GEICO - NOGO
Written: Aug 17 '00
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Pros: Initial discussions were friendly and courteous
Cons: I over-paid for my mistake
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| en7489's Full Review: GEICO Direct |
Being a military member, I had received orders for Germany. My stateside insurance agency would not cover me overseas, so I had to go insurance hunting, which to me is like pulling my own teeth out....I hate it. I hate to get in the discussions with these people over the amount of my deductibles, my good/bad driver incentives or faults, amount of coverage for each incident, etc. I'm sure you know what I mean.
I finally settled on Geico as my overseas insurance agency, mostly because the rates were competitive, but also in part because they didn't seem to give me the run-around, everything seemed straight up and to the point.
Everything was good for the first year because I didn't have any accidents. I had heard about a local company that covered American servicemembers in Germany for a much lower rate, but didn't trust it because again, I hate shopping for insurance, plus I already had a Geico policy, I trusted them (at the time), and they were an American company. So, I renewed.
The second year was the one that made me realize what my mistake had been in not switching. I had an accident where I slid on some black ice into the side of a brand new (parked) mini-van. I did the right things, left the car where it was, found the mini-van owner, went and made a police report, etc. After all that was done, it was time to go see the insurance agent, so me and the other owner went and saw mine first. My Geico agent began the run-around, telling us that the mini-van owner had to go get an estimate, here was the place he HAD to go to get it looked at. He (the other guy) asked why he had to go to that particular body shop, and the agent started jabbering about how since this was overseas, they had an agreement with this shop to see American claims for Geico, that this was the only guy we could see, or Geico would not pay the claim, etc, etc, ad infinitum. There would be no rental car while his was in the shop unless we wanted to pay for it ourselves.
Something didn't sound quite right here, so when we got outside, he recommended that we go see his agent first. He was the smart one, he had chosen the local agency that I talked about earlier, as I was soon to find out.
When we explained the situation to his agent, including all that my agent had said, she got mad! She told us that she would handle this, just sit tight, this wasn't the first time she had heard this. She made a couple calls, and when she got back with us, she told us that Geico could not specify a particular repair shop that we HAD to use, that he was free to use anyone he wanted, and by the way, here's a list of all the auto-body shops in a 50 mile radius. Also, she had talked to Geico I guess, and here was the information for a rental car that she had reserved for him, so as soon as we got his van in the shop, all he had to do was go get the car. Or, if he preferred, he could have the rental agency drop the car off at the shop, just let her know which one he was going to go to and when he would be there, and the car would be waiting.
Let me tell you, in case you haven't gotten the idea by now, insurance agents never really impressed me. Not until that moment, anyway. This lady even offered to help me do any paperwork or help me in any way with filing my claim with Geico, and I wasn't even a customer of hers!
After we got the mini-van owner taken care of, I immediately went back over to this other lady and asked how I could drop Geico and pick up her insurance. I was thoroughly impressed with her and her company, and definitely wanted to have a policy with her. Not only did she take the time and explain everything in detail (even explaining the "big words" that I didn't understand), but she offered me a rate that was about 30% lower than Geico, for better coverage to boot. I signed the papers that day.
The bottom line (as I see it) is that you can never really know how your insurance company will treat you until you have an accident. But, you can listen to other people's experiences and make a better informed decision based on those. I had people telling me all through that first year that I could get better rates and service from this other company, but had chosen to remain with Geico because it was easier, and I knew the name. I learned a big lesson from that, and from that day on, I make it a point to talk to my friends and co-workers to find out what their past experiences have been with their insurance companies before I jump right into one.
I will never own a Geico policy again, even if it costs more money to be insured elsewhere.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
en7489
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Location: Massachusetts
Reviews written: 61
Trusted by: 6 members
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