Usaa
 

Joined USAA in 1984 as an AFROTC cadet. Since then, been through multiple hurricanes, a war, several overseas moves, and a host of changes.

The company slowly raised rates over the years...used to be cheaper than others, but later was just "slightly" less. I suspect opening the company up to a wider demographic caused some of that, but the service was still good so I stuck around.

In 25 years, we've had maybe 2 fender benders with the cars. We had a 10k claim on flood policy for Hurricane Ivan, and a 35k claim for Hurricane Dennis....but those policies were underwritten not by USAA but by Federal Flood insurance.

In 2005 they quit insuring a Florida rental house. They also advised that if we moved and our house was no longer a primary residence it would no longer be covered. (I wonder how this affected military guys who bought but had to PCS, and rather than eat a huge loss kept their Florida homes as rental properties). This year, they raised rates on our residence from 3600 to 6666. Yes...that second number is right.

So...I made calls. "We have to make sure we can cover our Florida losses..." I took that to mean "we REALLY don't want to cover military guys in Florida..."

Today I found some other companies that offered similar coverage for well under $3000. In short, I've been overpaying for home insurance for the last 5 years. Once I realized USAA doesn't want to cover my home anymore, I really didn't want to give them any credit card, auto insurance, or other business. So after about an hour online I now have a new capitial one mastercard with my Navion on it, and I found that Progressive will actually provide coverage to include my teenage driver for $400 less a year than I am paying now for just me and my wife. I've saved a lot of money the last 24 hours, and am moving on.

So...with anyone else I'd just flip the bird and leave. Unfortunately, this company has been part of our family a lot of years...and 15 years ago when I looked closely at policies they seemed to always be less expensive and provide better service. I quit worrying so much about price the last few years...figured they were close...and wouldn't have even looked anywhere else if they hadn't doubled (yes, doubled) my homeowner premium this year.

Just throwing this out in cyber space for those of you fellow warriors who have USAA. They may be the very best deal for you where you are. However, you might want to at least check. I really haven't looked around in years, but this time had no choice. What I found will save me some money. Companies grow and change, and USAA has done so. It may be perfect for you, but it doesn't fit us anymore.

You are correct that once the demographics change - the prices and service changed. I've always had USAA for my auto insurance - nothing else - and I recently used them again to insure my car. I'll be buying a house in the next few months to a year - so thanks for the head's up about home owner's insurance. When the time comes I'll be sure to shop around instead of going with the comfortable opinion.

USMCFLYR

They have never hassled me on claims. A hallmark of the discount insurers is that they will try anything to avoid paying a claim, especially a large one. I still get a few hundred bucks back each year in disburements.

I agree that the expanded demographic may be an issue, but I thought they limited that to E-5 or better?

Maybe I'll check out some other options out of curiosity.

Like anything else (and a lot of the USAF), many organizations seem to run a while on their reputation that was once well-deserved. Eventually, their good times seem to end when the people realize the good deal is no longer automatically such a good deal. Hopefully, the pressure of many of their customers taking their business elsewhere will cause them to reflect and potentially return to the basics.

Had the same thing happen to me a few years back. Had a small fender-bender. It was my fault, so USAA tripled my rates. I was furious, I know insurance is year to year but seriously, I had never had another accident in my entire life.

I called State Farm and was able to get insurance at about 20% more than the old USAA rate, even with the accident on my record.

As I looked farther I was able to reduce all my insurance by about 20% by transferring to State Farm.

I was so irate I sent a letter the CEO of USAA. Actually got a letter back from him. Basically he said there are so many retired USAA military members living in hurricane prone areas, that when they all hit, USAA took a big hit. Now they are looking for any excuse they can to raise rates.

Albie,

I have heard from those in the "know" that USAA changed its focus about 5 or so years ago. Customer service, which was its #1 priority, has taken a back seat to expanding their product portfolio, cutting costs, and increasing revenue (i.e. the bottom line.)

In my opinion, USAA has gone from a great service company to one that is only concerned about $$$. A friend who used to work there said it was when they got a new CEO, that things started to go downhill.

You are correct, that if they don't want to assume a certain risk (e.g. florida), they will price themselves out of the market.

I've always received great service from USAA.

USAA is a bank, not your grandmother. The bottom line is the bottom line, especially in today's market.

Um, no one here is complaining about the service. They are complaining about the price that service costs and how equal service can be obtained elsewhere at a more competetive price. I think Albie is just telling folks to shop around...that USAA isn't the end all beat all it used to be.

That "bottom line" mentality is a cop out. Corporations have other responsibilities than just to make as much profit as possible. Profit being the only motive was what caused the creation of labor unions.

Wow, that sucks! Sounds like USAA is ensuring they will be able to meet their liabilities in the hurricane areas. I live in North Dakota in a 6 bedroom, 3 bath, 2900 sq foot house and only pay $650/year for full replacement coverage from USAA. ($1000 deductible) and still remain satisfied with their auto ins rates. I can't imagine paying $6000! I don't blame you for taking action.

We moved to MS last year and were introduced to windstorm/hail policies. USAA does NOT have those provisions in their policy. We had to buy coverage through a centralized (state) fund. Our homeowners insurance is about 1/3rd of the windstorm. This year, the premium (home owner) went up about 20%. I called asking about it and was told that it was part of the "inflation protection" for the replacement of the house. I hadn't heard that inflation had reached 20%. :rolleyes: Our can insurance also went up by about 20% when we moved from metro DC to southern MS. I was told that they were in the middle of reevaluating premiums (new modeling software or something) and that it had been done in MS, but not in DC. I thought that sounded strange.

After reading this, I'm going to do a little more digging.