GEICO

We've only had one accident in all of our years with Geico. It involved us being hit from the rear and being flipped onto the side. Luckily no one was hurt beyond a few scratches and cuts. Geico was the insurer for both vehicles and worked with us until an amicable solution was reached for both parties. And most importantly, did not raise our rates, since we were not at fault. Thus, their claims department, unlike other companies, is just as good as their billing department. Which the latter, as is evident, has always worked with us to keep our car insurance premiums within our budget.

Customer Service was great. Although I (fortunately) have never needed to claim anything other than this and glass repair, I'm sure the experience for any repairs would be equally as easy. The premium has been less or equal to any quotes I've gotten for comparable coverage (minus the mechanical breakdown). In short, I'm a happy camper.

The deer, knowing that they couldn’t cross all four lanes, decided to return to their starting location and try again later. The only problem was that my vehicle was in the way of that return trek.

Changing their walk to a leap, the group turned around and headed back to the north side of the road. The first leap brought them in contact with the car. Like a television comedy, little deer legs went windmilling in every direction. The surprised looks on the deer showed their confusion and fear. I immediately pulled over and checked on the deer that was unable to get up. The others looked on with their silent recriminations. I saw that the deer was injured and not likely to be healed. She had, at the least, two front broken legs. I called 911 and asked for a Highway Patrol to meet me at my current location.

Let me break from the story for a minute and relate that I am in rural Montana and not at my typical location of Salt Lake City, Utah. My AT&T provided cell service does not work very well in this state. I was told by many residents that the best service to have in that state would have been Verizon. This factor played a major factor in the next 48 hours. However, the majority of my complaints arise out of Geico’s leaving me stranded without water nor food while having two dogs in the car with me.

The highway Patrol arrived and assessed the situation. I was currently on I-90 west at about mile marker 527.5. He suggested that I drive the short distance to Lodge Grass to get off the highway since it became more dangerous at night. I took the incident report (Montana Highway Patrol #**) and drove the short distance to Lodge Grass. I tried to call Geico, but I could not get a call to keep a connection. I called my wife, and she called Geico. We were able to convey our location through her, so we thought that unfortunate incident would soon be behind us. The lady said that the closest auto body shop was currently closed. The soonest that they could get out to me would be at 7am. Hearing this was annoying, but I figured that I could survive 10 hours in my car on the Reservation.

I slept in the parking lot of a closed store in Lodge Grass with two dogs clamoring for a spot to sleep on top of me. At about 2am a group of Native Americans started pounding of the doors of an RV that was parked fairly close to me. They were asking if they were broke down and where were they headed. It was a very scary situation, and I thought it best to move away as fast as possible. I started driving to the next town knowing fully that I had a hole in my radiator, but fearing that if I stayed, I would be killed.

The car seemed to work fine as long as I did not drive faster than 1500 rpm. Any faster than 1500 rpm, the car would overheat too quickly. I didn’t want to hurt the engine, but I didn’t know what else to do. I decided on 5 miles as a safe number. I drove 5 miles, and I would then wait one hour for the car to cool down. I did this all night until I reached the Big Horn Auto Body Shop that the Geico agent recommended. This company had no record of my even needing a tow. Furthermore, they couldn’t handle the type of damage that had occurred to the car. I tried calling Geico, but I gave up after exceedingly long wait times. What to do?

I stayed in town several hours and tried to determine my best course of action. I kept in continuous contact with my wife because I hoped that she would get a call from Geico. Eventually, the town folk convinced me that I needed to get to Billings, Montana to the VW dealership since they had their own specialized repair service (Rimrock).

So now I am living in my car with the dogs. Geico might want to hear from me, but their automated system is such that I can never contact them. I am not only depressed, but I am about to have a breakdown! Knowing that it might take me two days to drive the 49 miles to Billings, I decided to give my dogs up for adoption. Dogs that I love as much as my children were given up because I thought that they might die on the two day trip. I gave my two dogs to the Freckles and Tomcat Rescue at 10230 Old Mountain Highway 87; Hardin, MT 59034.

With tearing flowing freely down my eyes, I started driving the 5 miles that was possible each hour. About 2pm, a Geico agent called and asked if a tow truck had ever arrived. I said no. I gave my exact location. I, of course, lost reception, but the agent called back. The location was confirmed, so even though I lost reception with her a third time, I stayed right where I was and waited for the tow truck. I waited for the next five hours again in this high plains desert. Temps were over 100 degrees and I had no water, but the tow truck was finally on its way. Right? After five hours, I assumed that the agent had lied to again! I was so dehydrated that I did not think that I could make it through the night. I decided to try again for Billings.

I arrived at the Rimrock Auto body shop at 8am. Thirty-five hours after the crash, and I finally could finally safely get out of the car. There were no rentals available in Billings, and absolutely NO rentals for my one-way trip back to Salt Lake City. I was stranded. Geico would not or could not answer. I tried contacting them through the app several times, and I even tried to use the texting option. Nothing worked. I even tried emailing them hoping for any help or suggestion as to what I should do. Not knowing what else to do, I booked the cheapest flight that I could to SLC, Utah.

My car is basically abandoned in another state with my insurance company ignoring me. Is this what Geico’s Comprehensive Coverage entails? Please note that I have front and rear cameras installed in my VW Jetta. You cannot only see the incident, but, whenever the car is on, you can hear my conversation with Geico. Please feel free to retrieve these videos from the autobody shop located in Billings, Montana. Please also note that your company relies too heavily on the Geico app. If a person is in a location that does not receive cell service, they cannot even download the app!