Founded in 1935, Geico began as the brainchild of Leo and Lillian Goodwin. After ten years of Leo’s working for USAA, an insurance company specializing in insuring military personnel, the married couple came up with the idea of selling insurance to government employees and the families of government employees.
The USAA was dominated by military personnel and it was very difficult for civilian employees to win promotions and raises within the company so Goodwin’s employers gave him no other option but to found his own company if he wanted to keep his upwards momentum going.
Interestingly, GEICO actually stands for Government Employees Insurance Co. even though Geico Car Insurance has never held any official government affiliation beyond selling to government employees.
Since 1973, GEICO Car Insurance has been selling to the general public, and after a few financial missteps in the mid 70′s recession, leading to a $126 million loss, the company eventually recovered and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway and has become the US’s third largest direct writer of private passenger car insurance.
Currently the company can be found headquartered at their offices at 5260 Western Avenue in Chevy Chase, Md 20815.
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