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Two Geico Stories in One Day
Jun. 13th, 2022 03:12 pmI wasn’t looking for Geico stories. But I got two today anyway!
I’ve been poking around at “demand destruction” generally. Other than the Odd Lots podcast about copper that triggered this little tour of the news, all the “demand destruction” articles I am seeing around specifically about oil and gas. I got to thinking about Christopher Steiner’s book, _$20 per Gallon_ book (which I read when it came out), and looked him up on twitter. His car was stolen, and he was told by Geico to send in the title and keys. He did, but then he was told to go retrieve the car from where the police had impounded it, after it was in multiple accidents, filled with drugs and bodily fluids, etc. He’s now attempting to get a repair estimate, but the shop is saying Geico’s proposed estimate is almost certainly way low. There’s a moral here; I think it’s pretty obvious.
Anyway. A lot of Steiner’s other posts are about something going on with Vail (the town), Vail (the resort), and an effort to develop some affordable housing. I think Steiner’s on the right side of things, but I couldn’t be bothered to drill down for details.
The other Geico story was from CNN, linked by Matt Levine, and after I read it, I could see why! A woman got an STD in a car. She made a claim with Geico, because the car is where the STD was contracted. The insured knew he had HPV, and didn’t tell her. Anyway. Geico apparently blew her off, so she took it to arbitration, where Geico _could not be bothered_ to help the insured with the defense, so the arbitrator found for the woman with HPV for $5.2 million. Geico appealed; the appeals court was like, dude, you should have considered her claim or at least helped your insured mount a defense. That’s on you. Too late!
https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/09/us/geico-insurance-std-settlement-missouri/index.html
This is an absolute _marvel_ of an outcome. I love every bit of it.
ETA:
Here’s the Levine column:
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-06-13/merger-buyer-s-remorse-sometimes-works
It is absolutely amazing, because apparently crypto has now recreated enough of the financial system to be recreating bank runs and Levine’s comments are The Best.
I’ve been poking around at “demand destruction” generally. Other than the Odd Lots podcast about copper that triggered this little tour of the news, all the “demand destruction” articles I am seeing around specifically about oil and gas. I got to thinking about Christopher Steiner’s book, _$20 per Gallon_ book (which I read when it came out), and looked him up on twitter. His car was stolen, and he was told by Geico to send in the title and keys. He did, but then he was told to go retrieve the car from where the police had impounded it, after it was in multiple accidents, filled with drugs and bodily fluids, etc. He’s now attempting to get a repair estimate, but the shop is saying Geico’s proposed estimate is almost certainly way low. There’s a moral here; I think it’s pretty obvious.
Anyway. A lot of Steiner’s other posts are about something going on with Vail (the town), Vail (the resort), and an effort to develop some affordable housing. I think Steiner’s on the right side of things, but I couldn’t be bothered to drill down for details.
The other Geico story was from CNN, linked by Matt Levine, and after I read it, I could see why! A woman got an STD in a car. She made a claim with Geico, because the car is where the STD was contracted. The insured knew he had HPV, and didn’t tell her. Anyway. Geico apparently blew her off, so she took it to arbitration, where Geico _could not be bothered_ to help the insured with the defense, so the arbitrator found for the woman with HPV for $5.2 million. Geico appealed; the appeals court was like, dude, you should have considered her claim or at least helped your insured mount a defense. That’s on you. Too late!
https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/09/us/geico-insurance-std-settlement-missouri/index.html
This is an absolute _marvel_ of an outcome. I love every bit of it.
ETA:
Here’s the Levine column:
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-06-13/merger-buyer-s-remorse-sometimes-works
It is absolutely amazing, because apparently crypto has now recreated enough of the financial system to be recreating bank runs and Levine’s comments are The Best.
