Geico car insurance
GEICO, an acronym for Government Employees Insurance Company, is the third largest auto insurance company in the United States, behind only State Farm and Allstate. This may be due to the fact that GEICO spends about a billion dollars a year in advertising. Who can forget that snappy Gecko, or those disillusioned cavemen in a fancy restaurant? The campaign paid off, as GEICO now has about eleven million policyholders, and holds about eight percent of the total market share. Underwriters at GEICO wrote well over 15 million dollars in premiums in 2013.
GEICO was founded in Fort Worth, Texas back in 1936, and is currently headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Berkshire Hathaway acquired GEICO in January, 1996, and Warren Buffett is the company’s chairman and CEO. GEICO generally sells insurance policies directly to consumers, both online and by phone. The company currently retains more than 27,000 employees in nine regional offices throughout the United States. In addition to vehicle insurance, GEICO also sells home insurance, flood insurance, life insurance, business insurance, and pet insurance.
GEICO has a user-friendly website to ease the comparison shopping experience. The company also has a mobile app to help you manage your policy from your smartphone. Use the handy features to pay your bill, view coverage and discounts, get real-time roadside assistance, update claims appointments, track a repair, update your address, add or remove vehicles, and change coverage, among other things.
GEICO came in fifth on a recent ranking report of the top ten best auto insurance companies in the U.S. based on affordability, value of services, and customer support. On viewpoint.com, GEICO has a consumer rating of 3.8 stars out of five, based on hundreds of consumer ratings and reviews. Compare this to Nationwide (3.0), Esurance (3.2), Liberty Mutual (3.2), Allstate (3.4), Travelers (3.7), Progressive (3.6), and State Farm (4.0). GEICO car insurance also earned a customer satisfaction rating above 91 percent on insure.com, based on more than 400 reviews. Roughly 92 percent of GEICO’s customers plan to renew their policies with GEICO.
The average annual cost of car insurance paid in the United States was $907.38 in 2014 according to a study commissioned by Quadrant Information Services. GEICO remains competitive with other car insurers, with an average annual premium of $894.99. In terms of average annual premiums, GEICO is comparable to Liberty Mutual, Progressive, and Nationwide. GEICO’s other major competitors include Amica Mutual Insurance, State Farm, Allstate, 21st Century Insurance, and the United Services Automobile Association (USAA).
People choosing an insurance company almost always compare GEICO with Progressive. Both are do-it-yourself insurance providers with all services available online. The bottom line for a lot of insurance shoppers is that GEICO has a lower average annual premium than Progressive, at least for 2014. Approximately 38 percent of GEICO’s customers chose GEICO because it offered the lowest rate on annual premiums for car insurance, according to data shown at insure.com. This could be due to the fact that GEICO features more discount opportunities than Progressive does. Discounts for drivers who insure with GEICO include multi-policy discounts, defensive driver discounts, passive restraint discounts, safe driver discounts, and academic achievement discounts, to name only a few.
What’s more, a study by automobile.com seems to have demonstrated that GEICO customers receive higher amounts of protection at a lower cost, as compared to Progressive customers. However, this still doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll get a lower quote from GEICO.
In any case, the trick is to obtain many online quotes from all the major insurance websites. Factor in all the available discounts for which you qualify. Do a thorough side-by-side comparison. Then customize the insurance plan that works best for you.