Oregon Geico Insurance Claim for Personal Injury

Now celebrating their 75th birthday, Geico Insurance is probably best known for the weird little green lizard, the Gecko that features in their super-concentrated advertising campaigns. The company was founded in 1936 by Leo and Lillian Goodwin, in Texas, and has now grown to have assets totaling $28 billion. With that kind of clout, you’d expect Geico claims in Oregon to be settled swiftly and fairly. In actual fact, the truth is somewhat different.

Geico Customer Service is Found to Be “Disappointing” 

One of the most respected names in business is J.D. Power & Associates. They have been a tried and trusted source of information on the who’s who and what’s what of corporate America for decades. They recently conducted the J.D. Power 2011 customer satisfaction study on 25 car insurance providers. The results on Geico included:

• An overall score of 840 out of 1,000 possible points. That’s still below the industry average of 846.
• A rating of 3 out of 5 in the Power Circle Ratings, which, according to J.D. Power, makes Geico “about average.”
• Geico finished mid-table in the insurance company survey, coming in at 11th of the 25 companies included in the report.

Notwithstanding the J.D. Power report, Geico failed to impress on the customer services scorecard, another consumer-driven survey, which gave the company a score of 54.57 out of a possible 200, based on 197 respondents. This, according to the website that published the findings, meant that Geico’s customer service and support is “disappointing.”

From its inception, Geico has been exceptionally interested in taking on low-risk clients. The name Geico actually stands for Government Employees Insurance Companies, which is somewhat misleading, because Geico have no official ties to the U.S. (or any other) government. It’s just that, from the time they opened their doors, they preferred dealing with government employees, whom they assumed were the safest people of all to whom they could offer car insurance, as government employees were deemed more financially stable than the general public. In fact, they only started offering motor cover to the general public in the 1970’s, when they discovered they could have real-time access to motorists’ driving records.

Geico: Policy of Delay, Denial and Unfair Offers

Sadly, like many of the larger motor insurance providers, Geico seem to have developed a policy of denying claims that are clearly valid, and delaying the payment of those they do eventually agree to settle. In addition, offers of settlements for personal injury Geico claims in Oregon have been found to be extremely inadequate compared to the true value of the claims.

Some complaints to Consumer Affairs from Oregon drivers have been especially scathing of the treatment meted out by Geico. As recently as November 10th of this year, a lady from Keizer wrote that she had been involved in a hit-and-run with a red pickup that took off as soon as the collision with her 2009 Hyundai Sonata occurred. She tried to follow the truck, but her car was too damaged, so she called the police and then Geico, her insurers. The person she spoke to told her her account had now been “flagged,” and that she would be treated as though she had no insurance until an investigator from Geico looked into the accident. Geico refused to organize either a tow truck or a rental car, and the lady intends to hire an attorney to take matters further.

A man named Tom, from Portland, told Consumer Affairs a young man being chased by an unleashed dog jumped onto a disabled policy holder’s car, shattered the rear window and caused injury to a person in the car. Geico’s response was to increase the premium of the disabled person, and to make them personally responsible for collecting damages from the dog owner.

Clearly, when it comes to making Geico Insurance claims in Oregon, whether you hold the Geico policy yourself, or the other person involved in the accident does, it might be necessary to obtain the services of a very experienced Portland car accident attorney, who can cut through the red tape insurance companies always seem to throw at you. Find a lawyer who has experience of dealing directly with Geico, and let them get you a fair settlement and just compensation.