SafeAuto Insurance Review

SafeAuto Insurance specializes in providing nonstandard insurance to drivers with a poor driving history. High-risk drivers can find competitive Safeuto rates on the state minimum required auto insurance.

SafeAuto Insurance specializes in providing nonstandard insurance to drivers with a not-so-great history behind the wheel, and competitive prices on the state minimum required auto insurance.

They’ve got a narrow appeal, but that’s by design. Some drivers just need insurance that keeps them on the road at a low price, or coverage while remedying their driving record.

However, SafeAuto’s low prices and accepting nature do come with some trade-offs. SafeAuto is only offered in 17 states, and its drivers give up on many of the perks larger insurance agencies offer, like discounts for bundling multiple insurance products.

The question is whether SafeAuto’s strengths outweigh its drawbacks. Learn more about the company in out SafeAuto Insurance review.

The Top Five Things to Know about SafeAuto Insurance

1. Specializes in offering the bare minimum of state-required auto insurance, covering high-risk drivers, and covering drivers requiring an SR-22 (see FAQ for definition)
2. Competitive rates for its type of high-risk insurance coverage
3. Offers insurance in just 17 states
4. Only offers a limited range of auto insurance products and no renters, homeowners or other types of insurance
5. Very few discounts or other perks

SafeAuto Insurance Company

SafeAuto is a relative newcomer in the auto insurance industry, getting its start in 1993 in Columbus, Ohio.

Since then, SafeAuto Insurance has grown to offer policies in 17 states. SafeAuto quote number is: 1 (800) 723-3288.

Some people may remember SafeAuto for its commercials featuring fictional employee Justin Case from back in 2009. Not everyone realizes that the star of these ads didn’t actually work for SafeAuto through – several people called the company and asked to speak with Justin after the television ads debuted.

SafeAuto commercials state that the company doesn’t offer bad quotes. SafeAuto offers quotes on insurance that are actually great.

What SafeAuto Insurance Sells and Does

SafeAuto specializes in offering auto insurance to drivers with a less-than-spotless record.

The company is a bit of a one-trick-pony in this regard. You won’t find options for homeowners, renters or business insurance like you would with a larger company.

Most of SafeAuto’s customers are looking for the cheapest prices on the minimum amount of insurance their state requires. The company focuses on providing these low-coverage policies at a low cost.

SafeAuto Products and Services

SafeAuto offers auto insurance for the nonstandard market, mainly focusing on the minimum state required liability insurance.

It does offer a few other types of insurance as well. However, the company is less well-known for these products and therefore fewer experts have weighed in with their opinions on SafeAuto’s other types of insurance.

Liability Insurance

This is the type of car insurance drivers in every state are legally obligated to carry. You can’t legally drive without it.

Liability insurance doesn’t cover you, your car, or its passengers. It only provides coverage for other automobiles, people or property involved in an accident where you are at fault.

The coverage amounts for liability insurance are shown as three numbers, like $30K/$60K/$25K. Each number corresponds with the maximum payout for different types of damages.

The first number is the bodily injury liability limit per person injured. It’s what your insurance would pay if someone needed medical care as a result of an accident.

The second amount is the bodily injury liability limit per accident. It’s the maximum amount of how much in medical bills your policy would cover in an accident.

Here’s how that works.

Say you’re in a wreck with one person that causes $40,000 in medical costs for one other driver. If your policy was $30K/$60K/$25K, your insurance would cover $30,000 of their bills, and then you would be on the hook for the rest.

Now say you’re in a wreck that injures two people, one for $25,000 and one for $30,000. Both of these amounts are under $30,000, so because your bodily injury liability limit per person is not reached, your insurance covers all of their costs.

Since the total amount of your bodily injury liability limit per accident is $60,000 and the total cost of their injuries is $55,000, your insurance would still cover everything.

As for the third number, that’s your property damage liability limit. It’s how much your insurance will cover for damage to other people’s cars, personal belongings, or any other property damaged in an accident.

Liability insurance is SafeAuto’s specialty. The company offers cheap car insurance prices on the minimum amount of insurance required to keep you on the road.

It’s also so focused on this type of insurance that on SafeAuto’s website, you can’t even get a quote for more liability coverage than the state minimum.

The minimum amount of liability insurance won’t provide you much coverage, however, and may leave you on the hook for any damages that exceed your property and bodily damages limits. The money you save on car insurance premiums could end up going to paying off any accident-related expenses.

Highya noted that when it comes to liability insurance, the state minimum is the state minimum. There’s no difference in coverage or quality between SafeAuto and any other car insurance company’s policy for this no-frills insurance, so the choice comes down to premium prices.

Here, SafeAuto holds its own. A driver with a clean record received a $519 quote for the minimum liability insurance, as compared to $1,886 from Acceptance and $857 from Direct General.

However, the same driver could get rates at $355 from Infinity or $305 from United Automobile. Remember, these costs are just a ballpark figure and your individual price could vary–so it pays to shop around.

Excess Medical Expenses

This type of coverage pays for both your own or another person’s medical bills as a result of an accident, regardless of who is at fault. It also pays for any remaining expenses after other types of insurance pay out.

That means if you were in an accident and sustained $60,000 worth of medical expenses and the other driver’s insurance only covered $55,000 worth of damages, your excess medical insurance could pick up some of the remaining amount.

SafeAuto offers up to $5,000 worth of excess medical insurance. This is fairly limited compared to companies that offer coverage up to $10,000 or more.

The prices SafeAuto charges for this insurance are reasonable, coming in at $10 for six months of coverage.

Personal Injury Protection

Personal injury protection also covers medical expenses for yourself or others as a result of an accident. It pays out regardless of who is at fault.

This type of insurance is even more comprehensive than excess medical expenses, as it covers lost wages due to injuries sustained in a car accident.

Thirteen states require drivers to carry personal injury protection insurance:

• District of Columbia
• Florida
• Hawaii
• Kansas
• Kentucky
• Massachusetts
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• New Jersey
• New York
• North Dakota
• Pennsylvania
• Utah

SafeAuto offers up to $2,500 in personal injury protection insurance.

Its rates seem unusually high compared to its competitors. For a 30-year-old male driver of a 2015 Honda Accord with a clean record, SafeAuto charges $33 for its maximum amount of protection.

As a comparison, Progressive Insurance offers double that amount for only $17.

Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Bodily Injury

If an uninsured or underinsured driver causes a wreck, you could be faced with a significant amount of medical bills. This type of insurance covers that situation

Uninsured/underinsured motorist bodily injury covers you, members of your household and any passengers in your vehicle. It only kicks in if the other driver is at fault, and they either don’t have or don’t have enough liability insurance to cover the resulting damages.

These damages could include medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering.

This type of insurance works similarly to liability insurance. It covers a set amount of damages per person and a set amount per accident.

For the 30-year-old driver used in the previous example, SafeAuto offered $30k/$60k worth of liability insurance for $38. This is rather pricey, as Progressive provides the same amount of coverage for $23.

Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Property Damage

When an uninsured or underinsured driver is at fault for an accident that damages your vehicle, uninsured/underinsured motorist property damage picks up the tab.

This insurance comes with a deductible. That means you still have to pay a set amount of money before it covers the rest of the charges.

For example, say you had $25,000 worth of uninsured/underinsured motorist property damage with a $100 deductible. If an uninsured driver hit your car and caused $1,000 worth of damage, you would pay the first $100 and then the insurance company would pay the remaining $900.

The coverage SafeAuto offers with this policy is fairly standard at $25,000 worth of coverage with a $250 deductible. It’s still expensive compared with other insurers, coming in at $30 for our sample driver as compared to $6 for Progressive.

Accidental Death Benefit

In the unfortunate case where a person insured by an accidental death benefit policy is killed in a car accident, this type of insurance pays their family or estate a predetermined amount.

SafeAuto offers our 30-year-old driver $10,000 in coverage at $15.

Comprehensive and Collision Insurance

These are usually two separate types of insurance, but SafeAuto lumps both of these types of coverage into one item.

Collision insurance covers damages to your car or property as a result of a car accident. It does not matter if you or another driver is at fault in an accident – collision insurance will pay out regardless.

Comprehensive insurance covers damages stemming from vandalism, natural disasters, theft or other incidents where you’re not behind the wheel.

Both of these policies typically come with a deductible. These work the same as the deductible for uninsured/underinsured motorist property damage.

To get an idea of how that works, say you accidentally drive your car into a tree and cause $500 worth of damages. If you had a $100 deductible and $10,000 worth of collision insurance, you would pay the first $100 and then the insurance company would pick up the remaining $400.

Now say that the same tree overlooks your driveway, and falls onto your car during a nasty storm to do $500 worth of damages. If you had a $50 deductible and $5,000 worth of coverage, you would pay $50 and the insurer would pay $450.

SafeAuto lumps both of these policies together into one product. The company offers very little insurance for each of these, clocking in at $1,000 in comprehensive and $1,000 in collision for the maximum amount covered.

For our example driver, this cost $693 for a six-month term, which isn’t a good deal. If our sample driver maintained this coverage for a year, he would have paid the insurance company over the $1,000 SafeAuto would pay out if his car were damaged in a collision or other incident.

Rental Reimbursement

When your car is in the shop and you still need a way to get around, rental reimbursement defrays some of the costs of getting a rental car.

These policies pay out a set amount per day up to a maximum amount.

SafeAuto pays $20 per day, up to a maximum amount of $600. Considering that Megan Mattingly-Arthur of USA Today found that the average economy car costs $45-$65 to rent, that’s not all that much.

This policy costs $27 for the six-month term.

New Car Replacement

This type of insurance is exactly what it sounds like.

Say you buy a new car for $25,000. Six months later, the car gets totaled in an accident.

The car’s already depreciated in value by that time up to 11%, according to Meg Stefanac of Trusted Choice. Even if it’s covered by comprehensive or collision insurance, these policies only pay for the current value of the car – not what you paid for it.

New car replacement coverage would pay for a new vehicle of the same make and model.

Unfortunately SafeAuto doesn’t offer new car replacement insurance, but that unavailability isn’t out of place for insurers catering to the nonstandard market.

Accident Forgiveness

Getting in a car accident can send your premiums skyrocketing. Accident forgiveness programs allow drivers avoid this pitfall.

Under these plans, drivers pay a set amount. If they get in an accident during the time they’re covered, their rates don’t increase.

SafeAuto doesn’t offer this type of coverage. If it’s something you’re looking for, you’ll have to try a larger insurer like Liberty Mutual or Allstate.

What is nonstandard auto insurance?

Insurers sort drivers into three groups when determining policy prices: preferred, standard, and non-standard.

As Brent Radcliffe of Investopedia explains, these categories are based on the risk car insurance companies take for insuring these drivers. Safe drivers get in fewer wrecks, so they cost insurers less money in paying out claims.

• Preferred drivers pay the lowest rates since they’re the least risky for insurers. These people rarely drive, drive safely when they do and don’t have any recent moving violations on their record.
• Standard drivers are a bit riskier and pay higher premiums because of it. They may have a speeding ticket or accident on their record, but nothing too outlandish.
• Nonstandard drivers pay the most. They might have DUIs, multiple accidents, and tickets, or little driving experience.

Other reasons that may get someone classified as a nonstandard driver include owning a high-risk vehicle like a sports car, having a lapse in car insurance coverage, or being over 70 years old.

The coverage nonstandard insurance offers doesn’t vary from what preferred or standard drivers receive. If you get in an accident, your policy pays out.

As John Powter of GDP Advisors explains, there are a few differences that separate non-standard insurance from the other categories.

While most insurers will use credit scores when determining rates for standard and preferred drivers, those offering non-standard insurers usually skip this step. Because of this, some nonstandard policies will require payment upfront for the life of the policy rather than letting drivers pay their premiums on a monthly or quarterly basis.

Who should consider using SafeAuto Insurance?

SafeAuto caters to nonstandard and high-risk drivers. If you fall into any of the following categories, you should consider them when shopping around for car insurance.

• You require an SR-22
• You’re an inexperienced driver
• You’re over 70 years old
• You’re classified as a high-risk driver due to speeding tickets, frequent accidents or other reasons
• You live in one of the 17 states they offer insurance:
• – Arizona
• – California
• – Georgia
• – Illinois
• – Indiana
• – Kansas
• – Kentucky
• – Louisiana
• – Mississippi
• – Missouri
• – Ohio
• – Oklahoma
• – Pennsylvania
• – South Carolina
• – Tennessee
• – Texas
• – Virgina

SafeAuto Strengths and Weaknesses

Based on our thorough review and taking into consideration all that Auto Insurance Center, Highya, and Robert Rankin over at Smart Shop Your Car Insurance have to say, SafeAuto features the following noteworthy strengths.

• Flexible payment options are a big selling point. Drivers can choose from paying in full upfront, or through bi-monthly or monthly payment plans.
• It’s accepting of drivers requiring an SR-22, or with a driving record that other companies may reject.
• SafeAuto has a solid mobile app for a small company.
• Competitively priced excess medical expenses insurance is available.
• The insurer offers competitive prices for the state minimum required insurance. While it still pays to shop around, its rates are low enough to merit a look.
• If your car is in an accident, drivers can choose any mechanic for repairs rather than being limited by their insurer.
• SafeAuto accepts high-risk drivers or drivers with poor credit that other insurers may reject.

Besides the ones we’ve highlighted below and in the review, the same panel of experts found a few drawbacks to using SafeAuto Insurance.

• SafeAuto Insurance isn’t available nationwide. It only offers insurance in 17 states.
• Some consumers complain about poor customer service, slow claims handling, and being quoted one price and charged another.
• Few features are offered that make it stand out from the rest of its competition in the nonstandard insurance market.
• Moody’s and other large credit rating agencies have yet to rate it. That makes it difficult to tell whether the company’s in the red, and possibly unable to pay your claim.
• The company only offers auto insurance. There’s no option for bundling multiple lines of insurance to save some cash.
• Its premiums are higher than average for anything other than the state-required minimum insurance and excess medical expenses insurance.
• No accident forgiveness, new car replacement, or gap insurance is offered.

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What do people love the most about SafeAuto Insurance?

The experts over at Highya noted that SafeAuto does have some strengths that make it stand out from the competition.

For one, its rates on state-minimum required liability insurance are competitive. When comparing premiums for SafeAuto and several competitors, its prices came in at two or three times less than other insurers like Acceptance or General Insurance.

The app SafeAuto offers provides some great functionality. It can be used to review your policy, access ID cards, and other documents, and make payments.

In the event that your car is damaged, SafeAuto lets you pick any shop for repairs. SafeAuto experts can still recommend a shop in your area if you need advice on a good mechanic, but you’re not obligated to take it.

Customer service is also available 24/7 if necessary. Day or night, SafeAuto has people standing by to take your call.

A few consumer positive traits also stood out in their consumer reviews. Most people stated that they were happy with their lower rates and that they did provide accessible customer service any hour of the day.

What do people hate about SafeAuto Insurance?

Naturally there’s some bad to go with the good. Insurance expert Ron Rankin of Smart Shop Your Car Insurance provided a look at a few of SafeAuto’s flaws.

SafeAuto has a worse-than-average complaint ratio when compared to other insurers. Even if its helpline is available every hour of the day, most people aren’t happy with it.

In fact, SafeAuto has 100% negative reviews on their Better Business Bureau page. This should be taken with a grain of salt since it’s not uncommon for car insurance companies to have a high number of negative reviews, but it still stands out.

The company isn’t ranked by AM Best, Moody’s, or any of the other big rating agencies that judge how financially solvent a company is.

That can be a big drawback since it’s not possible to tell whether SafeAuto is profitable or in the red. Though it’s not likely that the company be going out of business anytime soon, it’s still a minor red flag as you don’t want your insurer not having enough money to pay your claim.

SafeAuto also doesn’t offer any types of insurance other than car insurance. That means you miss out on chances to save by bundling several different types of insurance together at a lower rate.

Consumer reviews also noted that their premiums frequently came out to be higher than the prices they were originally quoted. One customer found that their rate was 100% higher than they anticipated.

This isn’t atypical for the auto insurance industry. Most car insurance providers will provide an original quote over the phone or online based on the information you provide them, and then do a deeper dive into your driving history to figure out the final price.

Biggest Consumer Complaints

Like most insurers, SafeAuto’s Better Business Bureau and Consumer Affairs profiles are rife with complaints. This is a common trait among insurers, as the one common trait all insurance companies share is that the products are never needed until the worst possible moment.

With that in mind, here are the most common complaints from SafeAuto’s customers.

Quoted One Price, Charged Another

Many Better Business Bureau reviewers complained about SafeAuto quoting a low price and then raising the cost of their final policy. This isn’t necessarily the company’s fault, as it uses the information customers provide to generate quotes online or over the phone and then conduct research into their driving record to set the final cost for premiums.

Slow at Settling Claims

Drivers on Consumer Affairs also complained about the company being slow in settling their claims after an accident. A few reported that adjusters waited a long time to contact them, didn’t respond to messages, and were not the fastest in the world at dispensing payments.

A Lack of Customer Support

Another frequent source of frustration for Consumer Affairs reviewers was SafeAuto’s customer support not being very supportive over the phone. Many customers reported rude, disinterested, or unhelpful customer service representatives.

SafeAuto’s Biggest Competition

Since SafeAuto Insurance caters to high-risk drivers, there’s not really a single company that stands out neck-and-neck as their competition. The nonstandard insurance market is highly fragmented, with Andrea Wells reporting for the Insurance Journal that no one company controls more than 10% of the market, with most insurers serving less than 2% of the market.

That’s not to say the company doesn’t have competition. Acceptance Insurance, Infinity Insurance and The General are all vying for high-risk driver insurance dollars.

However, there isn’t much that separates one company from another. Most nonstandard insurance customers aren’t looking for plans that come with a bunch of bells and whistles, so most of these companies don’t offer them.

That’s the main reason why SafeAuto doesn’t offer a wider range of insurance products than its nonstandard insurance competitors. Most of these companies provide the same services as SafeAuto such as collision, comprehensive, and personal injury protection insurance. There may be one or two types of insurance or perks that a company offers, such as Acceptance Insurance’s motorcycle insurance plans, but you won’t find wildly different insurance plans from one non-standard insurer to the next.

If you’re required to use a company specializing in high-risk insurance due to a less-than-stellar driving record or an SR-22, or if you’re just looking for the minimum liability insurance than the decision will ultimately come down to price. That price depends on how your state regulates the insurance market, your driving record, age, and many other factors.

This makes it important to shop around since no two people will get the same rate from any insurer. If SafeAuto or a different competitor offers a lower rate, then choose them.