Your Geico Injury Lawsuit Questions Answered
If you sustained injuries after an accident caused by a driver with Geico insurance or on a property insured by Geico, it can be challenging to know who to sue, how to negotiate with Geico, and what steps are involved in a Geico injury lawsuit.
There are several choices available to you in seeking a personal injury settlement. In many cases having an attorney can make a Geico personal injury claim easier and give you a higher chance of reaching the settlement you deserve.
Here are answers to some of the frequent questions we see about Geico Insurance:
As of December 2022, the CEO of Geico is Todd Combs. Combs previously worked with Berkshire Hathaway, the parent company of Geico, and Progressive insurance before starting his own hedge fund.
The headquarters for Geico is located in Chevy Chase, Maryland.
According to a JD Power survey, Geico has an 881 out of 1000, with an average insurance score of 880. They are ranked the second lowest compared to similar insurers. Over 50% of respondents claimed they were satisfied with the claims process, but fewer were satisfied with the updates they received about their claims.
If you’re a driver insured by Geico, the company says they make it easy to file insurance claims. You have the option to submit your claim:
The Geico website states that they understand the claims process isn’t fun, but they try to settle claims quickly, some in as little as 48 hours. However, this time frame applies primarily to claims for basic damage. If there are injuries and additional property damage, Geico will investigate and evaluate the claim to determine who is at fault.
If you are not the one with Geico Insurance, you go through your own insurance provider, who communicates with Geico representatives on your behalf.
It can be difficult to get the right escalation for a claim when you need it, and if you feel that Geico is stonewalling you and your insurance agent isn’t standing up for you, you might have legal options.
Geico gives many options for getting an insurance claim, but they don’t have internal instructions on how to challenge an insurance payout. At best, you can try to escalate your claim or consider alternative legal options like hiring an attorney.
Yes, under certain circumstances, you can sue Geico if you’re injured. Usually, you can sue Geico if you were injured at someone’s home, place of business, or in a car accident, and that other person was responsible and negligent, and that other person also had Geico as their insurance provider.
You can sue the other driver or insurance company if you have a personal injury. If the other driver has Geico as their insurance provider, you would typically start by submitting a claim and subsequently following up with a lawsuit if that claim doesn’t reach a resolution.
Sometimes multiple parties overlap. If you get in a car accident, the driver at fault might have been driving a company vehicle, in which case you wouldn’t sue the driver or their personal insurance provider. Instead, you would sue the business owner and the business auto insurance provider, which could be Geico.
If you don’t like how Geico has handled your injury claim, you have a few options for making a complaint about them.
Currently, there is a class action lawsuit against Geico for having overcharged customers during the pandemic. In 2022, a federal judge ruled that the company overcharged two million policyholders and had to provide auto insurance credit.
There may be other class action lawsuits as well.
If you are eligible for a class action lawsuit, the court will typically attempt to notify you through the mail with instructions on how to take part in proceedings.
To pursue a personal injury lawsuit against Geico:
This depends entirely on your situation. In a Geico lawsuit, you can claim damages for things like:
However, you don’t automatically get to claim all of these. Instead, you claim what applies to your situation. If you are involved in a car accident where the at-fault driver has Geico Insurance, you can sue Geico for compensation for medical expenses resulting from your injuries or lost wages resulting from the injuries and your inability to work.
For more traumatic or permanent injuries, long-term medical care and projected bills can be included in that lawsuit.
An attorney can help you determine how much you may be able to seek in damages.
In a Geico personal injury claim, you can request two types of compensation:
Compensatory covers direct costs from the accident. This extends to your loss of earning capacity, lost income, and any medical bills or costs for things like vehicle damage. A judge wants to ensure you are in the same position you would have been in financially had you not been injured in the first place.
Under certain circumstances, a judge might award punitive damages, or you might be able to request them. Punitive damages are intended to punish the other party so they don’t repeat the same negligent mistakes.
Both compensatory and punitive damages have limits. According to the US Bureau of Justice Statistics, the average winnings for tort cases—which include personal injury claims—in 2005 was $31,000. However, within that average, car accidents earned an average of $16,000.
Insurance companies like Geico will typically calculate a settlement offer based on a variety of factors. Geico will look at proven costs, including repair shop invoices, proof of income prior to the accident, and medical bills. They will also look at the value of any property involved in the accident, like a vehicle.
After that, Geico will look at your injuries. Claims representatives typically offer compensation for injuries between one and five times the cost of the medical bills. This is why it’s important to ensure you get medical treatment immediately and document any bills associated with your injuries throughout the claims process.
If you think Geico is offering an unfair settlement for your injuries, it may be time to pull in an attorney.
Insurance companies like Geico typically determine pain and suffering based on a lot of factors, including the injuries you have. Geico relies heavily on proven costs and evidence for your injuries to figure out how your injuries impact your daily life and how that impact results in pain and suffering.
You should contact an attorney after you get medical care because an attorney can help you file your claim with Geico and negotiate for things like pain and suffering.
Sometimes it may feel like Geico is ignoring your injuries or their emotional impact. An attorney may be able to help you seek more than what Geico has offered.
Geico’s website says it can take six months or longer to get a settlement over a personal injury case, depending on the circumstances. They emphasize that this process goes faster when everyone cooperates and when all of the necessary documentation is provided on time.
A substantial part of how long it takes Geico to settle includes how willing Geico is to negotiate with you or offer a legitimate settlement and whether you have to take your case to court. A good lawyer who has settled cases against Geico in the past may be able to give you a reasonable estimate depending on your situation.
This might be a little different for everyone, but in general, you negotiate a personal injury settlement with Geico by sending a demand letter. Most people assume that the first step after an injury is to sue someone, but really it’s to file a claim. If the party responsible for the negligent situation that led to your injury has Geico as their insurance provider, you have to submit a claim to Geico through that insurance policy. This is something an attorney can help you with.
The demand letter has to explain what happened, how you were injured, how it was the other party’s fault, why Geico is responsible for that other party, and how much you want in compensation.
Geico can review your demand letter and any evidence you have and agree to the compensation you have requested, counteroffer with a smaller figure, or deny the claim altogether. In some cases, Geico might ask for more information or say they won’t pay. If they don’t pay out, then you sue them in court using a personal injury lawsuit. This is something an attorney can help you with too.
The best way to maximize your insurance settlement with Geico is to have sufficient evidence. You have to be able to prove that the person who has Geico as their insurance provider was negligent and that negligence resulted in your injuries. You also have to prove that that falls under the purview of the Geico policy for that person.
If you are the one with Geico insurance coverage, you just have to prove that the injury or damages you have fall under the purview of your insurance policy.
Generally, having a lawyer will often result in a stronger and more successful case with maximized settlements.
How long a Geico lawsuit lasts can depend on many factors:
Again, Geico states that it usually takes about six months to reach a settlement for a claim involving personal injury, but a study by the National Center for State Court found that personal injury cases average 16 months, longer if Geico won’t pay and you have to go to court.
You don’t legally require a lawyer for an injury claim against Geico but having a lawyer usually results in a stronger and more successful case.
If you are unsatisfied with the compensation Geico is offering, or you live in a fault state and you have to prove that you were less at fault than the other party, an attorney can prove very useful in navigating the complexities of your case and finding the evidence to maximize your compensation.
In a Geico injury lawsuit, a lawyer does many things.
A Geico injury lawsuit falls under the category of personal injury. Most personal injury attorneys use what is called a contingency agreement. This means that they take on your case, and you don’t pay anything upfront, but if you win any settlement, they take a percentage of it. Usually they take between 30% and 40%.
So if a lawyer helps you get that much more—or win your case when you wouldn’t have got one—then having one can be a good investment.
Do your homework if you are ready to find a good lawyer for a Geico injury lawsuit. This is someone you will work with for a few months or even a few years, so it’s important that you are comfortable with the attorney you hire. Don’t be afraid to interview multiple attorneys and ask many questions before choosing the one you want to work with.
Ask about the payment structure and whether they use a contingency agreement. Ask for referrals from previous customers so you can see how well they performed. Ask about their experience.
Experience is very important. Personal injury is a broad field, so you want someone who not only has experience negotiating with Geico but has experience with the type of injury claim you are submitting. Someone with years of experience handling medical malpractice lawsuits may not be the best choice for a car accident injury claim.
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