I never thought the day would come - the day we threw Geico and the company’s silly and slick gecko mascot down the pooper.

Recently we decided to look for ways to reduce unnecessary spending in our household. One item that we decided to attack was car insurance - something that was pretty low anyway, but not something that we had spent too much time on when we purchased our cars last year (though, admittedly, we just started looking for new cars again). We had had Geico for several years and were overall satisfied, but if a better rate existed, we decided that we wanted it.

My wife and I have perfect driving records. She has a parking ticket, but that’s about it. Therefore, we never had to deal with rate hikes or anything of the sort. In addition, any accidents involving our cars, according to the police reports, were not our fault. As a result, we never had to file a claim with Geico. So, overall, we basically had car insurance for no reason other than because of the fact that it’s the law.

For our two cars we paid a bit under $2,000 a year in monthly increments, and the plan was pretty solid. It included high (though not the highest) liability and property damage coverage, as well as personal injury, uninsured driver, and collision (with a $250 deductible). Overall, it was a good plan that we never really needed, but we had there just in case. We never did have a problem with Geico try to raise the price on us unfairly.

Recently, however, I shopped around and found that Geico was certainly not the cheapest option - unlike what those commercials make you think. State Farm and Travelers gave me exorbitant rates, but Allstate gave me a rate $300 lower than Geico’s. Allstate’s rate also included higher liability and property damage coverage.

Hmmmm…stay with Geico and pay a higher rate for a less valuable plan, or switch to Allstate and get a better plan for less money?

So what did I do? I attempted to bargain with Geico since, well, I really didn’t want to go through the hassle of changing car insurance companies unless the savings would be extraordinary - and in this case, they certainly were. Nonetheless, I figured that Geico may match Allstate’s rate in an attempt to remain competitive.

I was wrong.

My first call to Geico went along the lines of, “Hi, I’m policy number XXXXXX and I just called Allstate and they’re giving me a better price. Can you match it?” The friendly representative ran a quick report seeing what could be done to the lower the price of our insurance, but he was unsuccessful. He told me that Allstate’s price may not include certain things such as medical payments and uninsured motorist coverage, so I decided to call Allstate back - but as a result, the price did indeed include these items.

Back to Geico I went, this time ready to cancel my policy with them. The representative asked me why I wanted to cancel, and I explained the scenario. He went on to ask me several questions about Allstate’s proposed rate and gave me some options to lower the price - though, I found out, the lower rate would mean lowering my coverage. In fact, I did this several times - calling back and forth, back and forth. It was a two hour ordeal and it wasn’t fun, but in the interest of saving money, it was worth it.

During this whole situation, I kept calling just one Allstate representative - Tony - whom I had a direct extension for; he was the only representative from Allstate that I spoke with. However, with Geico, I kept on having to call the 1-800 number and I kept on speaking with different agents - telling them my story over and over again. I was surprised that there weren’t any notes by my policy showing that I had already called several times. In fact, this was disappointing - especially for a company that markets itself with having a 98% satisfaction rate. I was not yet even a customer with Allstate and I was already receiving better service.

In the end I decided to let Geico go and I switched my business to Allstate. Had Geico found a way to match Allstate’s price and coverage, I certainly would have remained at the company since I had had no problems with them in the past. However, in the interest of saving money, I really had no choice.

I have to note, however, that most Geico representatives that I spoke with were very friendly and knowledgeable. Nonetheless, there was one representative in particular that sort of annoyed me when he told me it be “perfectly fine” to make my wife an occasional driver on the BMW and to make me an occasional driver on the Lexus. Even when I explained to him that we both drive each car equally, he said that we wouldn’t get into trouble or run into any problems. This sounded sort of risky to me - I want full coverage, and car insurance is one thing that you can’t skimp out on - so I hung up on him. When I called back later to finally cancel once and for all, another Geico representative confirmed my thoughts that it would be a bad idea to take a cheaper form of the insurance. At least she was honest about it.

I did happen to take a look at the Geico website - Geico.com - to see if there were any features that would help me reduce my rate. There weren't any such features, but there was some information that shows how car insurance rates are determined - such as credit history, driving history, age, sex, and type of coverage wanted. Nonetheless, I do find it pretty cool that you can log into your own account on the website and view your policy from the homepage. However, you have to set up a user ID and password to do this - but if you happen to use your insurance a lot for some reason, this may be convenient for you.

Overall, I was fine with Geico when I had it. We hardly had any use for it because of our clean driving records, but in the rare instance that we had to deal with the company, it was always easy and never a hassle. However, in the end, what matters is that I found a company that offers a better plan at a lower price. As much as I would have loved to stay with the company, it the end it all comes down to who gives you the most for your money. Geico is not that company.

Recommended: Yes