Safeco Corp.  

206-545-5000

Safeco Plaza

Seattle, WA 98185

www.safeco.com  

Sales

$7.4 billion

Business Description

We are a Washington State corporation with headquarters in Seattle. We had 11,200 employees at February 27, 2004. We sell insurance and investment products through a national network of independent agents, brokers and financial advisors. Our businesses help people protect what they value and deal with the unexpected.

We started our business in 1923. Even though we’ve been in the insurance business for more than 80 years, we’re still working hard to simplify (hence our marketing brand “Uncomplicate”) the process of buying, selling and owning insurance for our distribution partners and customers.

Our major business is Property & Casualty (P&C) – providing auto and homeowners insurance to individuals, commercial insurance for small- and medium-sized businesses and surety bonds.

Our P&C Products

We are the 18th largest property and casualty insurance company in the United States based on 2002 total direct written premiums as reported by A.M. Best, an insurance rating and information agency. A.M. Best ranks companies based on written premiums, which are premiums charged for policies issued. 

Our P&C business has four business segments:


• Safeco Personal Insurance – offers personal auto, homeowners and other specialty insurance products for individuals.


• Safeco Business Insurance – offers business owner policies, commercial multi-peril packages, workers compensation, property, general liability and commercial auto policies to small- and medium-sized businesses.


• Surety – offers bonds that provide payment and performance guarantees primarily for construction businesses and for corporations.


• P&C Other – includes property and casualty business that is in runoff or business that we have exited.

Auto –We are the 14th largest writer of auto insurance in the United States, based on 2002 direct written premiums as reported by A.M. Best. We provide coverage for the liability of our customers to others for both bodily injury and property damage, for injuries sustained by our customers and for damage to our customers’ vehicles from collision and other hazards.

Our tiered auto product, now available in 43 of the 44 states where we write business, can cover more than 95% of all applicants in our agents’ offices. This product blends traditional underwriting methods with an automated underwriting and segmentation process that enables us to assign the price appropriate to the corresponding level of risk that we assume, driving greater competitive pricing precision and profitability. Our new point-of-sale (POS) technology, enabled by this automated underwriting process, allows distributors to quote and sell policies faster, allowing us to streamline the sales process.

Homeowners – We are the 10th largest writer of homeowners insurance in the United States, based on 2002 direct written premiums as reported by A.M. Best. We protect homes, condominiums and rental property contents against losses from a wide variety of hazards. We protect individuals from liability for accidents that occur on their property.

Due to our focus on profitability, we have not aggressively grown our homeowners business. We have, however, taken a number of actions to improve our results in this line of business and achieve returns appropriate for the risks insured.

Like auto, we’ve rolled out our tiered pricing structure for homeowners insurance in 43 of the 44 states where we write business. Also like auto, our tiered homeowners product allows us to match rates more closely to the risks that we insure and connects to our POS technology.

Specialty – We also offer umbrella, earthquake, dwelling fire, inland marine, recreational vehicle, motorcycle and boat insurance coverage for individuals. These specialty products broaden our personal lines portfolio so we can provide products to meet the majority of our policyholders’ personal insurance needs.

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