Safeco..as their employee said, YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR! - SAFECO - Auto
17 May 2008Safeco came through for me… - SAFECO - Home Safeco came through for me when some of my personal property was stolen out of the back of my truck. I went throug...
Safeco is the way to go. - SAFECO - Auto I used another auto insurance carrier for years before switching to Safeco. I have been *very* pleased with the ...
Let me start by saying this is NOT a biased epinion…I generally abhor ALL insurance companies and their highway robbery practices, so I’m an equal-opportunity insurance basher, however it is a necessary evil. When our car was still on installment payments, and full coverage was legally required, we signed up with SafeCo because their rates were among the best we encountered. The agent was a “nice and friendly guy”, you know, the kind of agent that pats you on the back and calls you “buddy”. The agent and staff had always been helpful enough..that is until we needed them..
Fast forward now to a cool Spring day. My wife is in her Maxima and is backing out of a parking place at a convention center lot when WHAM! Two women in a Grand Am come flying around the end of the row and pop into her rear bumper. We reported this to our SafeCo agent. Guess what? Our friendly neighborhood agent loves us but doesn’t want any part of it. He refers us to their 800 claims number. We call it and are transferred to three different people before we finally reach someone helpful enough to take our information. The lady was sympathetic, but not too efficient. She said they would send out an adjuster as soon as possible but none came. When we called back after a few days to check on this, we were asked to send a copy of the police report. OK, no prob. We acquire a copy of the police report from the station and fax it to SafeCo. We made sure to include the fact that two of my wife’s coworkers saw the Grand Am hit her and offered their testimony.
…days pass…
At this point, still no adjuster has come to inspect the damage to our car. The insurance company of the woman who hit my wife’s bumper, however, calls us and explains that they are seeking damage from US. We tell them what happened and they make a note of it, then say they will contact our insurance company. We become very nervous now and contact our agent to ask him if he knows what’s going on with our claim processing. Friendly Bob says he loves us, but he really hasn’t heard anything. He will check the computer to see what is going on and call us back. Friendly Bob calls us back and says the liability determination (who’s at fault)is still pending. I begin to get very agitated, and ask why SafeCo has not come to look at the damage on my wife’s car.and why they have not contacted our witnesses (my wife had asked both of them and they said they had not been called). Guess what? Our agent really does like us but we need to call the 800 number.
Finally, after leaving a voice mail message for their claims handler, we get a call the next day from the adjuster who sounds very ill with us. She tells us that the reason she has not come out is because they had found us at fault and it was deemed “unnecessary to investigate further.” Livid, we demanded to know how they could make an accurate determination WITHOUT INVESTIGATION OR CONTACTING OUR WITNESSES. Her answer?? “I’m sorry, but we cannot allow the testimony of your witnesses because your wife knows them personally and that might bias their testimony.”
GRRRR…
After further noodling around, the difference in initiative and detail to thorough investigation of claims between SafeCo and the other party’s insurance company was all too clear. The other company’s rep was unmistakenly a bulldog who persevered in her duties while it seems like SafeCo was hiding under the bed or rolling over and playing dead. As a result, we were found liable for an accident that was highly unlikely to be found our fault, considering the police report and our witnesses had they been consulted.
Oh, this is also amusing. After a heated discussion with this grumpy SafeCo rep, we fired off a tactful and polite email to the SafeCo client relations department outlining our unpleasant experience with the company. How nice of them to email us back, with admission and apologies for not thoroughly investigating and following our case through. Well, that’s great Mister Man but that does not help our higher premiums. Now that we have an at-fault accident on our record, we won’t be able to get better rates at another carrier for at least three years. However, as soon as that time comes, we will definitely move to State Farm or Allstate. The rates might not be much better, but even if not, we’ll have the piece of mind that comes with the knowledge that they do their jobs.
The moral of the story??? As we were too stubborn to realize, when you go with a cut-rate insurance company, prepare to receive cut-rate service if you should need them. Many times, we do what’s best for our pocketbook today without considering what could happen tomorrow, after all no-one ever thinks they will actually have an accident. My advice is to steer clear of SafeCo and all the other cheapo insurance companies because your agent will dissappear and service will evaporate should you ever need it.
Good luck my friends and drive carefully.
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