USAA seems to have changed recently ?
 

I've been with USAA insurance for over 38 years for everything one needs to insure...home, cars, RV, boat...etc. The car insurance is getting expensive but not as bad as my home owners policy. I got a call from them a couple months back telling me that rebuild costs have gone way up and that my policy premium would change. Guess they haven't heard about the slow economy and all the out of work builders. Anyway my premium went up from $1400 per year to $2275. Yes...I'm still in shock. We have a 2900 sq ft house and a three car unattached garage. I have always had the highest deductible they offer. They say it would cost $665K to rebuild....I say that's absurd.

Anyone else with USAA have any recent issues with them. I think I had heard that they changed management or some such. I'm gonna go shopping.

Why weren't U out shopping instead of writing this Thread? I guess they think you rfirst name is daisy...and your last name is chain...

Burn it down, quick (before you have to pay the new premium), then collect $665K. Rebuild and keep the difference. Ta da!

Sorry I'm not much help. USAA wouldn't insure our house, as they deemed it had a flat roof.

I have them for everything too. If they jack my rates, I'll be shopping.

Tabs....

Wow man, thanks for that. You're really in a sweet mood today...;) I guess I shoulda told you that this just happened and I am shopping. I happen to know, however, that many here have USAA and just wanted some input on whether this was a trend... A little research often makes things easier...

Well, we're insured by some smaller (I had never heard of them before) company here in the San Fernando Valley. Don't know how the wife exactly found them. But we also looked to AAA and even Costco for quotes.

Lucky me...

I have used them for my car insurance for many years.

Got the bright idea that I would get a discount by combining my car and house.

Still trying to figure if I saved any money by doing this.

Noah, my house is a flat roof. :confused:

Funny, cause mine isn't.

Well, not exactly. The roof over the family room is almost flat, but there's a slope of about 1 or 2 feet in ceiling/roof height from one end of the room to the other. What can I say?

I have them. I was thinking umbrella policy and they require the whole shebang to be insured by them. I might have to look around, but the service has always been great.

They quoted me over $500 for a $2mil umbrella and we have no 'dings' in our record...

Is that in addition to all your other policies? Does an umbrella policy just make up the difference between your other policy limits and a casualty that exceeds them?

Rick;

I had them for 30++ years as well. Since the Gulf of Tonkin. When I left them, I was on vehicle # 39 as they like to number them. Houses, boat and 'several' motorcycles at once.

I was their poster child for all the stupid things to do PRIOR to calling and asking IN ADVANCE how much 'that' was going to cost.

Move to metro Las Vegas from SoCal?

Triple my present rate. Something about 35% rental cars on the street and 24/7 alcohol sales.

From there move to Minneapolis. Double again. Something about snow and ice. Bought 4-wheel drive everything. Rates almost up 75%. "Off-Road" vehicles.

Move from there back to Las Vegas. Should be half again, right? Nope. Loss rate had tripled since I left. Rate unchanged.

It went on for another 10 years. I gave up.

Got quotes. Better, but I do miss the service. I think it went downhill when non-comms were allowed in, haha. I know I'll hear about that.

For years, when I would shop for a quote, the first question was always "Who are you with now?" Once answered, the polite ones would say "Can't help you". Most would just hang up.

Obviously not that way anymore. In 37 years never had a claim.

The snow loading in socal...ya know.

It seems like they are either very particular about types of standard building practices and use this as a history to deny claims/maximize profit, or they've have a history of massive payouts on chickenpoo loses.
(I'll guess the former though).

Insurance is only for the catistrophic situations.

I have a flat roof.

300 for umbrella to 1 mil.

Yep, in addition to all the others. I was shocked. I had a one mil umbrella from them about 1990 for 99 bucks a year. One mil now is about $275/year. We have too many cars, I guess, but we can only drive one at a time. Wife has two, I have two...plus the P car insured with Am Collectors which USAA approves. It's cheap cuz of low milage allowance. The home owners is what nails me, well..and the umbrella which one really needs these days.

Side question: Can they take your primary home in Ca. for liability suits ?

I just switched home, two cars and umbrella from Farmers to Liberty Mutual upon recommendation from two friends. Homeowners went from $1251 to $797 with a lower deductible. Cars (06 Lexus GS and 05 Yukon XL 2500 4wd) went from $2240 a year to $1100 per year. Umbrella $1M from $600 to $197

Shopping will keep them honest.

Milt,

They are somewhat flexible on everything being insured with them in order to get an umbrella. Our sailboat is not insured through them - they were way out of line compared to BoatUS (they admitted they really didn't target sailboats in the gulf of Mexico). When I showed them BoatUS quote for the boat, they agreed to write the umbrella as long as I kept the required limits of liability on the boat. I also insure the 911 with American Collectors, again maintaining the liability limits they require for the umbrella.

Our $1M umbrella is $300 / year.

Re; their service - agree, it can't be beat.

I have had USAA car ins for 34 years.. I had USAA homeowners for years..

Bought a new house on south shore of LI, and called to get my new place insured... and was told they don't write in my area anymore...

Flood plains...

So cant comment on there homeowners anymore..

I think I need to do some shopping though.... as great as USAA customer service is.. Im feeling as I am paying to much for my auto ins..

2003 F250 PSD no lien
2008 Subaru WRX

(Both Porsches are race cars)

I think my premium is $1875

Their current CEO has been in power for a good ten years.. no major change in management that I know of. (wife is a retired USAA employee)..

Their homeowner insurance has definitely gotten more expensive the past couple of years - at least here in TX. HO insurance in TX is supposedly the most expensive in the country anyway. Our house is 2800 sqft and they value it at $325K. The HO premium is $1025 but that is with windstorm excluded (we live in a coastal county). Windstorm is $2100 a year additional.

However, we had a hailstorm in Jan. (hail is fairly rare here compared to N. TX). The USAA adjustors wrote all three roofs as total losses (house, pumphouse and workshop) - it all added up to a $25K loss. Hate to pay for that windstorm but would hate to not have it. The USAA adjustors were great to deal with.... Meanwhile, dealing with roofers ain't no fun...

I too am really starting to question why I stay with USAA. Same jacking up of cost of homeowners insurance. They claim a house we paid $257,000 for would cost $750,000 to replace. Maybe in their magical world, but not here in mid-Missouri. Their auto insurance is not all that competitive any longer and it really pisses me off that if you purchase a motorcycle, they no longer insure motorcycles. They referred me to Progressive and you know what? They have the same online service that always kept me coming back to USAA. I do like the ease of banking and getting vehicle insurance 24/7, but I think I may look around for other home insurance.

I somewhat agree with Fingpilot, except I think the problems began a few years ago when they started allowing anyone who had a military connection to become a member. That is when you started getting the high risk people insuring with USAA, which led to more claims, which caused them to up their rates on insurance and start dropping vehicles like motorcycles.

I just looked. I am on vehicle 35 with them. It would be vehicle 37, but they refused to insure my two last motorcycle purchases.

I am a 34 USAA member, my dad has been with them for 60 years.

For so many years USAA was a bargain, not anymore. I felt the house insurance was just expensive so I started looking around. I am now with American National. The insurance coverage limits are higher, and the prices are way less. American National has the rebate check like USAA if you have no claims. My 911 is covered for an agreed value for about 60 cents a day.

I loved the customer service wit USAA and I still use some banking services of USAA, but not the insurance.

I've been with them for 40+ years and no plan to switch, no complaints. No one has mentioned the rebate that comes just about every year. I got $780 back from them this past year. Every time I get a quote from anyone else, it's always quite a bit higher for everything. I've only had two car claims and one homeowner claim in that number of years, so they're making money on me for sure.

I think USAA definitely changed when they let in the enlisted. Premiums jumped almost overnight. But I've shopped car insurance recently, still can't beat USAA, and the insure my bikes too (but they told me Michigan was one of few states that they still in insured bikes ("no fault"). Only frustrating issue is that they won't insure my office building because is was built 1865. They had the same position about my last residence built in 1925.

I know a self admitted VN era draft dodger insured through USAA, crazy world

So...are you saying enlisted folks aren't as responsible as officers?

After reading this thread I decided to get a quote from USAA for my cars and house. I'm a bit shocked at the price so I'm glad this was posted. I come from a long line of military family and when I called my name was "logged" to a number in their system placed their by a relative of mine.

I'm a bit unhappy with my current insurance company so now might have been the time to switch, but not to USAA I think. Here is what I was quoted, roughly:

Cayenne CTT $630
LR3 $420
911 $250

Grand total for six months is $1400, this is $500 more than I pay now for "Country" that I've had for about 15 years. Is this because I'm "new" to USAA or is this a result of the issues mentioned in this thread about rising costs?

BTW: I have a clean driving record for 15 years, so does the wife, we are the only two adult drivers in my house.

I have been with USAA since the days of 'officers of the line' only...

I wondered too about the recent rate increases - it went from pretty darn cheap to now merely reasonable. Could it be that adding enlisted personnel made a difference?

They do seem to be hit extremely hard when hurricanes happen - they have a lot of people insured in those areas - so I would imagine that was part of the reason. They are sloughing off those people though -

But since I have almost everything with them (including banking, tons of insurance, investments) it seems just easier to stay with them.

I'm with foxpaws on this. I've been a member for almost 50 years, also from "officer of the line" days. I have just about everything with them including banking (which is exceptional). Sometimes it is good to compare cost with value over the long term.

Best,
Tom

I called back and spoke to someone more senior. After giving them my current costs they asked that I call back in 12 months for a new quote. They stated that the economy is directly affecting their costs currently. They were however very nice about it.

I am a long time member of USAA and recently went to their annual meeting here in Washington. One of the things that they discussed was the impact of allowing enlisted. What they said was that their enlisted claims experience were as good or better than the officers, and that the program was so successful, they wanted to expand it. This is good for the general membership as when USAA grows, it is better able to provide more services and better cover losses.

All insurance has gone up in cost- not just USAA. Texas home insurance policies are more expensive because of the extensive (mostly fraudulent) black mold claims as well as hail damage losses. I have my home insurance with the Armed Forces Cooperative Insurance Agency- something familiar to military personnel, but I am not happy with their (ridiculous) Texas rates, and will get a quote from USAA when I renew next year.

USAA wanted me to transfer some of my "collector cars" over to a secondary insurer, but when I got a quote from them it was the same as my USAA rate, and with more restrictions on use. So I still have all my cars and motorcycles with USAA.

Homeowner insurance premiums are theoretically dependent on three things:

The insured value of the dwelling and contents
Weather related losses of the state and specific area of the state the house is located in and
The states insurance regulatory system.

If the replacement value of your house increases, your premium will increase. The cost to replace your house has little to do with the sales price of houses in your area. Many believe the insurance companies overstate the replacement costs and houses are over-insured.. but there is only one way to really find out.

If you live in a state with really bad weather (i.e. TX) you will have higher rates. Losses due to hurricanes, high winds, hail storms, brush fires, etc. have been really bad the past five years or so. The companies don't just eat these losses. One of USAA's problems with HO rates is so many of mililtary retirees live in coastal areas (and in TX).. homeowner losses have nothing to do with rank.

In many/most states insurance companies have to get rate increases approved by the state boards of insurance and they have to justify the proposed increases by showing loss ratio to premium ratio essentially. In TX insurnace companies can more or less just notify the state board they are raising rates and raise them. If enough complaints come in, they may require the co. to lower the rate increase but that is after the fact.

There are a lot of other factors that come into play but these are the big three..

As to insurance fraud, there was a lot re: black mold and cracked foundations but that was quite a few years ago. In TX now, mold and broken foundatains are excluded from coverage in most HO policies... USAA's excludes them from coverage.

Good. My Dad has been with them since he graduated from West Point in 1952, 60 years of good vibrations.

My relationship with USAA, started when I was 16, has seen a few sour notes, all my fault. They're good, not stupid.

Apologies. Thread Hijack.

Paul, How did your father feel about your Navy career?

Best,
Tom

I'd get carpal-tunnel syndrome typing a reply, Tom;)

Now, my son wants to be a Marine: I don't know if we're evolving or de-evolving. We are a stubborn, peckish lot who love each other despite each others (their) career stupidity.

If USAA insured train wrecks, our premiums...

I got tagged by an exwife who's father was a light colonel. I was not a draft dodger, but I never served. That's one way USAA grows.

I have had USAA for many years and when I had an auto claim last year (not my fault) I was treated like crap!!!!!! I should mention I also have two homes with them.I would rate them with Allstate,State Farm etc at this point.Not real impressed with USAA at present!

I have been with USAA for 28 yrs
 

USAA was and is my only car insurance company since I started driving. I have had 2 major claims with them over the years and they have been fantastic. I find the customer service to be very helpful and have never even considered looking anywhere else.

Any updates on this thread?

Was thinking of changing my insurance and USAA keeps bothering me...

Joe,

After 45 years with USAA I have never found a reason to change. Have all my insurance and banking with them. Been banking with them about 5 years.