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GEICO has closed its insurance offices in California. All 38 of them. Hundreds of employees have lost their jobs. GEICO has also stopped talking phone sales in the state.
The only way California consumers can now purchase auto, homeowners or rental insurance from GEICO is online.
The company has not publicly responded but did send a news release to The Sacramento Bee. It said, “We continue to write policies in California, and we remain available through our direct channels for the more than 2.18 million California customers presently insured with us.”
That’s it.
The doing away with phone sales is not much of a surprise. In April of this year, GEICO said it would stop doing phone sales in several states. The PIA Western Alliance state of California is one of them.
The other PIA Western Alliance states impacted by GEICO’s decision are Alaska and New Mexico.
California Department of Insurance spokesman Michael Soller said his department is on top of the decision. “We are monitoring to make sure consumers are protected,” Soller said.
So the only way a Californian can access a GEICO policy — and U.S. News & World Report says the company has the lowest rates in the nation — is online via a computer or a mobile device.
That is a big concern for Dave Jones who served as California Insurance Commissioner from 2011 to 2019.
“The company’s actions will make it harder for consumers to buy GEICO policies, particularly those who are computer challenged or prefer to meet an agent in person”, Jones said and worried aloud about the closure of the 38 offices.
He said many consumers want to meet the agents they’re purchasing a policy from. GEICO just took that away. Jones says that decision could hurt GEICO’s bottom-line.
“Their [the GEICO agent} primary role is to prospect and generate insurance leads and policies that GEICO would otherwise not capture.”
Source link: The Sacramento Bee — https://bit.ly/3P6BeuN Source link: PropertyCasualty360.com — https://bit.ly/3SxmAzD |
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The Professional Insurance Agents Western Alliance is a membership organization promoting and enhancing the success of independent agencies seeking to grow, learn and be heard within the industry.
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