If you’re searching for a new car insurance company, you may be considering Liberty Mutual or Mercury. Both are well-known in the insurance industry and offer home and auto insurance.
Though Mercury isn’t widely available in the U.S. (with coverage available in 11 states), it offers affordable prices. To determine which car insurer is right for you, keep reading for major insight into rates, discounts, coverage options, and the customer experience with both Liberty Mutual and Mercury.
Liberty Mutual is available in all 50 U.S. states.
Mercury is the most affordable option across all driver categories.
Mercury offers more discounts to help keep car insurance rates low.
Liberty Mutual vs. Mercury: The verdict
Mercury is the more affordable option for both full coverage and liability insurance. This auto insurer also offers more discounts. But finding the lowest rates isn’t all that matters. You want to consider the customer service experience, auto coverage types, and many other factors at a few different companies. One of the best ways to start your research is to read customer reviews — both negative and favorable.
Liberty Mutual stands out as the winner for availability. While Mercury is only available to drivers in 11 states, Liberty Mutual sells car insurance throughout the entire country. Both car insurance companies received similar Insurify Quality (IQ) Scores, which indicates a similar customer experience.
Here, you can see how these two insurers compare.
Factor | Liberty Mutual | Mercury |
|---|---|---|
| IQ Score | 7.7 | 7.5 |
| Customer satisfaction score | 3.1 | 3.4 |
| Average quote: liability only | $161 | $95 |
| Number of discounts | 13 | 9 |
| Number of states where it operates | 50 | 11 |
Our editorial team spent more than 350 hours developing the Insurify Quality (IQ) Score and scoring insurance companies. The IQ Score objectively analyzes and calculates a score for insurers using more than 15 crucial criteria. The team weighted criteria by importance to the consumer — factors such as customer reviews and affordability influence the score more than availability and third-party ratings.
We rate each company on a 1 to 10 scale based on five categories: financial ratings, customer satisfaction, affordability, customer support and transparency, and availability. Insurify updates ratings once a year or as more recent information becomes available.
- Third-party financial ratings: Insurify uses data from AM Best, S&P, Moody’s, and more to compare insurance companies’ credit and ability to pay out future claims.
- Customer satisfaction: To calculate this score, Insurify analyzed more than 55,000 customer reviews across 155 car insurance companies. We also consider third-party ratings from J.D. Power, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, and Trustpilot.
- Affordability: Our data scientists analyzed more than 90 million real-time auto insurance rates from our partners across the U.S., as well as available discounts, to calculate an affordability score.
- Customer support and transparency: This measures coverage options, ease of claims filing, and the insurer's transparency surrounding discounts, coverages, and claims process.
- Availability and reach: Insurify scores availability and reach by identifying the number of states in which insurers offer coverage and company size by market share.
Liberty Mutual
Liberty Mutual is a popular car insurance company that services all 50 states and sells many more insurance products than just auto insurance. It also sells life, homeowners (including condo), renters, and business insurance.
Mercury
Mercury isn’t a nationwide car insurance company but offers fair prices, is known for a good customer experience, and offers a variety of car insurance discounts alongside homeowners insurance and renters insurance discounts.
Liberty Mutual RightTrack vs. Mercury RealDrive
Both insurers offer a telematics-based discount program that can help you save if you practice safe driving habits.
Liberty Mutual RightTrack offers an immediate 10% discount upon enrollment and savings of up to 30% based on driving performance. But the program requires tracking driving habits, which some drivers find intrusive.
Mercury Insurance RealDrive provides savings of up to 20% based on annual mileage, making it appealing for low-mileage drivers. This program requires providing odometer readings.
RightTrack focuses on driving behavior and RealDrive emphasizes mileage, allowing flexibility for people who prefer less monitoring of their driving patterns.
Liberty Mutual vs. Mercury: Which is the cheapest?
Mercury offers lower average monthly premiums for auto insurance customers in all driver categories.
It’s important to note that factors like your credit history, a history of car accidents or having a DUI on your record, ZIP code, and more can all affect auto insurance rates.[?] Finding the best option for your unique car insurance needs can help you save some money each month.
Mercury: Cheapest for drivers with a clean driving record
If you have a clean driving record, you’ll likely encounter favorable auto insurance premiums with any insurer you choose. When comparing Liberty Mutual vs. Mercury auto insurance, you’ll find a lower average rate than with Mercury. Here, you can see the average rates for liability coverage for both insurers below.
Driver Type | Liberty Mutual | Mercury |
|---|---|---|
| Clean driving record | $161 | $95 |
Mercury: Cheapest for drivers with a speeding ticket
If you have traffic violations like a speeding ticket on your driving record, you may end up paying a higher monthly premium than people with a clean driving record. On average, Mercury charges less than Liberty Mutual for drivers with a speeding ticket.
Driver Type | Liberty Mutual | Mercury |
|---|---|---|
| Drivers with a speeding ticket | $204 | $146 |
Mercury: Cheapest for teen drivers
Young drivers experience notoriously high car insurance rates. To help keep auto insurance spending low, parents of teen drivers may want to request a quote for a Mercury policy, which offers lower rates for teens than Liberty Mutual.
Driver Type | Liberty Mutual | Mercury |
|---|---|---|
| 18-year-old | $276 | $181 |
Mercury: Cheapest for senior drivers
Mercury is the winner in terms of offering the cheapest car insurance rates for senior drivers.
Driver Type | Liberty Mutual | Mercury |
|---|---|---|
| Senior drivers | $131 | $72 |
Mercury: Cheapest for drivers with bad credit
Having a bad credit history can hurt you when it comes to auto insurance rates. Mercury charges drivers with bad credit much less per month than Liberty Mutual.
Driver Type | Liberty Mutual | Mercury |
|---|---|---|
| Drivers with bad credit | $186 | $119 |
Compare coverages: Liberty Mutual vs. Mercury
Liberty Mutual and Mercury both offer liability-only, collision, comprehensive, medical payments, personal injury protection (PIP), uninsured/underinsured motorist, and rental car coverage.[?] [?]
Some car insurance companies also offer more unique types of coverage in the form of add-ons that you can use to enhance your base auto policy. This is where Mercury and Liberty Mutual differ significantly, with the latter offering more add-ons.
Coverage | Liberty Mutual | Mercury |
|---|---|---|
| Roadside assistance | Yes | Yes |
| Rideshare insurance | No | Yes |
| Better car replacement | Yes | No |
| 24-hour roadside assistance | Yes | No |
| Original parts replacement | Yes | No |
| Gap insurance | Yes | No |
Compare discounts: Liberty Mutual vs. Mercury
In terms of potential insurance policy discounts, Liberty Mutual and Mercury’s offerings are pretty similar. Mercury has nine discounts, but Liberty Mutual comes in a bit stronger, with 13.
But some drivers may find that even though Liberty Mutual has fewer discounts available, the insurer may have the ones they need. For example, Mercury doesn’t offer a military discount, and Liberty Mutual does. To find the right discounts for you, don’t be afraid to ask an insurance agent for help.
Discount | Liberty Mutual | Mercury |
|---|---|---|
| Clean driving record | Yes | Yes |
| Defensive driving course | No | No |
| Multi-policy | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-car | Yes | Yes |
| Low mileage | No | No |
| Telematics (safe driving app) | Yes | Yes |
| Anti-theft device | No | Yes |
| New car | No | No |
| Military/affiliation | Yes | No |
| Good student | Yes | Yes |
| Loyalty | No | No |
| Auto-pay | Yes | Yes |
| Student away at school | Yes | No |
| Homeowner | Yes | No |
| Alternative fuel | No | No |
Liberty Mutual vs. Mercury FAQs
If you’re still on the fence about whether or not Liberty Mutual or Mercury is the right car insurance company for your needs, read on for a breakdown of some frequently asked questions about both insurers.
Who is Liberty Mutual’s biggest competitor?
Liberty Mutual has a few big competitors. Mercury, Allstate, GEICO, Safeco, and State Farm are all examples of major car insurance companies that offer similar insurance products to Liberty Mutual. You can request quotes from a few different auto insurance companies to see which can offer low rates for your specific car insurance needs.
Is Mercury Insurance good?
Mercury is a reliable auto insurance policy company and is well-respected in the insurance industry. Mercury received an AM Best financial strength rating of “A” (Excellent). AM Best ratings assess the financial strength and credit of insurance companies, indicating a company’s ability to meet ongoing insurance obligations — such as paying out future claims.
Why is Mercury Insurance so cheap?
Mercury offers nine different auto insurance discounts that policyholders may be able to qualify for, which helps keep its auto insurance premiums affordable.
What are the key differences between Liberty Mutual and Mercury Insurance?
The main differences between Liberty Mutual and Mercury are availability and market share. While Mercury insurance isn’t widely available, Liberty Mutual sells insurance in all 50 states. Both insurers also offer varying add-ons and discounts but sell the same standard types of car insurance.
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