$250-$300 isn't shocking, but $700 is still surprising -- that means that Traveller's still beat your other best quote by ~$400

as for not getting a new premium for moving to a more rural area, that is something you should definitely investigate/follow-up on -- if you moved to a different zip code, you may have moved to a different rating territory and your rate should have changed (not necessarily decreased, however -- you cannot assume that "more rural" means "insurance costs less") -- you might even want to get in touch with the state insurance commissioner's office

a shorter commute may also help, but it depends on how much shorter -- for example, the company for which I work usually groups commuters into four categories:

30 or fewer miles per week commuting to/from school (grouped with "pleasure" drivers)
31-100 miles per week commuting
101-200 miles per week commuting
201+ miles per week commuting (grouped with "business" drivers)

those categories are pretty common, so if your former carrier uses them and you decreased your commute from 100 miles per week to 31 miles per week, you wouldn't get a different rate based solely on that change

At this stage, I'm not terribly concerned with following up on GEICO's practices and underwriting standards. I'm happy that Travelers cut my premiums substantially with no compromise in coverage. I gather from your messages that you find my claims dubious, and there's little I can do about that short of posting the declarations pages. If you think I'm dishonest, so be it. If you think I got duped, so be it.

I do not think you're dishonest at all. I apologize if that's how I sounded. I think you did a good thing to shop around and I'm glad you got a good rate.

I work in the industry, and I think that consumers need to be informed. By shopping around, you're staying informed.

I also want a level playing field for companies in the industry. To that end, people who feel cheated by an insurance carrier should pursue the issue -- the only way to fix problems is to make sure that people who have the ability to fix them know that there are problems. If GEICO -- or any automobile insurance company -- doesn't follow the rating plan that it has filed with the state insurance department, then the insurance department NEEDS to know. If an insurance company doesn't "play fair", they should be punished for their trangression.

That belief extends across all industries -- if a customer feels cheated or doesn't get good service from any business, the higher-ups at the company and/or the agency that regulates that business needs to know about it.

No problem, David. I'm a bit testy today after some difficult conversations this morning at work, and thus I moved into my "combat" mode. Sorry. I appreciate your integrity with respect to the insurance industry. Perhaps if I reviewed my account history with GEICO in more detail, I might find that some minor adjustments were made that went unnoticed by me. If I muster the energy, I'll take a peek this weekend.