GEICO canceled an automobile insurance policy because the policyholder works in the weapons industry.
On 22 January 2013, a GEICO automobile insurance policyholder posted on the Facebook page for gunadapters.com a message stating that GEICO had canceled the insurance on his truck in December 2012 because he was engaged in the basis of making parts used for firearms:Is this USA or Russia??? Geico Insurance just canceled my Truck insurance because I make parts that are used in the Firearm industry...Folk's wake up to what is going on in this country...Also posted was an image of a 'Notice of Cancellation of Insurance' letter from GEICO stating that 'The reason for cancellation is your vehicle ... does not meet our underwriting guidelines because it is used in conjunction with a company that deals in the weapons industry.' This letter has been circulated as evidence GEICO has a corporate anti-gun policy and has begun arbitrarily cancelling the policies of customers who are engaged in the arms business.It seems rather implausible that GEICO has launched a corporate policy against insuring those engaged in the arms business but has so far opted to enforce it only against a single individual. The most likely explanations for the stated cancellation are that GEICO was previously unaware the insured vehicle was being used for company business, or that GEICO has different insurability standards and requirements for business vehicles used to carry weapons or weapon components and the insured's vehicle did not meet those requirements.When we asked GEICO for a statement on the matter, the company provided a response stating that how the vehicle was being used (rather than the nature of the owner's business) was the issue:We spoke with the policyholder in December and there was some misunderstanding/confusion on our part on how he used the vehicle. We have reached out to the policyholder and hope that we can clarify usage of the vehicle and continue his policy.The policyholder told us that GEICO attempted to contact him only after he made their cancellation letter public, and that he has not spoken to them since he originally initiated the coverage.
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