Geico may save you upfront but actually costs you in the long run

I often hear people asking about who has the cheapest insurance rates, preferring to pay less for their coverage in an attempt to save money. This, however, shouldn’t be the question or deciding factor in choosing an insurance company. Instead, it should be about which insurance company takes care of their insured the best.

You see and hear a lot of insurance ads on television and radio promising the best rates, coverage, savings etc. One of the biggest and widely known insurance companies is Geico; With their catchy slogan promising to save you 15% or more on car insurance in 15 minutes paired with a cute, miniature Gecko, it can be easy to get reeled in to the appeal of quick and easy savings. However, as a lawyer, I have filed suit against more Geico insurers than any other and would personally never insure with Geico. They may save you money up front, but in the long term they can end up costing you more.

Geico is one of the hardest companies to deal with when it comes to claims, despite their assurance that they save their insurers more money than other insurance companies. The hard truth is that Geico hands out the least amount of money as possible when settling a claim and they often resolve cases for much less than they are actually worth. Geico is one of the top dogs in the insurance industry and as such make obscene profits by refusing to make reasonable settlements. Moreover, they then funnel a significant amount of those profits towards advertising, convincing more people to switch to their company. It becomes a nasty cycle.

Geico’s refusal to payout the actual value on claims forces the insured into a hard position. You either have to take what they give you, knowing your claim was worth more, or hire a lawyer, which is costly, and attempt to have them settle the claim for more. Oftentimes even hiring a lawyer will still result in Geico settling your claim for less than other insurance companies would pay. While they may save you money up front, it can cost you time and energy down the road when a lawsuit is filed against you.

The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of anyone else. Any content provided herein is not intended to malign any religion, ethic group, club, organization, company, individual or anyone or anything.