UPDATE 6/27/01 In reviewing earlier opinions I've written (hoping to hone in on my writing skills), I ran across the one below which I had hastily written in December 1999, while still basking in what I thought was a good decision.

We have been paying high dollar for insurance
for years, with very little "personal" service.
Calling agents, who are never in; leaving messages,
that are never returned; slow response time in making
changes to my policy, I was fed up. This was my first
experience at purchasing insurance over the internet.
Made an application, which was easy, and received a
quick response. My insurance immediately was taken
care of and they saved me hundreds of dollars a year
(we have a 21 year old daughter with no driving
problems but have been "gouged" by other companies
just because of her age). I have had to go in to the
GEICO web site and make adjustments to our coverage
(adding certain coverages, etc.) and to pay my
premiums, and have always received prompt response
and immediate action. Would really encourage anyone to
give them a try. I saved - you could too.

Sorry if I misled anyone out there. Let me update you with my current opinion. Everything with GEICO went fine for about 9 months. The internet access was convenient and easy. They collected their money promptly and courteously. Then I needed to call upon them for service.

Our daughter (who was covered under that GEICO policy) sold her car and I needed to change the coverage from the old car to the new car. I thought that would be a simple request. WRONG! I was told she could not be under our policy and would now have to purchase her own policy for an exorbitant amount. I questioned why she would have to do that -- that nothing had really changed -- she had traded in one car for another and her previous car was covered -- that she was a resident of our household and we drive her car on occasion, like she drives ours. After three and a half days of talking with several different representatives, I realized I was getting nowhere. They wanted her to get her own individual policy for about $1,000 - and then increase my premium too since we would no longer have a "multiple" car discount. What a ripoff. Bottom Line - they wanted to sell a new policy and I was left out to dry.

Needing insurance, and not being able to afford the $1000+ they were going to charge for an individual policy, I started calling again to companies who offer "personal" service. American Family's agent was very helpful; he provided us with a family policy that covered all the vehicles and all the people, and the premium was very comparable to the old GEICO premium but also included renter's insurance (which I didn't have with GEICO).

So basically what started out as a positive relationship, ended up being a fiasco -- as soon as I needed to use the insurance, they pulled a fast one on me. Thanks Geico.

I will admit that the internet access to purchasing and paying for your insurance is a great feature; but I guess it gets back to personal service, and maybe it is true that "you get what you pay for."

Recommended: No