Until the Covid pandemic one of the cornerstones was it’s Claims Adjustment staff. Nearly every auto claim was inspected in person by a staff adjuster. Geico prided itself on its adjuster staff as being the best in the industry.
That’s all going out the window now with a major push partly brought on by Covid but more so an inside effort by senior leadership to grow the company’s policy base without adding more claims staff. The ultimate goal is growth with as little expenditure as possible while selling the customer on cheap rates to hide lackluster service.
A growing number of the company’s claims are now done through photos uploaded by it’s customers using an app. A photo claims adjuster can arguably write double the amount of estimates as an adjuster working in the field. The company is even testing out new technology from estimating partner CCC to generate estimates prepared by artificial intelligence.
Most of the company’s current claims writers will be assigned work from home positions churning out bad estimate like a factory while field writers will be few and far between. Some adjusters have even been assigned to other departments so the company can save bad press from layoffs.
Customers will not be offered the option to meet with a staff claims adjuster except under certain circumstances leaving them to either be forced to have their vehicle repairs done by a shop chosen by the company or receive a substandard estimate written by photos that only accounts for obvious damage.
Unless state departments of insurance step in to regulate this practice, customers will suffer.
Don’t waste your time applying to be a claims adjuster at Geico, who knows how much longer the position will even be around.