each company: 

  • AM Best: 25% of total score
  • NAIC: 15% of total score
  • Annual premium: 20% of total score
  • Survey: 40% of total score (10% customer satisfaction, 10% recommended and 10% renewal rate, 10% claims handling)

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