Anyone know about Geico Ins.

[leftyladyfrommo]

I have a friend who was rear ended. He was stopped at a light and a man, maybe drunk, hit him from behind. It demolished his car and he had medical expenses.

He is just trying to get the $1200 he had paid for his car the week before and his medical costs.

Geico is just doing everything they possibly can to not pay. He has had to hire an attorney.

I wondered about Geico. Have seen their ads all over the place.

Anyone familiar with them?

[Common Sense Party]

1. Warren Buffett owns them.

And they usually have pretty good claims service. What, exactly, are they doing?

[demwing]

2. Only good experiences with Geico

with them for years, best rates I've found, and great service.

That being said, I've never had to test it by getting in a collision. YMMV.

BTW - shouldn't the other driver's insurance be paying those bills?

[kimbutgar]

3. I've had geico for years

Had an accident that I ended up having to go to arbitration. They represented me and I won. They returned my calls also.

[leftyladyfrommo]

4. I don't know if he had Geico or the other driver had it.

Missouri is a no fault state.

Maybe it's his own insurance that he is having trouble with. Don't know. Didn't even think to ask.

[Jesus Malverde]

5. Usually your friends insurance would take care of it.

His car insurance should cover the damages and then recover from geiko.

His health insurance should cover his medical expenses and then recover from the person who made the damages.

Was your friend uninsured?

[leftyladyfrommo]

7. I don't think so. You have to have insurance in Missouri.

Hmmm. I obviously asked the wrong questions.

[Blue_In_AK]

6. I used to have GEICO insurance

and never had a problem with them at all. The only reason we switched to State Farm was to bundle with our homeowner's insurance and bring the rate down. GEICO paid quite a few little claims for me when my kids were learning how to drive.

[Earth_First]

8. Sounds like an isolated case...

I've had nothing but good things to say about Geico (...and their rates) so far.

In fact, I cancelled our car insurance with our original provider which was offering multiple line discounts and Geico still ended up costing us a lot less annually.

I've never had to deal with a claim, so I cannot speak to the claims portion of their service; I only hope that this is an isolated incident that your friend is unfortunately having to deal with.

It sounds as though lawyering up, while may cost fee upfront; may end up in their favor.

Good luck...

[Atman]

9. Geico is the best insurance we've ever had.

Never, ever had a problem with any claim from them. We've even shopped for lower rates, but Geico offers the best price. I'm surprised to hear about your friend's experience, especially since he was rear-ended. That is almost always automatically the fault of the person behind, and it should be easy for Geico to after that driver. You're saying he'd only had the car a week?

[TreasonousBastard]

10. I had a claim with them and had no problem at all...

Sometimes it's the local office or claims rep who has an attitude. Years ago I was rear ended and another company ( I forget who) put me through all sorts of nonsense. It was a company car that was totaled, so I don't know what happened there, but I had medical expenses and was out of work.

I asked for my medical to be paid, which they did, and 5 grand. They refused to settle, so I got a lawyer, spent a few thousand more on medical, and after a year or so got the 5 grand after the lawyer's fee. Insane, but that claims agent might have been following the book.

[2naSalit]

11. RIP-OFF ARTISTS!!!

I had full coverage with them once and got royally f-cked by them. Had to call a tow through them and the tow truck (their contractor) smashed the front of my car, ruptured every seal under the hood of a front wheel drive car. They gave me an estimate before they ever looked under the hood. I ended up with a new hood with a single coat of paint that chipped within the first month. I brought it back because the transmission was leaking and there was a hole in the oil pan (I had just put a new one on a month prior) and was told that it was just my imagination!!! By the GEICO rep! Had it towed back to the town where I actually lived, in another state, where I found out the extent of the damage when I took it in for an oil change a week after getting it back and was told by my mechanics that they couldn't even get the drain plug out of the oil pan and that I needed over $3000 work! I couldn't get any attorney to represent me in a suit because I was not injured in the incident (I wasn't present).

So if your friend gets any satisfaction out of them, good for him... but I would recommend they get other company to cover them ASAP. I live in a state where it's a requirement to have ins. but I would risk going without if all that was available was THAT rip-off outfit. If the person who caused the accident is "covered" by them, good luck with that.

[msanthrope]

12. Geico represents whom? nt

[sendero]

13. I know that ..

... anyone who thinks a company can pay for 24/7 media exposure and can be a low-cost provider of anything is a dolt.

[cthulu2016]

14. Geico is the best business I have ever dealt with. Ever.

Being an insurance company, they will act like an insurance company.

And people will have Geico horror stories because nobody gets everything they want from any company.

But they are about as un-shady as it gets. It is AMAZING how good their set-up is in most circumstances.

Your OP doesn't specify who it is that has Geico. Him or the guy who hit him?

Your OP also has a red flag —seeking reimbursement for money paid out to fix a car.

Any insurer wants to see the car in its damaged state, and do an estimate of the cost of repair. Simply saying, "Here's a receipt from someone I took my car to" will generate real problems if the insurer doesn't get to examine the car first.

Same with medical... if you just present a bill to an insurer and say, "this was from my accident" they will question it.


Without details, there is no advice to be given, but Geico itself is excellent by the standards of auto insurers so the problem is probably specific to the case, and something that would be a problem with any insurer.

That doesn't mean something can't be unfair... only that it will likely being something that would be unfair in all cases, rather than specific to an insurer.

[leftyladyfrommo]

17. He wasn't trying to get money for damage.

He had just purchased the car about a week before he was hit. The car was a total loss. He paid $1200. He was asking for his $1200 back and for reimbursement for medical costs.

The problem may be that it was an old car. It was in great condition but he may have paid more than bluebook for it.

[haele]

15. The drunk driver's insurance pays. Geico should be going after his insurance.

So either the driver that hit him didn't have insurance, or his insurance company is cut-rate and/or dragging their feet.

The other question would be - does your friend have uninsured motorist or no-fault on his policy? That's the only way Geico - or any other insurance company - will pay if the other driver was at fault and didn't have insurance.

It all depends on what the policy he has with them says.

On edit - if your friend just had gotten the car, it may not have finished the probationary period. Most insurance companies have a "waiting period" for the insurance to actually kick in, which can be as long as two weeks. I think Geico is one of those companies; I know that three years ago, both USAA (which is very good) and AAA had a two week gap period.

That's one of the reasons we went with Esurance, where the insurance begans as soon as they pull the money electronically from your account - which you need when you're not purchasing from a dealer who will add that two weeks to the price so you can drive the car off the lot legally in most places.

Haele

[el_bryanto]

16. They insure me - they have generally not given me any problems

I've had 3 claims?

And so far they have been pretty responsive about paying out. While needing insurance is never fun; it was relatively painless for me.

Bryant

[spanone]

18. they claim low rates but are more expensive than most.

[tblue37]

19. I use it. I have never had a problem. I scraped the side of my landlady's awkwardly parked

truck a few months ago while backing out. The insurance company sent someone out immediately to assess the (very minor) damage, and paid for repair without problems or delay.

Of course I have very good coverage--I pay for more coverage than most would consider necessary, but since that is the ONLY incident I have ever had in nearly 50 years of driving, and since I've never even had a ticket, I get fantastic rates. Maybe my driving history and my full coverage influenced the way they responded to that claim, or maybe it was just because it was such a minor claim.