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Author Topic: Geico or Not? Chris Hipp Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1462 From: Mesquite, Tx (east of Dallas) Registered: Jul 2003 posted 05-25-2004 07:55 PM                     I checked Geico about a year ago and the six month rate was more than I pay for a year. Maybe after I turn 25, but it is way too expensive now.  |  IP: Logged Tao Yue Expert Film Handler Posts: 209 From: Princeton, NJ Registered: Apr 2001 posted 05-26-2004 01:46 AM                        Butler wrote: quote: Rob Butler I tried to sign up with Geico once, oddly enough, they serve every state including Alaska and Hawaii, but for some reason, they don't serve Massachusetts or New Jersey. I just happen to live in Massachusetts, and at one point I was actually considering moving to New Jersey. It's not just Geico. Massachusetts and New Jersey have some of the most restrictive insurance legislation in the nation. Insurers stuck in those two markets wish they'd pulled out earlier when it was easy to do so. Insurers not already in those two markets (like Geico) avoid them like the plague. Massachusetts, for example, has the ERP (Exclusive Representation Producer) system for certain (usually higher-risk) locations. Insurers are assigned an ERP for which they are required to write policies, but they cannot control how the ERP does business. It's the luck of the draw which ERP an insurer ends up with, and some get better risk prospects than others. One reform proposal would do away with exclusivity and assign each driver at random to an insurance company, spreading the risk more evenly among the companies. New Jersey has a rate cap which in effect causes lower risk areas to subsidize higher risk areas, and there are take-all-comers laws. Plus NJ's population density (highest of the 50 states) and high theft rates make it a very high-risk area overall. Many insurers still in the market (State Farm for instance) do not accept any new policies and will happily drop an existing policy at the slightest pretext. Auto insurance was one the major issues in the 2001 gubernatorial election, couldn't watch TV for ten minutes without seeing one of McGreevy's "We're number one" ads (highest auto insurance premiums in the nation).  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 05-26-2004 01:51 AM                        From Jon's post, I like the sound of these Geico people and wish that they would open up over here. Virtually every day I get dangerously tailgated and then recklessly overtaken (often on the approach to blind bends or summits) on my drives to and from work, by morons who feel that speed limits don't apply to them. It's probably only a matter of time before one of them hits an oncoming vehicle, and I only hope that when that time comes, I don't get dragged into his or her accident. The 'pro-speeding' lobby here have done an excellent job in recent years in putting across the view that current speed limits are too low and that enforcing them is simply a means for the government to 'milk the motorist' and earn more revenue, and that they do not make road transport safer. This now seems to be a widely-held view, with the result that most politicians are very reluctant to promote any tougher enforcement. I have experienced two speeding-related accidents in my life. The first was when the car in which I was travelling as a front-seat passenger was travelling at about 80-85mph on a 70mph motorway. The driver failed to see a traffic jam ahead in time to stop, with the result that she rear-ended the car at the back of the queue. We were only doing about 10mph at the time and no-one was hurt, but I feel sure that she'd have stopped in time if she was obeying the limit when she started to brake. The second incident was when my girlfriend was hit and killed on a pedestrian crossing by a driver who, it was estimated, was travelling at 37mph in a 30 limit when the brakes were applied. I was later told that if the driver had been obeying the limit, she'd have stood a far better chance of surviving. We've managed to cut drink-drive related accidents by almost 90% in the last two decades by introducing a two-pronged 'zero tolerance' approach: the legal penalties are very serious (a one-year driving ban at the very least, ranging to a substantial jail sentence for more serious offences), and most insurance companies refuse to underwrite anyone with a drink-driving conviction. There are one or two insurers who specialise in this market, but even for an average car the annual premiums cost around £2-5k, depending on the specifics of the conviction. The result is that most people convicted of it will never (legally) drive again. I wish the insurance industry would take the same approach to speeding. If the idiots who put my life in danger every morning on the A19 know that if they are flashed by a speed camera, their next insurance renewal will be a four-figure sum, then they might be persuaded to think about what they are doing. As it is, most routinely ignore speeding convictions when calculating premiums, therefore passing the (financial) cost of speeding accidents onto responsible motorists. I don't know of any UK insurer who will only underwrite motorists with a totally clean licence, but if one ever materialises then I'll sign up with them straight away on principle, even if they charge me more than my current policy to begin with.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-29-2004 06:11 PM                     Geting back to this I did go with Geico. We'll see how they are and when I called back I asked the agent about some of the online complaints I read. He said they are a pretty strict insurance company in regards to missing a payment and such... and by keeping down the internal paper work at a minimum that is part of what allows them to keep the costs down. So I paid the full premium in advance anyway since it was so cheap!! Mark  |  IP: Logged Mike Judge Film Handler Posts: 50 From: Seattle, WA Registered: Aug 2000 posted 06-05-2004 01:11 AM                     You'll save money, which is what I'm doing by being on them as a 23 year old male, but my dad, who has run a body shop for the last 20 some years, swears out loud any time I even mention them. "They're great, as long as you're never in an accident." I'm back in my hometown this week and I had asked him about this b/c its time for me to re-up for another 6 months, and with the new truck I bought, i have to have full coverage, but apparently they (Geico) don't have the highest repuatation running in his business. Progressive is even worse he says, I'm looking at Allstate, which is only a bit more. Something about cut rate stuff scares me in a way. I'd rather pay a bit more. Insurance is something really easy to shrug off and forget about, until you really need it.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 06-05-2004 08:54 AM                     I think for me the Geico thing works well because I don't need full coverage for a 1995 KIA Sportage. If the thing rolls off a mountain top I'm not out very much. I did get full coverage on my 1993 Harley though...... When I called my old agent to cancel the old policy even he said that insurance cost really is the name of the game..... Mark  |  IP: Logged Bill Carter Expert Film Handler Posts: 162 From: Minneapolis, Minnesota Registered: Sep 1999 posted 06-05-2004 09:25 PM                     The best deal I've found is from Progressive. I can't complain about their customer service, either. I had a comprehensive claim about a year and a half ago where my vehicle was totaled several states away from where I live. They managed to get an adjuster out to some town in the middle of nowhere, and ruled on my claim by the end of the business day. I had my check for full book value the minute I turned over the title to them.  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 06-07-2004 09:23 AM                        I have been with State Farm since 1968 and I have never had a problem getting reasonable rates for automobile insurance. I also insure both my NYC apartment and Newort house with them. Of course, it helped that the State Farm agent is a personal friend. P.S. I find the GEICO ads to be offensive.  |  IP: Logged Chris Hipp Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1462 From: Mesquite, Tx (east of Dallas) Registered: Jul 2003 posted 08-20-2004 11:04 PM                     Well I just saved $400 by switching to Geico. This is for 6 months. I think it helped that they give you more options on accidents than most companies. The application actually had a choice for "lost control in bad weather" instead of just "at fault" or "not at fault" accident that the others have. I only had one accident that really wasnt my fault, the guy pulled infront of me and jsut stopped, the fact that it was raining didn't help.  |  IP: Logged Bruce McGee Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1776 From: Asheville, NC USA... Nowhere in Particular. Registered: Aug 1999 posted 08-21-2004 07:46 AM                     I was with State Farm from 1972-1998, when my agent was forced to retire by the company. My new agent was a jerk, and actually pulled out in front of me from a side street one morning and flipped me off when I honked the horn at him. I moved to Erie Insurance Group at that time. I have my homeowners policy with them, too. They have been good, except for the following: Last August, my 1985 Oldsmobile Toronado (always garage-kept) was caught in a hail storm. The paint was ruined, and vinyl top got little circle-cracks all over. When I made a claim, I told them that I would handle the paint-job, as it was faded and 18+ years old. There was nothing wrong with the vinyl. Erie came back and told me that my car was not worth the repairs, and paid me the value of the car. I now have a 'salvage' title on this car. It has never been wrecked or even bumpped. The insurance adjuster informed me that a new vinyl top for this car would cost over $1500, and thats why they totaled it. I was furious. I'd never had a claim on this car. I got the new vinyl top for $368.76. The new paint job is coming soon, for around $1500. If this car would actually do something to make me hate it, (IE: have a major failure, etc) I would get rid of it. I dropped all except liability on this car. I have not seen a rate decrease yet, and do expect to, since I just sold my 'rust-bucket' 1986 Pontiac Grand AM this week. My insurance agent was floored when the company totaled my car. She was sure they would paint, and do the top for me, because she saw the car all the time before and after the storm. Now, I am shopping for insurance for a salvage-titled car. I also hate the GEICO commercials. Knew a jerk that had Geico insurance, and would never buy something that this jerk endorsed.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-21-2004 10:56 AM                     "Knew a jerk that had Geico insurance, and would never buy something that this jerk endorsed." Come on now Bruce. You can't make day to day decisions based on something like that line. You might just save a alot of money, you never know till you inquire. So far GEICO has been just fine for me. The biggest benefit was getting 5 times more insurance coverage than I had for over 300 dollars less than I was paying that other company. The insurance on my Harley also went down quite a bit when I took it over to them. Mark  |  IP: Logged John T. Hendrickson, Jr Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 889 From: Freehold, NJ, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 08-21-2004 04:22 PM                     Geico just announced recently that they have moved back into New Jersey, and are currently doing business here once more after a long absence.  |  IP: Logged Chris Hipp Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1462 From: Mesquite, Tx (east of Dallas) Registered: Jul 2003 posted 08-22-2004 01:47 AM                     I also jsut checked on my motorcycle insurance, it is about $350 cheaper a year than what I currently pay. It may get even cheaper if I get a transfer discount.  |  IP: Logged Bruce McGee Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1776 From: Asheville, NC USA... Nowhere in Particular. Registered: Aug 1999 posted 08-22-2004 07:29 AM                     Mark, If you only KNEW this jack-ass idiot! You'd understand! Even with what I said about Erie, I'll stick with them... All of my vehicles are very old now, and dont carry anything but liability.  |  IP: Logged Jason Black Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1723 From: Myrtle Beach, SC, USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 08-22-2004 10:17 AM                        Speaking of insurance, I rec'd my renewal for my homeowners policy a few days ago. The policy was held with Prudential, but they are streamlining and Liberty Mutual now holds my policy due to a buyout. I look at my policy only to realize that the friggin premium increased from $657/yr to $977/yr! How can the policy go up 33% in ONE year? No claims, nothing. I'm gathering all my policies in order to compile a bid list to farm out to other companies so bids can be given apples to apples. Insurance sucks, no matter HOW you look at it. *with the sole exclusion being on the settlement side of the fence, and even then, you most often get the shaft!  |  IP: Logged

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