Masked Mom's Media Monday: GEICO

Hands down, GEICO has the best commercials in the insurance industry--even though the celebrity ones have started to grate on my nerves a little and I'm not sure how much further they can go with the cave man ones and I'm a little afraid to see how long they'll continue them after they stop being funny. But that's not why I became a GEICO customer--I became a GEICO customer in August of last year, when I realized that I could pay half what the next lowest competitor was charging for the exact same coverage.

I did the whole thing on-line, printed out proof of insurance that came with scannable bar codes for the DMV and it all took less than half an hour. I'll admit I was a little concerned about customer service--despite Charo's* assurances--but I went ahead and signed up anyway figuring that when and if I did have to file a claim, if things didn't go well, I could always switch.

When and if came a lot sooner than I would've hoped. In December (a scant five months after my coverage began), Son-Two backed out of our driveway and into the side of a car belonging to a visitor across the street. Our car was undamaged but the other car was hit just in front of the front driver door and there was a dent in the front fender. To me, it looked like the kind of thing that could be popped out by a clever guy with a deft hand and a plunger. But the estimate was in the neighborhood of $1400.

I filed my claim on-line at 8:12 a.m. I immediately receive an automated e-mail confirming my claim and providing a claim number. The e-mail said I would be contacted within 48 hours. I was contacted well within 48 hours--in fact, I got a call from GEICO at around 8:23 the same morning. More importantly, I was off the phone by 8:35--the whole thing taken care of.

The best part? Friday I received the bill for my next six months of coverage. I was afraid to open the e-mail, because I hadn't even made it through my first six months with the company without having to file a claim. I fully expected my premium to go up. It went down. Down! Down! Can you believe it?

Masked Mom's One-Word Review: I-just-saved-a-buncha-money-on-my-car-insurance.

*The funniest thing about those commercials is trying to explain to your kids who the hell Charo is. Even if you remember her from the Seventies (which I do because my grandfather had a thing for her, among other reasons), you can't really say who she is. She sings, she dances, she tries to act (Love Boat, anyone?) but she's not really what you'd call a singer or a dancer or--even less--an actor. She's an entertainer, sort of, but really just a personality. One of the boys saw the commercial, with her broken English and weird-ass noises and jiggling, and said, "Mom, who is she?" I tried to explain and he cut in, "Yeah, but what did she do?" I said, "You're pretty much lookin' at it." She wiggled, she made weird noises and she talked nonsense and gibberish--in two languages.