In the world of cheap auto insurance Geico is a well-known company with good recognition from the "man on the street." In large part that’s due to excellent advertising, most recently with its "caveman" campaign and then with the clever and well-loved animated spokesman the Geico Gecko. (Who, for the record, isn’t a gecko at all, but an anole.) More importantly, however, in the middle of the country’s worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, Geico has what Warren Buffet terms "economic moat," his way of saying "competitive advantage."

Essentially Buffet means that by consistently driving down costs and maintaining high standards of service and underwriting, Geico has constructed a "moat" around itself that allows the company to stay strong and protected against the competition. Of course, he would say that because Geico is owned by Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., but you may have noticed that Buffet didn’t get to be the richest man in the world betting on losers. Based on its performance over the past 12 months, Geico remains the third-largest private passenger auto insurer in the United States and continues its aggressive advertising across a broad media base while dealing directly with consumers over the telephone or via the Internet. (The absence of insurance agents in the field is the cornerstone of the company’s frugal approach.)

Not only are Geico’s ads omnipresent on television, in December 2008, Geico was among the top-ten radio advertisers in the nation. In 2007 it covered more than 10 million vehicles owned by 8 million policy holders in the District of Colombia and all states except Massachusetts. Founded in 1936, the company came close to collapsing in the 1970s before pulling itself back from the brink and gaining its current reputation for cost-effective operation. Berkshire Hathaway purchased Geico in 1996. Now, as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., Geico is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol BRK.A. The stock reached its 52 week high on September 19, 2008 at 147,000.00. On Thursday, January 8, 2009 at the time of this writing, BRK.A opened at 95,000.00 down from the previous close of 96,490.00. Analysts consistently rated the stock as "hold." Existing, as it does, under the umbrella of Warren Buffet’s holdings, Geico is well-positioned to weather the current economic storm.