USAA seems to have changed recently ?

[Drdogface]

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.

[tabs]

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...

[Noah930]

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.

[Rick Lee]

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

[Drdogface]

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...

[Noah930]

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.

[scottmandue]

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.

[Noah930]

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?

[Zeke]

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.

[Drdogface]

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

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by Drdogface

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?

[fingpilot]

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.

[john70t]

Originally Posted by Noah930

USAA wouldn't insure our house, as they deemed it had a flat roof.

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.

[Zeke]

I have a flat roof.

300 for umbrella to 1 mil.

[Drdogface]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

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?

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 ?

[SeanPizzle]

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.

[74-911]

Originally Posted by milt

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.

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.

[TimT]

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

[74-911]

Originally Posted by Drdogface

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.

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...

[Rot 911]

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.