GEICO Umbrella: Significant Increase in Premium

[patriciamgr2]

Excellent numbers, Bungo. Thanks for sharing that.

[FBM]

Geico is at it again. Just got my renewal with a 23% increase to $578 for a $2M policy in Chicago. Previous increases were $330 to $469. Time to shop!

[cheerfulcharlie]

Geico is at it again. Just got my renewal with a 23% increase to $578 for a $2M policy in Chicago. Previous increases were $330 to $469. Time to shop!

Try Amica. They were quite affordable when I switched to them in 2010. I recently shopped around on pricing when I moved in 2019, and they remained the best price out of all the big insurers I called up.

I've filed a house claim with them and a couple auto claims with them over the years, and all were good experiences. I trust Amica to do the right thing when processing claims.

[patriciamgr2]

Thanks, Bogleheads, for sharing your experiences with GEICO and Amica. Please let us know which insurer you decide to place your coverage with, FBM. Also, did your Geico price increase also come with new policy language? TIA for any information you can share.

[Grt2bOutdoors]

Geico is at it again. Just got my renewal with a 23% increase to $578 for a $2M policy in Chicago. Previous increases were $330 to $469. Time to shop!

Try Amica. They were quite affordable when I switched to them in 2010. I recently shopped around on pricing when I moved in 2019, and they remained the best price out of all the big insurers I called up.

I've filed a house claim with them and a couple auto claims with them over the years, and all were good experiences. I trust Amica to do the right thing when processing claims.

Did you have to move your car insurance to them as well?

[ReinvestingVA]

My umbrella has only gone up about 30% over the past 5-6 years.
I now pay $426 for 2mil; paid about $325 in 2015.

This must be with only PLUP(personal liability) and not including anything commercial such as rental properties. I have 8 rental properties and Geico recently quoted me $826 for first million.

[Rob5TCP]

My umbrella has only gone up about 30% over the past 5-6 years.
I now pay $426 for 2mil; paid about $325 in 2015.

This must be with only PLUP(personal liability) and not including anything commercial such as rental properties. I have 8 rental properties and Geico recently quoted me $826 for first million.

I had 1 rental property located in a LCOL area. When I sold it, it dropped only about $50

[cheerfulcharlie]

When I moved from my big house to my tiny apt, I moved all my insurance policies to Amica (i.e. eventually cancelled house insurance once house sale completed, moved car insurance, added renters insurance, and added umbrella insurance).

I preferred to keep all policies together to take advantage of their bundling discount. Now I pay only around $110 per month (single guy, umbrella is only $1 mil, and now just renter's insurance and car insurance with umbrella -- cheap!).

Geico is at it again. Just got my renewal with a 23% increase to $578 for a $2M policy in Chicago. Previous increases were $330 to $469. Time to shop!

Try Amica. They were quite affordable when I switched to them in 2010. I recently shopped around on pricing when I moved in 2019, and they remained the best price out of all the big insurers I called up.

I've filed a house claim with them and a couple auto claims with them over the years, and all were good experiences. I trust Amica to do the right thing when processing claims.

Did you have to move your car insurance to them as well?

[MtnTravel]

You need to find an independent insurance agent to do all the legwork for you. I did that this year and it was soooo much easier than spending hours shopping around. Typically bundling home/auto/umbrella with one company will be the way to go. Coincidently the best option for me was Geico/Travelers.

I think this is good advice. Until recently I assumed you would get better rates if you did the legwork yourself, but I have found that it is really not the case. I will probably never buy insurance without an agent going forward, it is a much better experience

Well, yeah, you won't have access to all the insurers if you DIY, but you can look up premium comparison on your state and see what insurers you might want to try to get quotes from. That's how I ended up with Auto Owners in Arizona. No way to get a quote on my own.

What I’ve seen is that most agents only write or quote certain carriers. For example most have safeco, travelers, and progressive where I’m at. Some have nationwide, auto owners, and state auto, others have acuity, and a handful have Chubb.

It seems like you need to shop multiple agents to really get a good quote, otherwise you have no idea what carriers they aren’t quoting with. I also found that going online I’d het better rates direct from the carrier than what agents were giving me because they’d always try to sneak in a bunch of “extra coverages” like fridge contents, identity theft, etc. which I imagine are high profit margin.

[tj]

You need to find an independent insurance agent to do all the legwork for you. I did that this year and it was soooo much easier than spending hours shopping around. Typically bundling home/auto/umbrella with one company will be the way to go. Coincidently the best option for me was Geico/Travelers.

I think this is good advice. Until recently I assumed you would get better rates if you did the legwork yourself, but I have found that it is really not the case. I will probably never buy insurance without an agent going forward, it is a much better experience

Well, yeah, you won't have access to all the insurers if you DIY, but you can look up premium comparison on your state and see what insurers you might want to try to get quotes from. That's how I ended up with Auto Owners in Arizona. No way to get a quote on my own.

What I’ve seen is that most agents only write or quote certain carriers. For example most have safeco, travelers, and progressive where I’m at. Some have nationwide, auto owners, and state auto, others have acuity, and a handful have Chubb.

It seems like you need to shop multiple agents to really get a good quote, otherwise you have no idea what carriers they aren’t quoting with. I also found that going online I’d het better rates direct from the carrier than what agents were giving me because they’d always try to sneak in a bunch of “extra coverages” like fridge contents, identity theft, etc. which I imagine are high profit margin.

There are insurers that you can't go direct. That's the whole point. In order to get an auto owners quote, I had to go to their website, put in my zip code and find an agent to request from. Archaic, but that's the way it works.

[logiclife]

Geico is at it again. Just got my renewal with a 23% increase to $578 for a $2M policy in Chicago. Previous increases were $330 to $469. Time to shop!

my $3M umbrella costs $600 in Chicago insured by rli via geico although my geico auto costs $320. don't know if other insurance companies cover umbrella if you don't insure auto with them

[jane1]

We had seen significant increases in Geico umbrella premiums (>3x over 2-3 yrs with no claims) a few months back. Switched auto & umbrella to State Farm, after having been a long-term Geico customer. But hated State Farm's processes & online tools. Switched back to Geico for Auto. But went with Electric Insurance for Umbrella at lower premiums.
https://eic.electricinsurance.com/coverages/umbrella

[patriciamgr2]

I think Electric Insurance (which I have read was started in the 60's to provide coverage to GE employees) is still owned by GE Capital. Apparently it has an "A" rating from AM Best. Glancing at the website, it looked as if the auto insurance was pricey. If they offer standalone umbrella coverage, however, I will look at them during my next renewal. Part of the reason I've kept GEICO on is because it's hard to find umbrella coverage unless you move your home/auto policies to the provider as well. This is an interesting alternative I personally had not heard of before. Thanks for all of the responses sharing your experiences. It makes all of us better consumers.

[Linkin06]

Be careful with Amica. I looked at my previous policy and noticed a “cosmetic damage exclusion from wind and hail.” I switched because I didn’t want to potentially have to argue what’s cosmetic. Is it only when water is pouring into my house that it’s not cosmetic?

[logiclife]

I think Electric Insurance (which I have read was started in the 60's to provide coverage to GE employees) is still owned by GE Capital. Apparently it has an "A" rating from AM Best. Glancing at the website, it looked as if the auto insurance was pricey. If they offer standalone umbrella coverage, however, I will look at them during my next renewal. Part of the reason I've kept GEICO on is because it's hard to find umbrella coverage unless you move your home/auto policies to the provider as well. This is an interesting alternative I personally had not heard of before. Thanks for all of the responses sharing your experiences. It makes all of us better consumers.

you need to insure with them for both auto and home as well inorder to get the PUP...

[patriciamgr2]

Oh OK logiclife. I read Jane1's comment as Electric offering umbrella coverage while auto coverage was obtained from another carrier. Thanks for your clarification.

[TimeRunner]

$2M policy, renewing in August. Was $382.70 last year, $378 this year. I'm guessing it dropped a few $ because we reported fewer annual miles on our two Geico-insured cars. No other changes.

Update for 2022: Just notified that August 2022 renewal will be the same amount, a single ACH payment of $378 for another year.

[patriciamgr2]

Time Runner: Thanks for sharing your recent renewal data.

[Northern Flicker]

Are there any issues if one gets umbrella from a different company than auto and home?

I have auto & umbrella thru GEICO and home elsewhere. Most companies will only write you umbrella if you have either auto, home or both with them. There are a few who specialize in stand alone umbrella, and have been mentioned in previous threads.

One issue is that, should you need to defend against a lawsuit involving auto or homeowner coverage, and you have umbrella with another company, they will need to coordinate your defense.

I don’t believe GEICO offers homeowners insurance, but just brokers it, so if you use GEICO insurance it is a given that your HO will be with a different company than auto and umbrella.

[Rob5TCP]

Are there any issues if one gets umbrella from a different company than auto and home?

I have auto & umbrella thru GEICO and home elsewhere. Most companies will only write you umbrella if you have either auto, home or both with them. There are a few who specialize in stand alone umbrella, and have been mentioned in previous threads.

One issue is that, should you need to defend against a lawsuit involving auto or homeowner coverage, and you have umbrella with another company, they will need to coordinate your defense.

I don’t believe GEICO offers homeowners insurance, but just brokers it, so if you use GEICO insurance it is a given that your HO will be with a different company than auto and umbrella.

My GEICO policy uses Traveler's for renters insurance. Traverler's has tried a couple of times to get me to switch.

[Go Blue 99]

Just renewed today with Geico. The $1M policy went up by $3. We decided to move to $2M for this next term (paid $471 annual).

[LSLover]

Spoke to GEICO about the increase in the premium. Apparently the increases are very much state-specific.

I just renewed my GEICO umbrella with the 20% increase in premium. No changes of any kind in my personal situation since last year.

[tj]

Spoke to GEICO about the increase in the premium. Apparently the increases are very much state-specific.

I just renewed my GEICO umbrella with the 20% increase in premium. No changes of any kind in my personal situation since last year.

Of course they are. Everything insurance is state specific.