GEICO (Government Employees Insurance Company) is one of those companies that pretty much everyone has heard of. Even if they can’t quite remember the name, mention the little green lizard on TV or the Caveman commercials and suddenly it comes to mind.
The GEICO gecko is one of the most recognized commercial characters on TV and GEICO is the only insurance company whose “spokes-characters” have been such a sensation. In fact, in 2009 the cavemen in those commercials were rated the funniest commercial characters of all time. The question, however, isn’t whether their commercials are funny or memorable, but whether or not they offer quality insurance and services to their customers.
Read through this GEICO car insurance review and then to compare quotes from many top car insurance companies online then be sure to enter your zip in on this page and do a full car insurance comparison today!
GEICO’s History
One of the first misconceptions that people have about GEICO is that they are a newer company. The truth, however, is that GEICO was established in 1936 and was started with the goal of targeting government employees. Over the years they expanded their services, but it wasn’t until 2009 that GEICO was actually available in all 50 states.
GEICO hasn’t had a perfect record when it comes to growth. There were some issues when they started selling auto insurance in areas like New Jersey in the 1960′s. They had to pull out of that area in the 1970s, but they were able to re-enter it in 2004.
The reason for these struggles? GEICO tried to grow too fast and it put a financial strain on the company. This required a reduction in staff and locations in order to get back on sound financial footing and get to the point they are at today.
GEICO’s Services
GEICO offers a wide variety of services to their customers, but their primary focus is auto insurance. You can purchase bodily injury coverage, property damage insurance, medical coverage, uninsured/underinsured insurance, comprehensive coverage, collision insurance, emergency road side insurance, rental reimbursement insurance and mechanical breakdown.
Mechanical Breakdown Insurance
While it is possible that you have heard of all of these options, the mechanical breakdown insurance is something that is pretty unique to GEICO. This coverage gives you an option other than purchasing a warranty for your new vehicle. There is a $250 deductible before any of the work you need is covered, however the upside is that you don’t pay a huge premium for this coverage. It costs just a few dollars a month and your car or truck is covered against breakdowns.
There are some catches to this coverage, however. The first thing is that the vehicle has to be under 15 months old and have less than 15,000 miles on it. Additionally, this coverage does not allow for wear on items, such as brakes or maintenance items and changing the oil in your vehicle.
If you add the mechanical breakdown coverage, you can extend it for up to seven years or 100,000 miles, which ever comes first. The other catch, of course, is that if you have an older vehicle then you don’t qualify for this coverage.
Additional GEICO Coverage Options
In addition to these coverages, you can also purchase motorcycle insurance, ATV insurance, umbrella insurance (this offers homeowners protection from lawsuits), homeowners insurance, renters insurance, condo insurance, co-op insurance, RV insurance, life insurance, boat insurance, personal watercraft insurance, flood insurance, mobile home insurance, travel insurance, commercial insurance and identity theft protection.
GEICO’s Website
The first thing that you will notice when you visit the company website is that the home page is a tad bit cluttered. Not so bad that you can’t find your way around, but enough that you have to search for what you are looking for. In an effort to provide you with all of their coverage options on that home page, they make it harder to find exactly what it is you want. Also, with similar coverage, for example, boat versus personal watercraft, some users may find that things get a bit confusing; there is such a thing as too much information all at once.
Once you do find the information that you are looking for, in the homeowners section, for example, the explanation of the coverage that is offered is excellent. GEICO goes out of their way to ensure that anyone can read their website and understand what they have to offer. In addition, when it is necessary to include technical verbiage, they provide a definition of the terms on the same page (no need to click a link or find a definition page). This makes it very easy to learn what you need to without jumping around from page to page.
Getting a quote on GEICO’s website is easy as well, however, you are going to need to be willing to part with some personal information in order to achieve this goal. Once you enter your zip code and select that you want to get a quote, you are linked to the first page of the process. This step requires you to put in your full name and your address. The next step is providing your vehicle information, (standard when getting a quote from any site) as well as how many miles you will be driving the vehicle each year.
The next step requires you to enter your personal information again as well as your social security. Unlike some other sites, they will not allow you to skip this step and get a quote without it. If you aren’t comfortable providing this info, you won’t be able to get a quote directly from their website. In this case, you may prefer you use a third party rate quote tool that will give you quotes from several providers without your social security number.
You will also have to check whether or not someone else will be driving your vehicle and provide their name and birth date as well as their occupation (or if they are a student). This step is a bit confusing as most insurance websites to not require occupation information about secondary drivers on your vehicle.
Once you are done providing driver information, you have to fill out a driver’s history section. GEICO will want to know what type of accidents or tickets that you and other drivers on your vehicle have had for the past five years. In addition, you will need to provide information about your current auto insurance (if you have some) such as how long you have been with the company (again, very standard question) and how much coverage you currently have.
At this point you will be linked to a page to help you determine if you are eligible for any discounts. GEICO works with specific partners and offers discounts to employees or customers of these partners.
Lastly, in order to get a quote you have to provide your email address as well as your phone number. There is no way to opt out or to ask that they not call you (they will) to discuss your policy.
Once you are done you will receive your quote. This quote is based on the information that you provided about your already existing coverage. If you don’t have existing coverage the quote is provided based upon a middle of the line cost of coverage. You also have the option of seeing a quote with the minimum coverage that you can purchase as well as the option to create your own policy. Once you are done, you can click a tab to compare the three options side by side.
The Bottom Line on GEICO
GEICO is a well-established company with excellent customer reviews. In fact, according to a recent poll, GEICO has a 97% satisfaction rate among customers. In the insurance industry, GEICO is known for paying their claims quickly and in full with little to no fuss involved.
To get a quote from GEICO does require you to submit a great deal of personal information. In addition you can expect to receive a phone call regarding your quote as well as quite a bit of email (during this review four emails were received by this reviewer after filling out the quote tool). The upside to this is that having provided all of this information ensures that you get an accurate quote that is based on comprehensive information.
If you choose GEICO, you will be choosing a quality company. If you aren’t sure that GEICO is right for you, or if you want to get a quote without receiving a phone call or several emails, you can try using the quote tool found at the top of the page at no charge. Not only will this provide you with quotes from top companies like GEICO, but from other reputable insurance companies too, allowing you to get a first hand look at what you can save on your auto insurance. Why not try it out now?
