Safeway Insurance Company ripoff Alpharetta Georgia

Mike is right. Non standard insurance insures the higher risk driver. And I emphasize "driver" because what ever the state they live in , THAT state is STILL issuing them a license to drive and be on the road AND requiring them to have insurance coverage. Even if their record is SO bad and a non standard co. won't even touch them, states have an "assigned risk" program.

If a company is licensed in a particular state, THAT state requires a precentage of business " assigned risk" to be place with them, these are indidviduals that can't even be insured by non standard companies.The company has NO choice but to insure these folks if they want to continue to write ANY business in that state. Seems to me the solution is for the state to KEEP these bad drivers OFF the road instead of forcing companies to insure the uninsurable.

Safeway is a non-standard insurance company. They are the slumlords of auto insurance. The drivers they insure usually have caused multiple accidents. They insure the uninsurable. They insure people who have driven without insurance for long periods of time. They write policies for motorists that no standard company will insure.

To make matters worse, they attempt to minimize their losses by pushing around claimants on liability claims. It's hard to get a liability claim paid to begin with, it's even harder when the carrier is corrupt. The reason being is that it is your responsibility to prove 100% that the other driver was liable, whereas if it were your own carrier, you can access first party coverages without having this burden.

With a normal carrier, you can file a liability claim, and they'll want to get in touch with their insured to get their side of the story. If the other driver admits fault, they'll usually just pay. If there is a dispute, they'll want to independently verify what happened, which is where police reports and witnesses come in. Usually the matter is resolved after things have been verified by an independent source.

However this is not the case with Safeway, if their driver disputes liability they will fight it until someone makes them pay. I've worked in the industry for some time and I've seen this time and time again, no carrier is as distinguished as Safeway in the way they handle liability claims.

My best advice is to go with a big name carrier, and if you like your car, carry comprehensive and collision and don't rely on someone else's insurance to fix your vehicle. If there is an accident, even if it's not your fault, call both carriers and report it. Even if the other insurance company pays for the damages your carrier can protect your interests. They can tell you how much your car is worth and they can tell you how much they would pay to repair it. They can help you avoid being "low-balled" by the third party carrier.

If they don't want to pay, or if things don't add up, let your insurance company repair your car. They will get the money back. They will file claim with the at-fault carrier and if they don't want to pay they will most likely sue them to get it (assuming it's not an insanely small amount of damages)

When your company collects, your deductible will be reimbursed, and your premiums shouldn't go up as long as your carrier didn't find you at fault. Let your carrier work for you, that is what you pay them for! This process is called subrogation, and it's very common in the insurance industry. Go with a big name company, I can tell you that I know for a fact that Progressive and State Farm are excellent subrogators. They pay more money to staff attorneys than Safeway ever makes.

Don't waste your money on an auto accident attorney, half the time they end up turning on you. They'll put you in treatment with some "doctor" that they send everyone to, who will charge insane amounts of money for your "treatment" 3 times a week. Then they'll file a claim and Safeway will offer you some b.s. offer like $2000.00 for the $10,000.00 of treatment.

Your attorney will then say "I think you should take it." At this point you'll decline (understandably) and the attorney will say "well, you declined the offer against my better judgement, so I'm going to drop you now, sorry I can no longer represent you." - This happens time + time again with these "lawyers" who advertise on television.

They're handling 150 cases at a time and they're not willing to go to court to get you more money than what the carrier offers you. The sad thing is, they get paid either way, as you still owe $10,000.00 to the "doctor" who is giving your attorney a "referral commission" (or kickback) for referring you to them.

It's a scam, protect yourself and insure your car with first party insurance and let them fight your battles for you. It's sad that there are corrupt companies and legal services that will screw you but that's the way it is. I'm sorry that Safeway got to you this time, but hopefully this will help you later on, my best advice, for what it's worth.