Mercury Auto Insurance Review

Mercury Auto Insurance has been providing affordable car insurance and other products to consumers since 1962. Headquartered in California, Mercury Insurance offers auto, home, condo, umbrella, and business auto insurance in 11 states: Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma, Texas, and Virginia. bills itself as an insurance company that believes that policyholders can have the best of both worlds: low premiums and adequate coverage. (For more information, read our “Cheap Car Insurance in Nevada“).

Over the course of its fifty-plus years in business, Mercury Auto Insurance has become the sixth-largest private passenger insurer in California, and one of the fastest-growing insurance companies in the nation. In 2021, Mercury Insurance made Forbes America’s Best Insurance Firms list, adding to its growing list of awards and recognition across the country.

When you combine those stats with the fact that the company made Insure.com’s Top Five Insurance Companies for 2021 and Forbes included it on its 2019 America’s Best Mid-Size Employers list and Best Employers for Women 2020, you can see that Mercury Auto is a company whose growth probably won’t stop anytime soon. (For more information, read our “Best Car Insurance For Women“).

Of course, this doesn’t mean you should start creating a policy with them immediately; Is Mercury Insurance a good company to insure your car with? We’ll let you be the judge. Take a moment to read the available Mercury Auto insurance reviews so you can make an informed decision, including the pros and cons of insuring your auto and potentially, your home.

Mercury Auto Insurance Pros and Cons

Mercury Auto Insurance Pros:

Rideshare coverage in some states
Inexpensive rates
Mechanical breakdown coverage
Online quote for auto insurance
Below average complaint index

Mercury Auto Insurance Cons:

Only offered in 11 states
Unable to purchase online
No option to file claims online
Limited coverage and discount options
Below average customer satisfaction ratings

MERCURY INSURANCE COVERAGE OPTIONS REVIEW

Like most auto insurance companies, Mercury Auto offers quite a few different standard coverage options you’ve come to expect from auto insurance carriers. There are also two you don’t see with some of the larger insurers, which helps set Mercury Car Insurance apart from the crowd.

Liability Coverage

Your liability coverage is the part of your auto insurance policy that most states require you to carry. It protects you from property damage and/or personal injury claims in the event you’re found at fault in an accident.

Personal Injury Protection Coverage

Coverage of your medical payments is an optional add-on to your liability coverage. It pays the cost of medical bills for you and anyone riding in your car in the event of an accident.

Comprehensive and Collision Coverage

When people refer to “full-coverage” insurance, they are actually talking about comprehensive and collision coverage. These two policy add-ons pay for necessary repairs to your vehicle in the event of a loss.

Underinsured Motorist Coverage

Even though most states require that drivers carry a minimum amount of liability insurance, not all drivers are responsible. Also, in some cases, the state’s minimum required amount may not fully cover a claim.

Underinsured motorist coverage gives you additional coverage for your vehicle—just in case the at-fault party runs short.

Mechanical Protection Coverage

Nothing’s worse than having your warranty on your car expire just to have it break down. You may still be paying on the loan, and now you have to worry about a repair bill.

With Mercury auto insurance, you can get coverage that works like an extended warranty. Mechanical Protection coverage offers several levels, insuring vehicles up to seven years old or 100,000 miles, whichever happens faster.

Mercury Car Insurance Mechanical Protection plan provides coverage for vehicle failures such as engine problems, faulty electrical components, and transmission issues. For no extra cost, you also get:

Trip interruption coverage
Road hazard tire protection
Rental assistance
24/7 roadside assistance
Nationwide coverage, with your choice of licensed repair facility
Coverage is transferable if you sell the vehicle

Rideshare Coverage

If you drive for Lyft, Uber, or other Transportation Network Company, your standard car insurance policy doesn’t cover your vehicle while you’re working, from the time you turn on the app.

At Mercury Car Insurance, you can get coverage for rideshare and ride-hail services to fill the gap your standard policy leaves behind.

For drivers offering these services, Mercury Auto Insurance provides coverage until the rideshare company’s coverage starts after you’ve accepted a fair.

MERCURY INSURANCE DISCOUNTS REVIEW

Though Mercury doesn’t offer as many discount options as other auto insurance companies, you can still get low rates with the following popular discounts:

Anti-theft
Auto pay
E-signature
Good driver
Good student
Multi-car
Multi-policy
Pay in full

If you don’t drive many miles, you may be able to save even more with Mercury Auto Insurance Company’s RealDrive app. The pay-per-mile program is also offered by some of the larger insurers, which only charges you based on how many miles you drive.

MERCURY AUTO INSURANCE CLAIMS SATISFACTION REVIEW

One of the main factors that you should consider as you search for good auto insurance coverage is how companies process their claims.

Why? Because most people only interact with their insurance company when they have to file a claim. Unless there’s a change needed, most people simply don’t have a reason to speak with them. Reviewing the claims process and customer reviews can help you determine if insuring your car with a company like Mercury Auto Insurance is a good choice.

To file an auto claim with Mercury Insurance, you have to call the Claims Hotline at 800-503-3724. Representatives are available 24/7 and you can track your claim with the supplied tracking number online once it’s filed.

For Mechanical Protection claims, Mercury Insurance advises choosing a repair facility or taking the vehicle to the dealer and have them call 800-654-8455 to handle the process.

Mercury is listed below average on the J.D. Power 2020 U.S. Auto Claims Satisfaction Study. In fact, it’s in the bottom three and only received 849 points out of a possible 1,000 points.

However, it does have a lower-than-average company complaint index of 0.81 with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. With a national average of 1.00, the company performs better than other auto insurers.

Even if you’ve never been involved in an accident in your life, it’s still crucial that your insurance company provides good claims service because unless you’re making changes to your policy, practically the only contact you’ll ever have with it is when you need to file a claim.

The 2019 Auto Claims Satisfaction Study completed by J.D. Power lists Mercury Auto in their “The Rest” category when it comes to claims satisfaction. Mercury Auto insurance rankings were sub-par in most of the categories the study included. However, the company did receive an “About Average” ranking in the estimation process, repair process, and settlement categories.

Its three “About Average” rankings placed Mercury Auto directly under Liberty Mutual. It did beat out COUNTRY Financial and Safeco in the claims satisfaction study, however, to achieve the third-to-last spot on the list.

When you look at the three key performance indicators–communication, timeliness, and ease of service interaction–Mercury Auto insurance ratings show an about average customer service experience in claims processing.

MERCURY AUTO INSURANCE CUSTOMER SATISFACTION REVIEW

While it’s definitely important that companies handle claims quickly and efficiently, there are other aspects of the customer/insurer relationship that you should also take into consideration.

When you study Mercury Auto insurance reviews, look at how well the company handles the purchase experience, complaints, customer service, and other important communications with their customers.

Mercury Car Insurance has had 129 complaints and reviews filed with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) in the last three years, with 42 closed in the last year. Most complaints reported are a problem with the product or service, a mix or service and claim issues. There are also 36 complaints about billing issues. However, with an A- rating due to failure to respond to just one complaint, it seems Mercury has a good handle on dealing with customer issues and concerns.

Mercury Insurance Group also has subpar ratings and reviews on Yelp, between 2- and 3-stars depending on location. Mercury Auto Insurance has 2 stars on Consumer Affairs with 354 votes but 3.9 stars on Consumers Advocate. On Trustpilot, Mercury Insurance has 3 stars after 11 reviews, with a mix of billing and claims concerns peppered in with glowing reviews on price and claims handling.

Expectedly, Mercury Insurance Company’s own website has customer reviews and ratings of 4.6 stars. With a mix of good and bad, Mercury Auto Insurance may still be a good option with affordable rates on the states offering coverage.

Mercury Auto Insurance Customer Reviews According to J.D. Power

According to the J.D. Power 2020 Shopping Study, Mercury Auto lands near the bottom of the list, which means that companies like Allstate and Geico rank a bit higher in categories such as pricing, policy offerings, and the availability of local agents.

The J.D. Power 2020 U.S. Auto Insurance Satisfaction Study for California gave Mercury Auto “Below Average” rankings in the price, policy offerings, and interaction categories, which is a lower score than it received the previous year in the same region. The Mercury Auto insurance reviews in Florida also reveal the company as a pretty average insurer, especially in the price, interaction, and claims categories.

When it comes to complaints against the company, however, Mercury Auto excels. The 2019 California Consumer Complaint Study ranked Mercury Auto at number 5 out of 50, with a justified complaint ratio hovering around 1.5. The company outranked many larger companies, including Progressive, State Farm, and USAA.

When you look at this study, which focuses on the U.S.’ s most populated state, it’s evident that Mercury Auto is doing a much better job at pleasing its local customers.

MERCURY AUTO INSURANCE PRICING REVIEW

The price of an auto insurance policy depends on a multitude of variables, including the year, make and model of your vehicle, where you live, your age, and your gender.

The California Department of Insurance (and some other states as well) handily provides a rate calculator to help determine how the different variables affect your premium.

Sample Review of Mercury Car Insurance Rate for a Male in San Francisco

For example, a single male living in San Francisco, California, licensed between nine and 15 years, driving a Toyota Camry with no violations, and who drives between 12,000 and 15,000 miles per year, shows a basic liability annual premium of $868.

This falls in the lower third of comparable carriers’ premiums, with USAA’s rates slightly lower at $782 and State Farm’s a bit higher at $949.

Sample Review of Mercury Car Insurance Rate for a Male in San Diego

Take this same male driver and move him to Ocean Beach, San Diego, and his premium is only $628, much less than State Farm ($896) or even USAA ($750).

Add on one ticket and keep all other variables the same and his premiums jump to $756. These fluctuations remind you that it is important to provide all the pertinent information when you go quote shopping.

Mercury Auto insures consumers in several states. As demonstrated in the example above, it’s always advisable to get a quote based upon your specific geographical area as that is a prime factor in determining costs.

Why is Mercury Insurance so cheap? It offers coverage in just a few states, doesn’t have a lot of coverages, and focuses on a few of the most popular insurance products for consumers. For price-conscious drivers, Mercury auto Insurance could be a great choice, especially when bundling with home insurance for additional savings.

MERCURY AUTO INSURANCE FINANCIAL STRENGTH REVIEW

It’s important to assess an insurance company’s financial strength before purchasing a policy because you need to make sure the insurer is able to pay filed claims in the case of a major disaster.

Fortunately, a quick look at Mercury Auto insurance reviews as regards the company’s financial status shows that the company is financially secure, although the company’s heavy concentration of clients residing in California’s earthquake regions provides an increased risk of catastrophic exposure.

A.M. Best: A
Moody’s: Baa2

Fitch Ratings: A