GEICO strikes again- All CA offices shut down and employees laid off

[Pau Hana]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...-offices-California-lays-hundreds-people.html

 

[ksanders]

I am so glad you found me a policy with a different company!

First they cut out the independent agent, and not they close down the local branded agents.

 

[Comodave]

I am so glad you found me a policy with a different company!

First they cut out the independent agent, and not they close down the local branded agents.

Absolutely! Peter got me better coverage with Markel.

 

[IRENE]

Strikes Again or Manages Operations?

Geico was able to save me over a boat unit for a better policy. There was less administrative nonsense in getting there (e.g surveyor “recommendations”). Geico always answered the phone and provided answers during the transition, leaving no opportunity for me to wonder if or when I would be called back while my requirements evolved and our policy got closer to expiring. I have electronic access to my policy. Geico practices very good customer service. I am a happy Geico customer, and hope our relationship lasts.

It is unfortunate if folks were indeed laid off, and I hope they were adequately taken care of. Will we ever know? I expect that similar to most businesses, and perhaps many of the business persons on Trawler Forum, Geico will continue to manage their business. Changes in operations are to be expected to remain competitive.

 

[IRENE]

Through Another Lens…

https://coverager.com/geico-to-shut-down-local-offices-in-california/

Avi Ben-Hutta
Editor at Coverager
Jul 21, 2022
GEICO
GEICO to shut down local offices in California
Based on information obtained by Coverager, GEICO is shutting down all of its local agent offices in California.

In April, we reported that the insurer has paused phone sales in several states, limiting the option to quote or purchase policies to the internet, mobile app or local offices. California was one of those states and after this recent move, getting quotes and purchasing policies in the state can only be done online, with some exceptions.

GEICO has local offices across the country where 1099 contractors sell GEICO products and products from partner companies only. Start-up costs for a new GEICO agency range between $100,000 to $250,000, depending on the market, and GEICO owns the book of business. According to a source, the insurer sent out settlement offers based on seniority, but some of the offers owners are getting are not enough to cover breaking a lease.

According to its site, there were about 38 office locations in California.

We reached out to GEICO for a comment.

 

[Pau Hana]

Geico was able to save me over a boat unit for a better policy. There was less administrative nonsense in getting there (e.g surveyor “recommendations”). Geico always answered the phone and provided answers during the transition, leaving no opportunity for me to wonder if or when I would be called back while my requirements evolved and our policy got closer to expiring. I have electronic access to my policy. Geico practices very good customer service. I am a happy Geico customer, and hope our relationship lasts.

It is unfortunate if folks were indeed laid off, and I hope they were adequately taken care of. Will we ever know? I expect that similar to most businesses, and perhaps many of the business persons on Trawler Forum, Geico will continue to manage their business. Changes in operations are to be expected to remain competitive.

A good take, to be sure. The challenge I see is that GEICO is getting rid of field expertise in favor of profits via technology. I was there for a number of years, and saw the push internally to be #1 in policy count over everything else. With such a myopic focus, something has to vice- and it’s the field expertise in this case.

This is exactly with GEICO did to its independent marine age by relationship last year. Sine they parted ways with the independent agents, GEICO has adopted a “price first” mentality vice “coverage first”- and that is sad.

 

[Comodave]

Geico was able to save me over a boat unit for a better policy. There was less administrative nonsense in getting there (e.g surveyor “recommendations”). Geico always answered the phone and provided answers during the transition, leaving no opportunity for me to wonder if or when I would be called back while my requirements evolved and our policy got closer to expiring. I have electronic access to my policy. Geico practices very good customer service. I am a happy Geico customer, and hope our relationship lasts.

It is unfortunate if folks were indeed laid off, and I hope they were adequately taken care of. Will we ever know? I expect that similar to most businesses, and perhaps many of the business persons on Trawler Forum, Geico will continue to manage their business. Changes in operations are to be expected to remain competitive.

I had Boat/US, now Geico, insurance for over 40 years. We bought a boat last year. Everyone knows prices are sky high in the last few years. We paid $115k for the boat and it was valued for $120k at the time. Over the winter we put over $60k in hard upgrades to the boat. I sent the receipts into Geico and asked for the value to be increased. They responded that the boat was only worth $77k. I called and asked how they got the “current fair market value”, their words. They said out of BUC. Most people know BUC isn’t up to date. I asked why they didn’t use soldboats.com. They said if it isn’t in the BUC book that they would use it. But my boat is in the book so they wouldn’t use the up to date data.

I called Peter. He acknowledged that Geico has become somewhat unhinged lately. He found Markel that would insure my boat for $190k for $200 more per year than Geico. And it is better coverage. I expected that Geico would raise the rate for more coverage so the Markel rate is very reasonable.

I can’t understand why Geico would knowingly disregard current data, soldboats.com, and use outdated book data. Unless they are deliberately trying to drive some types of boats away.

Irene, you may have had a good experience with Geico, and that is great, but don’t discount the horror stories that are out there because they are real. I am an example of one. A 40+ year customer no longer.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

So I currently have GEICO until April 2023. I was to be canceled last year, but Peter discovered that they were trying to cheat me.

I am confident Peter will take care of ASD next year.

 

[catalinajack]

So I currently have GEICO until April 2023. I was to be canceled last year, but Peter discovered that they were trying to cheat me.

I am confident Peter will take care of ASD next year.

Please expand. In what way was GEICO trying to cheat you? Being in Maryland GEICO is obligated to renew polcies through agents for two years. My policy, with no meaningful changes, was renewed last December. The annual premium decreased by $236 even though I had a $6,000 claim two years before. I will likely renew again this December. Thereafter, I will be calling Peter. I could do so earlier but I do not want to have to survey the boat for a new insurer before I must.

 

[sunchaser]

Likely GEICO has found that the pandemic created a new business model. Thousands of firms have now switched to Internet and app communications with their clients. As businesses re-assess certain areas, has CA possibly been red flagged by Geico?

A good friend with a high end boat could not get good coverage from his long standing non Geico marine CA insurer. He switched to an out of state agent we use and was quite happy. Maybe more companies than Geico are with concerns in CA regarding marine insurance. Then there is the fire situation in CA ---

But, I sure like being able to talk to our agent in real time. ASD, if one has a claim with Geico how do you ommunicate with them?

Charles Schwab and day traders did and do similar for investments with brokers as we knew them becoming rare. But again, personal communications sure are helpful as market vagaries occur.

 

[ksanders]

There is more to the story than just Geico. This is also about the value you get from a independent agent.

I have recently gone from being a normal land based boat owner to an active cruiser planning on going to Mexico and prefering the ability to stay there during Hurricane season if at all possible.

Peter searched for policies that would provide me the protection I need while in Mexico. I ended up with two choices and chose the coverage that provided the protections I wanted. This was not the cheapest policy but it offered in my opinion the best protection, at a reasonable price.

That is what your independent agent provides. They do the leg work for you at no additional cost. They help interpret the complexities of different policies and provide strait forward answers to your questions. Since they represent multiple companies they shop different insurers to find the policy you want to protect your assets.

As a fellow boater my best advice would be to actually read your policy, and imagine situations that could happen to your boat, and apply them to the actual policy language to determine if that loss would be covered, or excluded.

Then shop for policy language you want and make price the second priority.

And guys, remember if you make small claims for damages, especially multiple small claims, remember thats this paints a risk picture of you to insurers. Expect your coverage offers and your costs to reflect that risk.