Mercury Auto Insurance Review

Who It’s Best For

• Drivers who stay close to home, since the Mercury’s RealDrive discount offers more savings the less you drive
• Drivers looking for personal injury protection, an extensive type of insurance that not all companies offer
• Uber and Lyft drivers in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas, and Virginia

Who It’s Not Best For

• Drivers looking for accident forgiveness or diminishing deductibles
• Drivers with a tight budget for auto insurance

Pros and Cons of Mercury Auto Insurance

• Bodily injury and property damage liability insurance: Liability coverage is the most basic form of auto insurance, and some minimum level of liability insurance is legally required in all but two states (New Hampshire and Virginia). If you are found to be at fault in an auto accident, bodily injury liability insurance pays for medical care for injured parties other than yourself and your passengers.

  Similarly, property damage liability insurance covers the cost of repairing other peoples’ property if you’re determined to be at fault for an accident. Mercury’s liability insurance includes coverage for attorney fees if you are sued following an accident.

• Collision insurance: Collision insurance is optional in all states, but we highly recommend it as part of a full coverage auto insurance plan. This insurance protects your vehicle if it’s damaged in an accident, regardless of who caused the collision.
• Comprehensive coverage: Comprehensive insurance protects your car in the event of damage that’s not from a collision. This includes theft, vandalism, and damage from falling objects, weather, animals, and civil disturbances.
• Medical payments coverage: Medical payments coverage is required in only two states: Maine and Pennsylvania. You can add this supplemental form of insurance to an existing Mercury auto policy to cover medical expenses arising from a covered accident. The at-fault driver will pay for the other party’s injuries.
• Personal injury protection: It’s helpful to think of personal injury protection (PIP) as a more powerful and extensive version of medical payments coverage. PIP covers medical expenses for you and your passengers in the event of an accident, no matter who’s at fault.

  It goes beyond medical care to cover other expenses, including lost wages, funeral expenses, and survivor’s benefits. It’s a unique form of insurance because it follows you even when you’re not in your car. For example, if a car hits you while you’re out walking, personal injury protection benefits can apply.

• Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage: Unfortunately, not every driver is responsible when it comes to insurance. Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage protects you in an accident where a driver with no insurance or insufficient insurance coverage is at fault. This coverage pays for your medical care and for damage to your property beyond the level that the other driver’s insurance may cover. It can also apply in cases where the driver at fault can’t be identified, such as a hit-and-run incident.
• Mechanical protection insurance: Rather than damage from a collision, mechanical protection insurance covers the cost of repair for issues with your car’s engine, transmission, and electrical system. It does not cover normal wear-and-tear, regular vehicle tune-ups, and non-mechanical items such as vehicle trim.
• Rideshare driver insurance: The popularity of rideshare apps from companies like Uber or Lyft means that an increasing number of drivers are using their personal vehicles for work, blurring the lines between private and commercial use. Since rideshare companies tend to insure their drivers only while passengers are in the car, rideshare drivers need special insurance to cover the time periods when they’re waiting for a ride or on the way to pick up passengers.

  If you drive for Uber or Lyft, you can add this coverage to a Mercury Insurance personal auto policy in every state that Mercury covers except New York and New Jersey.

• Rental car reimbursement: This insurance covers the cost of renting a replacement vehicle while your car undergoes covered repairs, or if your vehicle is declared a total loss.
• Roadside assistance: Mercury’s optional 24/7 roadside assistance service includes towing service, locksmith services, battery jumpstarts, flat tire changes, and emergency fuel, and fluid delivery to stranded drivers.
• Umbrella insurance: This optional insurance coverage offers an extra level of liability protection in the event of a financially devastating lawsuit or insurance claim. Mercury’s umbrella coverage customers can choose from options that provide between $1 million and $5 million dollars in additional liability coverage on top of an existing Mercury auto insurance policy.

Based on our up-to-date market analysis, AutoInsurance.com has determined that the average annual cost for Mercury auto insurance is $1,706 per year. Your own annual cost will vary depending on your unique characteristics, including your driving history, credit score, age, and location.

As of November 2022, Mercury offers auto insurance in 11 states:

• Arizona
• California
• Florida
• Georgia
• Illinois
• Nevada
• New Jersey
• New York
• Oklahoma
• Texas
• Virginia

California represents the core of Mercury’s auto insurance business, accounting for approximately 86 percent of the company’s premium revenue.²

• General customer service phone line: (800) 503-3724
• Billing and payment services: (800) 503-3724
• Claims: (800) 503-3724 or https://mercury.assured.claims/
• Customer support email tool: https://cp.mercuryinsurance.com/guest/contact-mercury?src=cw
• Find a local agent: https://www.mercuryinsurance.com/agentlocator/
• Mailing address:
  • 555 W. Imperial Hwy
  • Brea, CA 92821-4802
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MercuryInsurance
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mercuryins/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mercury-insurance/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/MercuryIns
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/mercuryspots

Mercury offers a mobile app for both iOS and Android devices. The app allows users to pay bills, view coverage details and ID cards, and contact customer service and roadside assistance. On the Apple App store, it has 4.8 out of five stars, averaged from 431 reviews. On the Google Play store, it has a score of 4.4 out of five stars, averaged from 372 reviews.

• Better Business Bureau: The Better Business Bureau (BBB) gives Mercury an A- score, and has not yet accredited the company. Customer reviews on the BBB site give Mercury 1.23 stars out of a possible five stars, averaged from 47 customer reviews. Keep in mind that this is a fairly small sample size and includes a significant number of negative reviews from home insurance customers. Several negative reviews from auto insurance policyholders mention slow claims processing and unresponsive customer service agents.³
• J.D. Power: J.D. Power, a consumer research and analytics firm, performs annual surveys of customer satisfaction in the auto insurance industry. The firm’s most recent 2022 study assigns Mercury a California consumer satisfaction index of 827 out of 1,000 possible points. This is the fourth-highest ranking out of the 15 included companies.⁴ In 2021, Mercury won J.D. Power’s Digital Experience Study Award, awarded to the insurance company that offers the best digital consumer experience.

George Joseph, a World War II veteran who spent a decade working in insurance before starting his own company, founded The Mercury General Corporation in 1961. Starting with just six employees, the company sold its first auto insurance policy in 1962.

Mercury began offering homeowners insurance in 1972. In 1978, it established the insurance industry’s first Special Investigations Unit to fight insurance fraud. The company expanded beyond California in 1989 when it opened offices in Georgia and Illinois. It maintains its headquarters in Los Angeles, California.

More than six decades after its creation, the company holds more than $6.7 billion in assets and has more than 4,400 employees, as well as over 9,400 independent agents across 11 states. Mercury General Corporation owns the following subsidiary companies:

• American Mercury
• American Mercury Insurance Company
• California Automobile Insurance Company
• California General Underwriters Insurance Company, Inc.
• Lloyds Insurance Company
• Mercury Casualty Company
• Mercury County Mutual Insurance Company
• Mercury Indemnity Company of America
• Mercury Indemnity Company of Georgia
• Mercury Insurance Company
• Mercury Insurance Company of Florida
• Mercury Insurance Company of Georgia
• Mercury Insurance Company of Illinois
• Orion Indemnity Company

Mercury provides the following policies for your home:

• Condo
• Fire damage
• Flood
• Identity management
• Home cyber
• Home systems
• Homeowners
• Landlord
• Renters
• Service line

The company also offers policies for your business:

• Business auto
• Business owners

To cancel your Mercury auto insurance policy, call customer service at 1-800-503-3724. You may be eligible for a refund on the remaining contract time if you paid upfront.