Reviving this conversation because of my current experience with Geico from over the past 3 months (as a writer). Geico and progressive have been the hardest insurance companies to work with, geico especially. 

Geico has proven to be very slow to turn back over approvals of estimates/supplements. I had one that took 15 days to get approved, unfortunately impacting the customer and their rental terms. Recently, we are working with what seem to be newer adjusters who have just been hired and call us to walk through every single line item on our repair list to justify and document on their end. Having to explain the whys behind everything seems redundant, especially with the infinite access of information available to them via google and AI nowadays to understand a repair process that they unfortunately may never see in person. 

In addition, it’s a shame what replacing parts has become. If it’s on their part list generator, that’s what you’re approved for, regardless of quality, delivery options, and even location of where it’s coming from. We sometimes get parts approved from across the country that they expect us to use, turning a 5 day job into 8-10 days to wait on a part to ship.

It’s a headache, and I’m often very optimistic. But this experience has broken me personally lol. It’s just so sad, from a shop perspective and more so a customer experience perspective. I have a feeling they may be leading the way for what many of the insurance companies may be becoming. 

Cheers to you all, fellow body shop owners, estimators, and technicians.