Geico Sells 7 Millionth Auto Policy

April 21, 2006

  • April 21, 2006 at 7:06 am
    Rodent says:
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    I think the sales agent should be rewarded
    for her participation in this milestone by having dinner with Gecko, they can feast on bbq\’d lizard or the budwiser frog.

    Compman, good to see your still posting your crap to this site

  • April 21, 2006 at 8:24 am
    tomdog says:
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    GIECO\’s churn rate is BY FAR the highest in the industry. The company gets clients but looses them faster than either State Farm or Allstate. In the long run they have a loosing business model. Even their own executives admit this, though not in public. Wiat until the FCC makes them prove that the average client saved $500 on their policy. Most single policies are barely $500 per year…they must be providing insurance for free…..what genius!

  • April 21, 2006 at 11:22 am
    Jake P. says:
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    I hate to break it to you cricket, but the \”sales reps\” at direct writers like Progressive and GEICO operate under the exact same agents licenses as any other P&C agent.
    The growth of the direct companies is really showing that the public is smart enough to handle the purchase of their insurance without spending unnecessary additional capitol to support the salaries of the now totally obsolete and unnecessary insurance \”agent\”.
    It really isn\’t as difficult as every agent tries to make the public think. I purchased a policy off of geico.com over a year ago and was amazed at how easy it was—their on-line self help tools are incredible and the coverage advisor is so easy and helpful (my previous company never even told me how drastically underinsured I was). I was able to increase my liability limits 15x over what I was previously paying with another company (who I will leave unnamed), add UM and UIM up to 300/300 (when I had rejected it with the other company), and you know how much more I paid??? All of these additonal and greatly increased coverages only cost me an additional $10 per month.
    THANKS GEICO!!!

  • April 22, 2006 at 12:40 pm
    JimnTx says:
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    Jake, do you really think for one minute that ALL of those direct writer sales reps are licensed as agents? Why do you think the companies prefer to call them sales reps and not agents? Also, did you know that lately The Lizard is acquiring agencies so they\’ll be able to offer sales through local brick and mortar shops? Apparently they finally figured out that a cute cartoon on TV won\’t sustain their growth.
    Just look at The P company. Their direct side sales shot up with double digit increases for 7-8 years and now it has plateaued. The growth looked great each year because they had started from scratch. The real retained growth in the insurance industry comes from local agents and the net helps them to service their clients better.
    Do yourself a favor and SHOP your auto policy at every renewal, because sooner or later customers with a company that spends $550 million in advertising will have to pay the tab.

  • April 21, 2006 at 1:12 am
    Compman says:
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    And the first person who called to change his policy to add a new auto back in 1936 just got his endorsement processed!

  • April 21, 2006 at 1:21 am
    maureen says:
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    And did GEICO reward Stephanie for reaching this milestone? I highly doubt it! Stephanie, you can come work for us and we will make sure you are rewarded!!

  • April 21, 2006 at 1:26 am
    A lazy friday says:
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    Compman, thanks for cracking me up.

    Maureen, she was just the one who happened to pick up the call. Its not like she solicited business and wrote 7 million policies herself. People only buy Geico if they were previously with a crappier company. Its all about rate, not service.

  • April 21, 2006 at 1:32 am
    Warren Buffet says:
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    Don\’t forget that all that TV advertising isn\’t cheap and the acquisition cost for that sale was $638.91. Good thing I have deep pockets.

    Warren

  • April 21, 2006 at 1:56 am
    former policy holder says:
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    We know how difficult it must be Warren. Thats why your policyholder\’s don\’t mind the 4 months it takes your company to settle a total loss.

  • April 21, 2006 at 2:23 am
    Me says:
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    So, Who cares??
    Is it a so day in news or what!

  • April 21, 2006 at 2:36 am
    Bill Clinton\'s friend says:
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    It\’s a good thing every other company in the market is \”crappier\”, from my experience. GEICO should have no problem picking up many more policies!

  • April 21, 2006 at 2:47 am
    Hillary says:
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    Which friend are you? Monica Lewinsky, Jennifer Flowers or Barbara Streisand?

  • April 21, 2006 at 3:26 am
    Hawk says:
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    Big woop!

  • April 21, 2006 at 5:06 am
    RocketMan says:
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    This is a Joke.
    How about State Farm Promoting the Sale of the 100 Million\’th policy ? I cannot understand why these loosers embarrased themselfs on a regular basis.

    How about Lowes promote the sale of the 50,000,000 packs of nails.

    or

    Terminix promote the killing of the 1 Billion\’th Bug

  • April 21, 2006 at 5:17 am
    GECKO says:
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    How many cancellations?

  • April 21, 2006 at 6:22 am
    Edit says:
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    Actually, this is about them having 7 million policies in their book of business, which is a GREAT accomplishment (this either makes them the #3 private auto carrier or so close to passing Progressive that they might as well conceed #3 to GEICO at this point).
    BTW, it looks like GEICO\’s success is drawing a lot of angst from the independent agents out there—What\’s wrong, are you left out on the side of a deserted road or something (which was a great GEICO commercial by the way)?

  • April 21, 2006 at 6:26 am
    Huh? says:
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    Cancellations? Not as many State Farm or All State…..GEICO is growing FAST, State Farm and All State are either struggling to maintain their policies in force or are actually losing market share to the direct writers like GEICO and Progressive.

  • April 22, 2006 at 8:52 am
    RocketMan says:
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    Yes, I agree that Geico is a fit for some people, but the market purchasing behavior still suggest that they are still only attracting a small subset of the whole market. The overwhelming majority of people still like working with people. One on One. Person to Person. This is where real service comes alive. Have any of you seen the \”State Farm\” commercials yet ? The \”Real Stories\” series commercials ? By providing this kind of service, the market will kneeling at the feet of
    Real Agents with a Real office where they provide Real Service.

  • April 22, 2006 at 11:49 am
    Not A Better Mouse Trap....Yet says:
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    No auto insurance company has the lowest price all the time and GEICO, like Progressive, is limited to only one program to sell. Hate to break the news to you but as a broker I have over 70 various auto insurance programs to offer the public and we regularly beat GEICO, including paying the overhead of having sales reps. Every industry has its rotten apples and it sounds like your previous agent may have been one. Plus, you may be one of the few that is more computer literate where insurance websites are less challemging. I have studied insurance websites and web transactions and can confidentally report to you that they are all still on the stone age for conducting insurance sales. Most are limited to one or two online carriers, ask redundant questions and require the buyer to have some insurance knowledge so that they can understand what the heck they\’re the website is saying. Progressive online will temporarily bind coverage but then they send you paperwork that you must sign and return or the coverage stops. Yeah, GEICO and Progressive may have the best and most successful online insurance sales systems. But it\’s nothing to brag about when its the best of the worst.

  • April 22, 2006 at 1:35 am
    sf says:
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    State Farm has over 40 million auto, now thats something to brag about

  • April 22, 2006 at 5:01 am
    GECKO says:
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    They may have sold 7 million policies but keeping them is another story.How are they going do it when their claims departments are full of inexperienced people? It is well known in the industry that GEICO is not an employer that treats their employees well. It is also known that they dont like to hire from the outside. It would rather promote/transfer unqualified employees from within than to look outside and get qualified candidates that would bring innovation and creativity to their otherwise factory run organization.
    Lower premium should not be a trade off for premium claim expertise.

  • April 24, 2006 at 10:19 am
    Compman says:
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    sorry you don\’t like my views rodent, but with your handle, I don\’t take too much offense. Based on my 15 years in the business, I can honestly say that the majority of my clients wouldn\’t know a deductible from a property damage limit. There will always be more than enough people who need hand holding to help them with their insurance, that I do not worry about not having enough business. Most people are still insurance illiterate.

  • April 24, 2006 at 10:33 am
    rodent says:
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    love your sense of humor

    by the way, are you a wc expert with that handle

    have a great day, keep up the humor

  • April 30, 2006 at 7:59 am
    JimnTx says:
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    Say what you want, but you\’ll not convince me that all their sales rep have a license, I\’ve known some that did not.
    And, to answer your question about why so many would buy from a lizard…it\’s because people will buy whatever they see on TV, and that\’s a fact.

  • April 30, 2006 at 8:17 am
    RocketMan says:
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    J,

    Your right, they are growing faster than most companies, but when you are the size of State Farm\’s little Toe, whats so impressive ? As far as them catching up, their day may come. What comes up, can come down as well. The american public has chosen to deal with Agents. Geico has been able to find the people who are comfortable working alone, without the Agents help. Well, the larger part of the market still chooses to work one on one with people, directly over the desk, not the net. The numbers speak for themself: Geico has 7 mil policyholders, State Farm has over 40 Mil policyholders. Not to mention how many policyholders are with Allstate, Nationwide, Erie, Farmers and all of the independants. With the changes in the science of underwrtiing just comming on line, the future is anyones guess, But I wouldn\’t bet against the hardworking Agents just yet. As far as the hurricane exposure issues, you left out the fact that State Farm made a Profit in the HO business last year, dispite the worst hurricane to date, but even better, State Farm was carring the largest chunk of that business, and the Losses, and Wow, they still pulled a Profit.

    Boy, it\’s always refreshing setting the story straight.

    Ty,

    RocketMan

  • April 30, 2006 at 4:49 am
    J says:
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    First of all, in order for ANY insurance agent to sell a policy, they are REQUIRED to have a license for that state. To the person who said that GEICO agents do not hold licenses is a bold face lie.

    2ndly, GEICO has been growing at over 10% every year for quite a few years now. Sure, State Farm might have 40 million policies, but watch what their book of business is doing every year. Watch their profits. Especially with the hurricane losses coming in, they are losing business (as with most of the \”big boys\” who write homeowners as well)

    Considering how GEICO is growing faster than any other insurance company (Progressive is the closest competitor) and on top of the growth is also raising profits, GEICO is sure to catch up to State Farm and Allstate within time. Same goes for Progressive.

    I\’m sure some of you are biased towards independant/captive agents, and some are biased towards direct marketing. That\’s fine, everyone entitled to that, but to bash GEICO just because you like State Farm is just silly.

    State Farm/Allstate, Progressive….they are all good insurance companies. Obviously with as many policies as they have they are doing something write, same with GEICO. If GEICO was so bad, why would so many people insure with them, and why would so many people keep buying new policies with them?



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