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Auto Insurance Craziness (in a good way)
Sep. 8th, 2026 03:22 pmI called today to renegotiate my auto insurance premium, if possible, as I sometimes do. I'm currently paying $1,176.70 for six months, which seems a bit high considering how little I drive, but of course inflation is everywhere. I went to my car and got my odometer reading but ended up not using it.
New rating program - The staff person asked if I wanted to save 15% by letting them monitor my driving. Nope.
He said they had a new rating program, but they have to get my permission to look at my credit. I have good credit, so I gave permission. He said he could save me $800. (I remember him telling me this before he got permission to look at my credit, but surely that's not right?) I said that's crazy. Why? He said age and driving history. I said they already know this. But I guess it was because of this other scheme that required permission for them to look at my credit; so my good credit was why. I said I feel bad for all those people struggling with mediocre and bad credit.
By this time the phone connection had deteriorated to horrible, so I just told him this and that I could barely understand anything he was saying. I asked whether I could see everything online, and he confirmed that I could.
Proxy Form
Then I logged in and the site said I had to sign or deny the GEICO Texas County Mutual Insurance Company Proxy Form. Reddit commenters say you don't get huge reductions like I did without getting switched to another company, and apparently I have voting rights in that company which I can deflect to a company proxy. Companies can have multiple companies under their umbrella, each with different required qualifications.
Then I found Educating Policyholders on the Importance of Voting in a Mutual Insurance Company. '...democratic participation is a big challenge for mutual insurance companies. It's no wonder why, according to industry data, around 20% of mutual insurance companies solicit proxies for each annual or special policyholder meeting. Proxies help the company achieve a quorum but are not always ideal. The gold standard is true policyholder engagement, which gives you a precise view of policyholder expectations.' I decided to decline.
But then it turns out apparently I’m not allowed to decline (I guess I was allowed to skip that step for now, though that's not what I remembered seeing the first time). So I signed after all, and now I do have a proxy, but only at membership meetings from which I am absent. (Which, yes, will be all of them.)
New Policy
My bodily injury liability coverage per person was actually increased from $300K to $500K (which he did tell me). Everything else looks the same.
Now apparently my policy is effective September 9 (tomorrow) – March 9, but it's supposed to be October 29 to April 29. The total premium is $334 and the 'initial payment received' is $1,146.90 (probably what I paid last time). The payment due is $22.02. So my best guess is they gave me credit for the last almost two months of my current policy, which all by itself paid for almost the whole six months of my new policy.
I paid that. I did not give permission for them to take the money directly from my checking account, but used a credit card. I did not give permission to save my credit card information or do automatic payments.
[They kept signing me out of my account for my own safety. I did spend a lot of time researching things and perfecting my signature (heh--still looks like a third-grader's).]
Recommendations
So I'm writing this to encourage y'all to renegotiate your own insurance policies occasionally and—especially this year—to consider calling your auto insurance company, especially if it's GEICO and/or you have low mileage and/or good credit. The person warned me that sometimes when people give permission to look at their credit history, they get a worse premium. I get the idea that you can't then change your mind, but I didn't think to ask.
I'm also writing this in case one of y'all knows that I’ve made a terrible decision here, so read the comments before finalizing your own decisions!
New rating program - The staff person asked if I wanted to save 15% by letting them monitor my driving. Nope.
He said they had a new rating program, but they have to get my permission to look at my credit. I have good credit, so I gave permission. He said he could save me $800. (I remember him telling me this before he got permission to look at my credit, but surely that's not right?) I said that's crazy. Why? He said age and driving history. I said they already know this. But I guess it was because of this other scheme that required permission for them to look at my credit; so my good credit was why. I said I feel bad for all those people struggling with mediocre and bad credit.
By this time the phone connection had deteriorated to horrible, so I just told him this and that I could barely understand anything he was saying. I asked whether I could see everything online, and he confirmed that I could.
Proxy Form
Then I logged in and the site said I had to sign or deny the GEICO Texas County Mutual Insurance Company Proxy Form. Reddit commenters say you don't get huge reductions like I did without getting switched to another company, and apparently I have voting rights in that company which I can deflect to a company proxy. Companies can have multiple companies under their umbrella, each with different required qualifications.
Then I found Educating Policyholders on the Importance of Voting in a Mutual Insurance Company. '...democratic participation is a big challenge for mutual insurance companies. It's no wonder why, according to industry data, around 20% of mutual insurance companies solicit proxies for each annual or special policyholder meeting. Proxies help the company achieve a quorum but are not always ideal. The gold standard is true policyholder engagement, which gives you a precise view of policyholder expectations.' I decided to decline.
But then it turns out apparently I’m not allowed to decline (I guess I was allowed to skip that step for now, though that's not what I remembered seeing the first time). So I signed after all, and now I do have a proxy, but only at membership meetings from which I am absent. (Which, yes, will be all of them.)
New Policy
My bodily injury liability coverage per person was actually increased from $300K to $500K (which he did tell me). Everything else looks the same.
Now apparently my policy is effective September 9 (tomorrow) – March 9, but it's supposed to be October 29 to April 29. The total premium is $334 and the 'initial payment received' is $1,146.90 (probably what I paid last time). The payment due is $22.02. So my best guess is they gave me credit for the last almost two months of my current policy, which all by itself paid for almost the whole six months of my new policy.
I paid that. I did not give permission for them to take the money directly from my checking account, but used a credit card. I did not give permission to save my credit card information or do automatic payments.
[They kept signing me out of my account for my own safety. I did spend a lot of time researching things and perfecting my signature (heh--still looks like a third-grader's).]
Recommendations
So I'm writing this to encourage y'all to renegotiate your own insurance policies occasionally and—especially this year—to consider calling your auto insurance company, especially if it's GEICO and/or you have low mileage and/or good credit. The person warned me that sometimes when people give permission to look at their credit history, they get a worse premium. I get the idea that you can't then change your mind, but I didn't think to ask.
I'm also writing this in case one of y'all knows that I’ve made a terrible decision here, so read the comments before finalizing your own decisions!