# Why is Geico the only car insurance company advertising on TV? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 11, 2005, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-geico-the-only-car-insurance-company-advertising-on-tv/293957 "2005-03-11T02:55:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Long\_Time\_First\_Time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@Long\_Time\_First\_Time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Long_Time_First_Time)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-geico-the-only-car-insurance-company-advertising-on-tv/293957/21 "2005-03-11T14:30:39Z")
> [@Neurotik](#): > > Those ads are bizarre. But not as bizarre as the ones for Senate Auto Insurance. > > “Kiss my bumper! Kiss it!” Who does the one with the clueless wife driving over her husband’s foot? The other with with a Mensa member driving into a lake because he had a bad map? Isn’t that State Farm? ---
**Author:** ![JerH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bb73d2/32.png) [@JerH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerH)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-geico-the-only-car-insurance-company-advertising-on-tv/293957/22 "2005-03-11T14:59:40Z")
**Long Time** , that was a State Farm ad: there was a [Pit thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=305901) earlier this week about it. I found a link to one of the [Gebco ads](http://www.orderproductions.com/gebco.html) that **av8rmike** mentioned. I’ve noticed that, even as Gebco has apparently increased the production quality of their ads over the years, they’ve made sure that they always end with a group of skanky dancing girls singing “Go Gebco! Go Gebco!” ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-geico-the-only-car-insurance-company-advertising-on-tv/293957/23 "2005-03-11T16:34:52Z")
Nothing, and I mean nothing, is worse than Eagleman. You Chicago dopers will know the horror of which I speak. Please tell me that commercial has been finally put to rest! Progressive has a series of cute Motorcycle insurance ads that are currently running on Speed TV. ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-geico-the-only-car-insurance-company-advertising-on-tv/293957/24 "2005-03-11T16:42:12Z")
We see a lot of State Farm ads for car, home, etc., insurance. The most recent I’ve seen is a couple on a road trip whose car gets damaged. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-geico-the-only-car-insurance-company-advertising-on-tv/293957/25 "2005-03-11T17:02:55Z")
“Maybe it’s time for an Eastwood cow- _beat __beat__ beat_ -_girl_” ::cowboy apparently swallows a gecko:: “Just kidding!” ::cowboy farts, looks relieved:: ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-geico-the-only-car-insurance-company-advertising-on-tv/293957/26 "2005-03-11T17:08:32Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > I’ve seen ads a few times for what I think is a car insurance company. The ad involves a very hot man in a cowboy hat wearing a low-slung towel pitching some product in a gym shower. I’m pretty sure it’s insurance but admit to being distracted by the aforementioned cowboy. I saw that one last night for the first time. It was amateurish, but certainly memorable. No idea what kind of insurance they were selling, though. ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-geico-the-only-car-insurance-company-advertising-on-tv/293957/27 "2005-03-11T17:17:55Z")
> [@Happy Scrappy Hero Pup](#): > > Yo- > > your thread would be da bomb is you had the gecko do the Robot. This thread is so easy to use, even a caveman could do it! ---
**Author:** ![AwSnappity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a3d4f5/32.png) [@AwSnappity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AwSnappity)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-geico-the-only-car-insurance-company-advertising-on-tv/293957/28 "2005-03-11T21:06:28Z")
> [@Dorjän](#): > > Nothing, and I mean nothing, is worse than Eagleman. You Chicago dopers will know the horror of which I speak. Please tell me that commercial has been finally put to rest! Thankfully I haven’t seen one of those ads in the past couple years. ---
**Author:** ![Fritz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c57346/32.png) [@Fritz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fritz)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-geico-the-only-car-insurance-company-advertising-on-tv/293957/29 "2005-03-11T22:09:07Z")
> [@Darwin's Finch](#): > > This thread is so easy to use, even a caveman could do it! Hey! Not cool! **NOT COOL!** ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-geico-the-only-car-insurance-company-advertising-on-tv/293957/30 "2005-03-11T22:45:07Z")
Just remembered one of the local “SR22” outfits that advertises on afternoon TV - Dashers. The voice over is grating: Need insurance? Dayhhhhhhh Sherrrs! Dayhhhhhh Sherrrs! Immediate SR22 filing! Dayhhhhhhh Sherrrs! Dayhhhhhh Sherrrs! Call us now! Dayhhhhhhh Sherrrs! Dayhhhhhh Sherrrs! and so on… (SR-22 is the only sort of insurance you can get after a DUI - and the agencies know it - not known for being cheap or overly friendly. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-geico-the-only-car-insurance-company-advertising-on-tv/293957/31 "2005-03-11T23:21:51Z")
Nationwide also advertises their auto: “September, which I like to call ‘wrecktember’…” All those “minimum coverage” people - two or three companies - have been really blitzing my TV lately. The one where the guy’s driving down the road singing all “hey pretty lady” to the girl on the sidewalk and runs into a cop car? And then an umpire guy hops out of the back seat and yells “He’s SAFE!” Man do I hate that commercial. ---
**Author:** ![bashere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@bashere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bashere)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2005, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-geico-the-only-car-insurance-company-advertising-on-tv/293957/32 "2005-03-12T02:43:30Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > It seems like Geico has been blitzing every TV station with several different lines of highly creative ads for a couple of years now. And I can’t remember seeing a single ad, in that time, for State Farm Auto or USAA. (State Farm **used** to do TV commercials, but no longer.) How come the other auto insurance companies don’t advertise on TV? Because they have money. I’m too lazy to dig up cites for you, but here’s the timeline: Insurance companies make money by investing premiums. During the late 90s, insurance companies were making so much money doing so that they were anxious to get even more money from premiums so they could invest that money in the stock market. In order to get that money, insurance companies in general were writing policies that actually lost money, because they made it up in investment returns. Geico is owned by Berkshire Hathaway, which is managed by Warren Buffett. Mr. Buffett had the weird idea that the market was overvalued, and made a really big deal about not allowing Geico to write money losing policies ( **you** read his annual reports if you’re curious about this). Enter the stockmarket crash. Geico, whose market share had stagnated, suddenly found out that it could write policies more cheaply than other companies, because it didn’t have to cover its loses from the early aughts. This gives it a significant advantage in increasing market share, so it can benefit from a marketing blitz, in the form of an ungodly number of policies. In addition, the marketing team stumbled on an ad campaign that the public really likes, and Geico has added a new feature: the ability to quickly compare prices. This creates the perfect storm: competitive cost, an ad campaign that people like, and new features in the product. There are actually two different ad campaigns running right now: the little lizard thing, as well as the “we can do your windows and your laundry in fifteen minutes or less”, which adds to the feeling of saturation. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2005, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-geico-the-only-car-insurance-company-advertising-on-tv/293957/33 "2005-03-12T03:05:19Z")
The California DMV has ads for differente insurance companies in the Handbook it passes out to people studying to get their license. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2005, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-geico-the-only-car-insurance-company-advertising-on-tv/293957/34 "2005-03-12T03:18:51Z")
I agree with the conscensus that there are ads for other insurance agencies out there but the Geico ones are the most memorable. Every time I see the fake reality show with the tiny house I almost fall for it. And you can’t go wrong with a gecko doing the robot. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-geico-the-only-car-insurance-company-advertising-on-tv/293957.md?page=1)