Geico just cancelled my insurance- very puzzling
 

I just got back into town and found that I'd received a letter from Geico. To give some background, I've been insured with them for several years at $500,000/$500,000 liability, $50,000 property damage, with comprehensive and collision. I've had them as my insurer on three different cars in three different states. I have never (with them or any other insurer) filed a claim, nor have I ever been found at fault in an accident. My last traffic ticket was in January, 2000. In other words, I'm pretty much the poster child for good insurance customers.

So I was a bit surprised by this:

http://img37.picoodle.com/img/img37/...om_3b626f3.gif

Puzzlingly, they refer to "customizations and modifications". However I have never told them that my vehicle is turbocharged, nor do I carry any additional coverage for customizations.

Obviously I'll be calling them tomorrow, but this really has me puzzled. Has anyone ever had a similar experience?

That is very odd indeed. My insurance knows my car is turbocharged & modified. And I'm 20 and have 6 pts on my license. Then again, it's military family insurance.

https://www.usaa.com/inet/ent_logon/Logon

I would also call up Lawana Washington and give here a piece of my mind. I have never heard of a company refusing to take a person's money before

Hmm. Makes me wonder if they scouted you out at a track event or some such non sense.

Not really, but I feel like telling this story anyway.

About two years ago, I bought a CRV as a daily driver. I then sold my old car, a mazda mx6, about a week later to a private party. I also had the miata at this time on a separate policy, also with State Farm.

Well, the local State Farm office fuxed up and canceled the insurance on my CRV instead of the mx6.

About a month later I got a nice form letter from the DMV telling me I was being fined for dropping insurance in a state that has manadatory insurance requirements. Well that's nice. Except I did no such thing.

I called State Farm, and the girl finally came back and told me she had found the forms "I would need to fix the problem." I came back with "No, you found the forms YOU will need to fix the problem."

A couple of weeks later, I got another DMV letter claiming I had dropped the insurance on the Miata. State Farm screwed up again! I ended up having to print out pictures of my cars, the Honda, the Mx6, and the Miata and bringing them down to the office in person. I drew a big circle with a line through it over the picture of the Mx6 and plopped all three on the desk of the girl helping me. I sat and watched her type up the policy changes to make sure she didn't screw it up a THIRD time.

I have never had a problem with State Farm as a company, but DEAR GOD is my local office full of insufferable dolts.

Fuck Geico, their stupid cavemen retards, and their god damn green monster.



State Farm FTMFW.

Full coverage on 4 vehicles including one Crotch Rocket... $136.12/month. :)

Though I would like to know their reasoning behind this...

I wonder how they found out

You committed insurance fraud (actually not fraud cause you weren't trying to get money by filing a false claim, but you get the drift). You must report any performance related modifications to your insurance company as your car is now a non-standard model and risks are completely different.

Who knows how the hell they found out but they most assuredly have their ways.

A quick google search didn't turn up anything for Geico's policy but here is an excerpt from Admiral insurance policy:

"Undisclosed modifications to the car. Modifying a car so it affects its performance or appearance means it is no longer a standard model, and therefore a different risk. You must tell your insurer of any modifications either you or a previous owner has made to your car."

Sorry to hear about your bad news Joe, good luck with getting it reinsured. Kinda sucks that they are being lame about the Miata.

Very odd. Curious to hear the outcome and how they found out your car is modified.

joe's mind will be blown when I tell him that upon acquiring geico as my ins co, I disclosed that I had done a shitload to my car and gave specifics (suspension, turbo, roll bar, death spinners on the wheels, what-have-you) and they said it was all groovy baby. did not present an issue for them. just have to write it all down and send it in.

Geico's hella expensive anyway. Fuck 'em.

Ya, 9/10 times your rate wont change $.01. They just want to know about it. In addition, you can get coverage for some aftermarket parts if you get the right coverage.

Hyper ratted out on you? lol. Dunno.

Hyper:confused:? Who's that? I do remember a Tinkerbell from a while back though, I think she had some kind of special coolant reroute.

On Topic: That sucks

Shitty, Joe. Sorry to hear it. Do you have another car? Might want to consider getting an agreed-value policy with Hagerty.

geiko sucks big time anyway..I dont even know why you were with them that long unless they really hooked you up somehow......just recently was insurance shopping and geiko was not even competitive with some insurances out there

There are a lot of factors they consider to determine the rate ... where you live, what you drive, how old, married, credit rating possibly. Anyway, in your situation, some companies may offer good rates while others suck big time. For people in other situations, the companies that were giving you good deals suck big time, while the ones trying to rip you off give this guy a good rate.

you have a good point, however I'm 24, have a perfect driving record, married, perfect credit history, 3 cars and 1 house on one policy. so I'm definitely not too different from joe insurance policy wise.

Same shit just happened to my friend yesterday. Same letter, but they said he was "street racing". Never a ticket for anything like that, but he does autocross. Wtf??

Hagerty told me to call them in 6-years when my car hits 25.

I provided a request in writing for gap coverage on my car, and specifically said I did not want coverage on the track...hopefully I didn't screw up.

they've been good to me for the last 22 years :D

maybe it's time to change your screen name Joe?

That is really messed up, but there are definitely options. I use Farmers for home, cars, and sportbikes for past half decade. Always easy to deal with, always cheap.

I keep getting calls from Geico telling me they can do it cheaper, and now I'm glad I never moved over to them. Even if it's less, my local farmer's rep is great, and that's worth something. They also put up with me adding/dropping my toys (miata and bikes) at my whimsy, which has been about every 3 months.

Things are starting to make more sense now.

When I called them to enquire, the woman who I spoke to rattled off a short list of mods (turbocharger, Bilstein suspension) and said that in their judgement, these were "racing modifications."

And now I remember why they know this.

A few months back, after a big thread about stated value insurance, I did some checking around and requested a bunch of quotes on what I felt were fair value for my car. When I submitted the request to Geico, I must have been logged in under my account. I never heard back from them, and frankly forgot about the whole thing. So it's my fault.

I told the woman that my car was most assuredly a daily driver, and that all of the "racing modifications" she named were in fact available as OEM equipment on later-model Miatas; Bilsteins became available as a factory option in '94, and turbochargers in 2004. I didn't specifically say that I'd retrofitted those specific OEM parts onto the car, but I think she interpreted it as such. She then went off and conferred with someone and said that even so, these raised the replacement cost of the car above market value. Well Duh- that's what stated value coverage is for.

I will interject here that the insurance laws in Florida are a bit odd. We're a "no-fault" state, meaning that even if someone hits my car while it's parked and I'm not in it, and the incident is witnessed personally by the Sheriff, two Judges, and a Nun, my own insurance carrier is technically on the hook.

Oh well.

The rate I'd been paying was in fact pretty decent- $364 / 6mo for the coverage detailed above, and less than that when I was in CA. That's lower than I'd gotten from Allstate, State Farm, and a couple of others. Progressive is quoting me $329 for the same, or $391 with a stated-value of $8,000 and a $1k deductible on comprehensive / collision.


What to do...

That sucks Joe, at least now you know how and why it happened.

I use Progressive and I have been happy with them for the past 7 years. I was actually reading about the aftermarket comp on their site last week. I was only able to get $5k in aftermarket parts (I think) and it raised my premium only by a little bit. When this 6 months coverage runs out on May 1st I plan on re-doing the whole thing, seeing as I will be turning 25 on the 4th. Hopefully I can get a deal.

Vash-

+1. always been good, even when i totaled my miata, they suggest i submit all my receipts to increase the insured value of the car :rofl:


and really, why are they being so petty with a $2000 car?


off topic: no-fault FTL.

Progressive was a pain in the ass with I was hit this summer. I've since switched to Liberty Mutual, much better coverage for a better price.

That blows harder than Hustler blows hobos. Sorry to hear that. NY has no-fault as well ftl.

Give Travlers Insurance a call. Depending on what level of insurance you want, including a value you give them, you may not have to pay a premium for mods. Pictures and dollars spent help document the value without having to have a formal appraisal.

USAA FTW!!!

A little but more expensive, but everytime I have needed them they have been there for me. Even after an accident that I was in that was my fault my rates did not go up.

+1 USAA kicks ass.. I have found them to be cheaper than most others though

I just switched to Allstate and saved $600 every 6 months over progressive.

I just switched over to USAA, I was paying $1000 a month for 2 cars with farmers, now I'm paying $600 a month for 4 with USAA. Their rates are by far the best. If you can't get USAA, try 21st century, they were the next cheapest for me.

Theres a big surprise. They (Progressive) was charging me 176$ a month for a 10 year old crotch rocket.... I pay 12$ a month for Full Coverage on it with State Farm.

Another vote for USAA here, good prices and fantastic service.

................Holy damn, $1000 a month? How many people have you run down?

I dropped Gieco a few months back. I won't go into detail but they pissed me off. Got USAA now

Both the Neon and the Miata on USAA, GEICO wanted 3 times as much for the same coverage.

What does a person have to do to become a USAA member? I can't seem to penetrate their exclusive club. I'm not military, nor was any living member of my family. (You'd have to go back to WWII to establish that relationship.)

Have to be military or have a military parent or something...I've heard they changed some of their rules but I don't know that for sure

That's what I thought.

No more USAA recommendations, ok? I get it- they're awesome, you're all awesome, but I suck and I can't qualify. :fawk:

Join the military? I here they are always looking for applicants. You also dont need to worry to much about being fired.

Join the military? I here they are always looking for applicants. You also dont need to worry to much about being fired. :)

That's one way to do it, worked for me.

Just fired upon. ;)

lol @ joining the military, "I want better insurance so I guess i'll go dodge bullets for awhile to get the good stuff"

Go find an insurance broker. Mine works with several companies and have been by far the cheapest rates i've seen. Every 6 months they check with other insurance carriers to see if rates will be better for me and renew my policy accordingly. Plus you'd be supporting a small business :)

There was talk on the SCCAForums a few months back that Geico has a "task force" that searches their users names out on the internet to find information on what they are doing with their vehicles. More of a few of them lost their coverage when event results were found with their name on them.

Somehow I think signing up would run counter to Joe's educational program and plans to become a lawyer...

I'll jump on the State Farm band wagon. I've been with the since I was in my teens and have never had a problem. Zero claims denied and no unwarranted rate hikes. (When the wife totals two cars within 6 months, you can expect prices to climb...) Based upon my continued longevity with them, I received a letter from State Farm informing me they will never cancel my policy, with two caveat: (1) non-payment for 6 months or (2) more than one DUI/DWI offense.

- L

My ex-girlfriend works for State Farm...they actually have dedicated people to search about that stuff and list it in your file...it's crazy. I was almost declined a claim when I wrecked my SS Camaro because the shithead mechanic "THOUGHT" he saw a BOV in the motor bay...and the insurance said that my car was modded and I would have to pick up the tab - THANK GOD I had pics of the engine bay and took my mechanic with me to point out there was no such thing. Insurance companies suck hairy fucking ballsack.

do you think they would check up on an escort owner? =x

Its threads like this that make me want to get bare minimum coverage on my toy car, then back it up with racecar insurance.

USAA sucks.

One of their policy holders, who decided to drink a bottle of liquor and eat a whole medicine cabinet full of anti depressants went on a killing spree, and hit my wife in her brand new Prius twice in an attempt to kill her and himself. That night, he continued to hit 3 other people.

It took USAA nearly a year to pay up! My wife had to drive her new car almost a year with about $15k in body damage. I regularly pray for those who run that company to rot in hell. nice new car? yeah.

Look into progressive. Right after I switched to them I totaled my 3 year old ford ranger. I thought for sure they would drop me, but instead they gave me $2k more than market value for the truck and the adjuster drove out to my house to deliver the check personally. My rate went up by like $5 a month, big deal. I dont see a reason to shop for insurance anywhere else..

oh yeah and my parents had state farm for 20 years, one accident and they dropped them. ballsack lovers

Well, I stopped by a couple of local offices on my way home this afternoon. For the coverages listed in post #1, State Farm wanted $407, and Allstate wanted $456. I even showed both agents the quote I have from Progressive (detail below) and they were sympathetic but unable to do anything. Shocking what passes for normal around here. Seriously- how the hell do these companies stay in business?

So, I've got a Progressive quote sitting here for $262 (minus $50 for first period) for the above, and $373 (minus the same $50 off) for the same plus an $8,000 stated value with $1k comp/coll deductibles. I think I'll be going with that.

Do keep in mind that $8k coverage minus $1k deductible is $7k. If you are indeed looking for $8k incase the worst happens, you may wish to either elevate coverage to $9k or lower your deductible (which ever is cheaper). I've gone to $0 deductibles on my policy with All State as there was only a $12/yr difference for me coming from $500. :dunno:

I just got off the phone with my insurance agent and to increase the coverage from just liability to full comp/collision with a stated value of $15,000 with Travlers raised my premium $100 a year.

Hustler, who does race car insurance again? You mentioned a $15k rider for theft/fire/natural disaster for $150 a year and I want to sign up.

I have had Allstate since...forever. As soon as I blew the original motor in my FC and swapped in the turbo motor, I changed the status to Stated Value. After the car was complete, they gave it a value of $10,000. That works for me since I had about $6k into it (including the price of the car ;) ).

When I bought the Miata, I stated EVERYTHING it had on it, and told them it didn't run yet. They gave it a value of $6k the way it sits. Once it is on the road, I have to take it by my agents' office for a re-evaluation. He guesses about $9k.

Oh, and I had my whole policy re-evaluated at the same time, and now the Miata is basically covered for free!

I love Allstate.

State Farm= Fail (long story, fuck them right in their ass)