I Just Saved a Bunch of Money By Switching to Geico

[TechnoViking]

I have Geico.

I assume all insurance companies are bastards, whether it be health, home, auto, whatever. I'm prepared for battle whenever a sizable claim is submitted.

Might as well go with the one with lower rates. If Geico screwed all their customers to a greater extent than the rest of the insurance industry, they would not be in business.

[stomachmonkey]

No recent experience with Geico but back in the day when they were primarily servicing Fed employees and Military their rates and service were stellar.

[hcariss]

I used to be with Geico, because I thought the Ads were great, but when it came to renewal time I checked in with Progressive they were $400 cheaper for the same coverage and if you have any reason to speak to the staff on the phone they are very polite helpful and responsive.
I dislike the 'Flo' ads but when i was with Geico I resented the hell out of giving money to Speck / Gordan & 'Furlined' even more.

[legion]

Originally Posted by The Gaijin

I don't know much about insurance - but you get the feeling the major companies were propping up the money losing stuff (like Florida coastal homes..) with Midwestern auto policies.

The brilliance of the little gecko is to break off the profitable part - and underwrite that only..

Some do that, and the state of Florida certainly wants insurers to do that (Charlie Crist has said so himself, though perhaps not publicly). Many insurers have established Florida-only companies to protect policyholders in other states from exactly that, and that is why some such Florida-only subsidiaries are on the verge of bankruptcy.

It's a catch 22 situation where an insurer can essentially chose to be an enemy of the state of Florida, or risk criminal investigations and other hassles in other states as state regulators don't feel their citizens should be subsidizing Florida home insurance.

[RWebb]

Originally Posted by Schrup

I don't understand how they can be cheaper than everyone else when they have to spend a fortune on advertising. I am fortunate enough to be able to use USAA, I am sure they are the best.

one reason is that they are hard to get $$ out of if you need them

they are usually ranked pretty low in claims service -- and that is why you really want insurance, right?

[onlycafe]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

BTW, I had a friend who worked at Geico and was fired for being caught on their security camera, pulling into her office garage and not wearing a seatbelt.

they will also drop you like a hot rock of they discover that you own a radar detector.

another reason i would never use geico.

[jyl]

Do you save by having your auto and home insurance w/ same company? I imagine that option isn't available with Geico.

I have both with State Farm, mainly because the agent is a parent at my kids' school and I'm trying to support our own. I have not price-shopped at all. My bad.

Well, inertia plays a role. I've been w/ State Farm for appx 20 years and never collected a single claim. A few car break-in and parking lot damage incidents, always too low to be worth claiming. They were going to promptly send a very fair check when my pickup was stolen, but then I found the truck so withdrew the claim.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by Martin Smith

I have Geico.

I assume all insurance companies are bastards, whether it be health, home, auto, whatever. I'm prepared for battle whenever a sizable claim is submitted.

Might as well go with the one with lower rates. If Geico screwed all their customers to a greater extent than the rest of the insurance industry, they would not be in business.

Very true. We've had them for years, one claim (hail) that was taken care of quickly. I pocketed the check, but had my choice of shops, with them volunteering to pay any additional cost resulting from the repair. Rate didn't go up (like it did with my last company). Not to mention all of their customer service is AMERICAN, and I've never had a bad experience with them on the phone. Also never had to wait more than 5 minutes on hold with an operator. All in all, they're probably the easiest of the service providers that we deal with.

[GG Allin]

Originally Posted by jyl

Do you save by having your auto and home insurance w/ same company? I imagine that option isn't available with Geico.

Geico offers homeowners ins. I'm having that quoted next.

[kaisen]

We just transferred everything, incl homeowner's and RV, to Geico. Saved big over our already-low rates with American Family

[Looking_for_911]

Geico, aka "Government Employees Insurance Company" does have agents. We have an office near Birmingham that you can actually walk in where agents actually work.
However, my service over the phone has been so good with them that I don't see the need to go to the agency. When I call them I always get some sweet talking young thing from Macon, Georgia on the phone... although Southern myself, their accent always melts my heart. :-)
When I was rear ended by the 18-wheeler they were great to work with. Helped us in dealing with the A-hole insurance company the trucking company used that tried like hell to jerk us around. All in all, I like the "Lizard."

[Joe Bob]

Fuch Geico and that turd Gecko, the caveman and the googly eyes. Those asshats give the donut eaters free radar guns.

[GG Allin]

Originally Posted by GG Allin

Previous insurance bill for my 1998 M3 and the wife's 2008 Toyota Corrola was $177 per month. Now I pay $145 a month for the M3, Toyota and the Cayenne. Ridiculous, I wish I switched a long time ago.

Wow, how things change. My payment over the years has crept up to $182 per month. Different crop of cars now. 2014 Acura MDX, 2010 Acura RDX, 1998 BMW M3 and a 1995 M3 that does not get driven. New quote from Farmers, $127 per month. Needless to say I'm switching. Not only that, my homeowners that I also get through Geico (Travelers) is going from $1250 per year to $750. It pays to look at these things every few years.

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by red-beard

I just switched to 21 Century and I'm down to about $100 per month for both my Jeep Cherokee and BMW X5. I dropped the collision on the Jeep, but still have it on the BMW.

21st Century was purchased by Farmers. Had homeowners with Farmers, so was getting a discount.

After 6 years or so, my rates creeped up, even with supposed discounts from Home and Auto.

Switched to AAA for both home and Auto. Combination reduced my payments by $3400 per year, mostly (2/3rds) on the homeowners. Boy was I getting the shaft!!!

[john70t]

Insurance will always creep up.
It has to, according to the CPI and 'invisible inflation' which we are not supposed to talk about.

Milk and pizza and eggs are starting to move.
Bread took a running start a while ago. (I'm gonna strap a few on my head)
Rents and property taxes have doubled at a minimum.

I'm glad GoldmanSackOfPoop and the other Wall Street insider gamblers received their billions from the US Government.
That makes me personally happy.
Ramen is good.

[GG Allin]

Originally Posted by john70t

Insurance will always creep up.
It has to, according to the CPI and 'invisible inflation' which we are not supposed to talk about.

Milk and pizza and eggs are starting to move.
Bread took a running start a while ago. (I'm gonna strap a few on my head)
Rents and property taxes have doubled at a minimum.

I'm glad GoldmanSackOfPoop and the other Wall Street insider gamblers received their billions from the US Government.
That makes me personally happy.
Ramen is good.

I used to pay nothing for health insurance. I pay $190 a week now.

[scottmandue]

I'm always pinching pennies and looking for ways to save a buck therefor every few years I shop around insurance...
So far no one has been able to beat USAA, and the service is stellar.
YMMV

[Gogar]

My allstate guy got me hooked into this "auto-pay, early-pay, paperless-pay, no-see-em" thing and they just hammer my bank account every 6 months for about 20% more than the last time. Then I call over there and they apologize and I threaten to cancel all 5 of my policies, and they back it down to a few bucks of where it was before. And then they refund the difference about a month later. It's wearing me down.

[David]

Originally Posted by red-beard

21st Century was purchased by Farmers. Had homeowners with Farmers, so was getting a discount.

After 6 years or so, my rates creeped up, even with supposed discounts from Home and Auto.

Switched to AAA for both home and Auto. Combination reduced my payments by $3400 per year, mostly (2/3rds) on the homeowners. Boy was I getting the shaft!!!

Any claims with AAA or other info on how well they handle claims?

I have Farmers for 4 cars, a house, and an umbrella policy and the annual total is ridiculous!

I had a little auto incident 2 years and 10 months ago so I thought I'd wait til 3 years is up before I start seriously shopping around.

[jyl]

Thread revival, good to see as I'm thinking about shopping around. This will be my 25th year of paying premiums to State Farm and never collecting a single penny on any claim. In fairness to them, it is because I've never made any claims (one was withdrawn when the believed-stolen car was found). The insurance math hasn't worked too well for me.