SafeCo review: Safeco auto insurance

I have had comprehensive Safeco coverage on my car for years with no deductibles. On July First 2023, I was rear ended while stopped at a traffic light. No one was hurt, but my car was damaged. I filed a claim with Safeco on July Fifth. The person who hit me was covered by State Farm. The claim was referred to State Farm. State Farm's immediate response, while only a preliminary estimate for about $3,700 was available at the time, was to total my car. This was an attempted totaling of my car when the current estimate represented on 37% of the value of my car.

Rather than get into it with State Farm, I took the claim back to Safeco, whom I trusted at the time. As soon as Safeco took over the claim they too attempted to total my car, but unlike State Farm, they realized it wasn’t total able. So they approved the initial $3,700 estimate and sent the body shop a check for that amount. Once they took the back of the car apart, they discovered more internal damage and the final estimate came to around $6,700. Safeco, once again tried to total my car based on the new estimate, and again was unable to total my car.

Over the next few months there were continual delays, that Safeco blamed on the body shop. Each time, I would go to the body shop and retrieve, in five minutes, what they claimed they were unable to obtain. Each time this happened I was able to send them what they needed in less than a day. All in all, it took Safeco eight and a half months to process my claim and get my car back to me. During this time they had asked me to move the car to a cheaper body shop, after they were the ones that had selected the body shop, not me. They tried twice to get me to accept $2,700 for my car, which happens to be a $10,000 to $12,000 car.

During the eight and a half months that my car sat in the body shop, Safeco continued to collect premiums as if the car was facing the risks of being driven every day when it was in the low risk environment of the body shop. That’s most of the year that I paid premiums on a car I couldn’t drive because they were incapable of processing the claim in a three or four week period as is customary in these matters.

State Farm had stopped paying for the rental car when they declared my car totaled. I mentioned this to the Safeco folks repeatedly and was told every time that State Farm was responsible for the rental car and would reimburse me for the cost when I turn the car in. The Safeco adjuster also refused to allow labor costs and other items that were approved on the initial estimate. Now, all of a sudden, these costs were no longer acceptable. As a result of this, Safeco shorted the body shop on the final check they sent them. This resulted in my having to pay $1,128 to get my car back even though my policy completely covered the costs with no deductibles. Safeco was also wrong regarding State Farm picking up the cost of the rental car, as they weren’t responsible for the eight and a half month delay, so I’m expected to pick up the cost of the rental car.

In the end, I lost use of my car for eight and a half months, paid premiums as if this wasn’t the case and had to pick up the cost of the rental car. So for using my Safeco insurance to cover $6,700 worth of damage, I ended up paying $1,128 to get my car back and the $8,019 for the rental car, placing me $9,147 in debt and $3,500 over my credit limit on my credit card. If I don’t get the credit card a $3,500 payment this month, I’ll be in default and my credit score will take a significant hit. Needless to say I’m not a happy guy.