USAA

[Guest SpectrePilot]

Lots of accolades being shouted out there, but I will tell you that USAA's insurance rates are no longer competitive in a lot of markets.

Two in particular: Motorcycles and Coastal homeowners insurance. If you're trying to insure either of these two, you'd better shop around.

I recently switched to Geico for the bike and State Farm for my homeowners. Significantly lower rates on both...

[war007afa]

My motorcycle rates were only about 50-60 bucks a month for full-coverage on a brand-new bike (you know, before I got rear-ended at a stoplight by a friggin truck!). They were the best rate on my homeowner's as well (hurricane/hazard insurance). None of the other companies I tried said anything other than "We can't get anywhere near that rate..."

It all depends on the individual.

Nothing beats that Subscriber Savings Account, either :D

[F16Deuce]

Go with Capital One for savings. They have the highest APY at 4.25%. I use USAA for checking, insurance, and have my wife's car loan. I've had 0 problems with USAA and 0 problems with Capital One. For investing I go through Fidelity and have 0 problems with them.

[ 13. March 2006, 10:18: Message edited by: APT@Nellis ]

[FreudianSlip]

Needed to transfer some cash over to my mom's account as I'm deployed and I wanted to buy some fancy new mt bikes rims that are made by some random dude (with a great reputation) but he only takes checks. So instead of mailing a check all the way from the desert, I transfer the money to her account so she can write the check and there is a 12 dollar transfer fee, which since I'm deployed, they refund. SWWWEEEETTTT

USAA all the way

[Guest volman]

If you are looking to buy a house, I would recommend starting your pre-qualification/pre-approval process with USAA. They are very helpful when you are trying to decide exactly how much house you can afford and what your estimated monthly payments would be. However, once it comes time to close, I would take USAA's best offer to several local banks and ask them if they can beat it. Most--if not all--can and will, and you could end up saving quite a bit if you are willing to do the leg work.

[The Kayla]

We have USAA for our Insurence, both Home and Car. If you have dogs.. They wont question you.. I have TWO german Sheps. and one Rottie.. and they didnt even blink, or threaten to up or Insurence rates because of that.

If you have a certain breed, GSD, ROTTIE, Dobe, Pitt, etc. You might wanna look into USAA. Some insurence companies wont even look at you if you have some of those breeds.

We bank with B of A. Thats because my husband has been with them since he was 16. eh, I'm not a fan.. but hey.. so far they haven't pissed me off just yet...

[Guest ELan]

I've got mortgage, homeowners, checking and credit card through USAA. Nice to have access to all accounts online.

I thought the process of closing wasn't the most convenient and at times annoying tracking down the right people. I did get the best rate through them and I was told that if I could find better, then they would match that rate.

[AFCS_Actuator]

Originally posted by tweetstud:

That auto loan is secured......with the auto you buy with that loan. So you won't be able to get 25K and throw it into a CD as someone else said. You get a promissory note made out to the car dealer of your choice (not you)for up to 25K.

There is a 25k unsecured loan availible now. Its called the Career Starter Loan. I took out the loan. It is 25K for whatever you want to use it for. USAA makes you open a checking and savings account when you take out the loan. Loan payments will automatically be deducted from the checking account. The first payment is due 90 days after you commission. Yes, that's right, payments are deferred until you are (hopefully) on AD. Monthly payments are about $440 for 60 months.

I opened up one of their high-yield savings accounts, which earns nearly 4% interest (more than a bunch of their CDs). So I am basicially earning double the interest of the loan. Several guys at my detachment have taken out this loan. It's a good deal any way you look at it.

[Light Chop]

About a year after graduation from the zoo, I turned to USAA to get an auto loan for approx $15k. They declined my application because of the combination of A) Already having the academy loan with them and B) a "lack of credit history" (even though my score was great). So, i went back to the dealership and was a bit nervous cause i had the car all picked out. So the dealership shopped around for me and got my loan through Chase Auto Finance. (at 4.5% mind you..not a bad rate at all).

So, I was a bit disappointed in USAA for that...and what shocked me was shortly after getting financed through Chase and driving away, I kept getting the e-mails, hyperlinks whenever I logged into USAA, or the insurance agent asking if I needed to be transfered to the bank for a loan that i was pre-approved for after I was done talking to them about renter's/auto insurance.

I am kind of anxious to see what happens when I apply for the mortgage in a few months (declined again and forced to go local bank or what?).

That's been my experience for loans with them..but renter's and auto insurance have been great otherwise.

[Guest SnakeT38]

Here are some more "watch outs" for those enamored with USAA, I realize most don't have teenage drivers and lots of cars ( I had 6 with them at one time).

1. When your teen starts to drive you SHOULD be able to RATE them against the biggest piece of junk you own, even if they never drive it. If they are only a occasional driver THEY WILL BE RATED AGAINST YOUR MOST EXPENSIVE CAR, even if they NEVER DRIVE it. When you HAVE MORE CARS THAN DRIVERS.............this practice IS AGAINST THE LAW............USAA does it on a routine basis.

2. If your kid goes out of state for school, chances are good that state may be more expensive

than the state you live in.........USAA WILL NOT

rerate the policy when the "KID COMES HOME FOR SUMMER"!!! They will LIE and tell you they "figured" that into the policy........impossible to do. A "real" insurance company will say, we don't even write insurance in the state your kid goes to school, BUT, if they maintain their license and address in your home state and come home 1 DAY PER YEAR, they will write a policy to cover them!!!!

3. Those with boats and jet ski's, USAA USED TO BE THE MOST expensive ON THE PLANET, they made alot of noise when they lowered rates by 25% but were still twice what the US Ski Association charged.

4. Watch for another "trick", USAA writes policies in different states (splits up your policy) when you have someone USING a car in another state AND YOU ADMIT IT. Chances are that state ALLOWS USAA to F&$@ your brains out! Louisiana is at the top of the list! See number

2 above.

5. When you have a car in another state, the driver might not be considered an adult until a MUCH LATER AGE, ie. 26 versus 21........this little sub paragraph can and will cost you 1-2 grand per year more for THAT ONE DRIVER, ON USAA.

6. USAA will try and tell you that HIGH DEDUCTIBLES ARE THE LAW................BS, many times, many companies revisit their deductible rules even in the states that have been hammered by disasters.

7. To the guy above with the German Shepherds,

I hope for your sake, you are right about USAA and their coverage of a "biter breed", I have first hand experience with a 300K lawsuit over a dog bite and a German Shepherd.

8. Does USAA still put under 4 year officers in the General Agency? Does anyone know what this is?

It is insurance that can be beat in many areas of the country. Why does USAA do this? Because they now insure EVERYBODY in the military.........any guess for who gets drunk the most and wrecks cars?

9. For those residing in major metro areas, you are CRAZY if you don't shop your home loans around, in the DFW area, USAA didn't get out of the 1st round with me and I own 3 houses now.

[Guest help me solo]

I went to a car dealership to look at some cars, and called USAA while at the dealership to see what kind of loan I could get, got approved in about 20 minutes, and drove away in a brand new car all before lunch. Great experience, and great rate!

[Guest Jollygreen]

I've had 23 years w/ USAA and never a problem to include 4 claims, all of them paid off quickly. I also us them as a broker and for loans - again, never had a problem.

Part of the reason they offer good rates is that they do their best to keep the miscreants out ... or at least discourage them.

[Guest pavesooner]

For homeowners insurance you cant beat USAA...

Many of my neighbors and friends had damage from the huricanes last year...other companies gave clients the run around, while USAA gave out checks with no hastle

[ 03. May 2006, 16:20: Message edited by: PaveSooner ]

[Guest Blackbelt907]

I'm in my last year of ROTC. I started out getting their Car Insurance because it was $600 less than what I was paying at GEICO. Then I got a credit card through them to build credit. Then when I called one day and was told about the Career Starter Loan, I snatched it up! It is up to a $25K Unsecured Loan at a 2% rate. You can take it 18 months before commissioning and 12 months after. AND your payments are defered until 90 after commissioning. That's just simply amazing. One of the stipulations with getting the loan was that you have to setup a Checking account with them and when you go on AD, you promise to have your pay Direct Deposited into the account, which isn't a bad idea anyway. I took my loan and paid off my car loan through bank of america (6.9% rate) and put the money I had left over into the savining account to gain some interest before I start paying the loan off.

After doing that, I grabbed the savings account, Renters insurance, and motorcylce insurance. I couldn't be happier with all the help they given me, even though it's only been a year. A+++

[Guest Rainman A-10]

Snake, I'm sorry all those crappy things have happened to you. It sounds like TriCare. I would not stay with anyone who lied to me and I don't blame you for bailing out on them. That really seems contrary to what I have experienced with USAA or what I have heard from everyone else I know. I believe your USAA experience is probably non-standard. I appreciate the craniums up words about how you can get screwed.

I remember USAA showing up on base w/in a week after a hailstorm where 90% of the cars on base had major damage. People drove their cars past the appraisers and were issued checks on the spot. My cars were spared damage but I was extremely impressed with the service to everyone else.

I had a couple accidents while overseas. My fault. USAA handled everything.

I have teen drivers. They allow me to put those kids against my 93 Suburban. The rates are great.

We have often had local bank accounts for various reasons but have maintained our USAA accounts for over 25 years.

There are always better deals out there. they may be nickle and dime better. Sometimes you get what you pay for. Sometimes it is better to have a personal relationship with your insurance agent or banker if you can afford the time and money. You can probably find a better deal if you are settled and have access to resources like Snake (hours of droning for AA and talking about the union, the crappy contract and insurance). If you are young, on active duty and moving a lot you will be hard pressed to find a company that will be able to provide better service no matter where you go.

[B-O-double-Z]

I used to think USAA was the best company on the planet...not any more.

Since switching from all officers, to the military in general, they aren't anything "special." I've gotten better car insurance rates from Progressive. I owned some rental houses (perfectly nice houses, just older) and USAA wouldn't insure them. I went with a local agency who was happy to have the business. They wouldn't insure my boat either. They said something about it having too much horsepower for my level of boating experience. Whatever.

They used to be in the business of serving the officer core. Now they are in the business of collecting money, and never having to pay any out if they can help it.

If your driving record is perfect, and you live in a newer house in a sub-division, or on base, you probably haven't noticed much of a drop-off. They used to have pretty good rates all over the country. Now they really stick it to you if you are in a high premium area. I'm in Louisiana. The incidence of uninsured drivers is high, and USAA doesn't miss an opportunity to jack your premiums. They seem to want out of the property insurance business in this area. Like I said, I couldn't even get insurance on an older house from them.

I don't like all their little propaganda magazines they send to the house either. If you have kids, they send "kids magazines" which look inocuous, but are simply clever "branding" techniques of marketing.

Your results may vary...

[Guest mitch23]

USAA.

The mortgage handling was tricky and almost screwed us over but we just got a NICE surplus escrow check in the mail.

As far as the deposits go, USAA now has a program with UPS stores for deposits. Never used them so I don't know the timeline. My wife and I keep a local federal credit union bank account open just in case we need to cash any checks for any reason.

[kdwntwn]

Prepare for a story...

My wife was in a car accident this weekend in CA while I'm at Altus. Some bastard slammed into her car from behind while she was sitting at a light. Fortunately, she was uninjured. However her 2 year old car was not so lucky. Aditionally, when she called 911, they stated that the cops would not come out unless someone was injured. The guy who did hit her had insurance but we couldn't get in touch with a rep at their company on the weekend. We called USAA and they said that this guys insurance company was pretty crappy to deal with, set us up with a repair location, car rental and said for us to pay the deductable while they went after the other guy's insurance. At the repair shop, we learned that the total repairs would be about $7000 using aftermarket parts (which USAA requires if possible). To total the car, USAA uses the fair market value of the car using their KBB ($13,700) and it must exceed 60% of the cars value or $8,100. However, when I looked at Kelly Blue Book.com, I get a fair market value of $10,800. They said they use a different book. The bottom line is that there is substantial damage to the car. Right now it looks like crap (its about 6 inches shorter due to crumpling) and drives like crap. I want them to total it because I know from experience that repaired cars never drive the same. The car was only 2 years old and its not like my wife caused the accident. Plus there could easily be other issues that pop up after the initial repair that could drive the cost higher. Additionally, the car will be worth significantly less when we sell it because its been in an accident. I'm curious what I can do to encourage them to total the car. It's pretty close to being totaled even at their value. Plus I don't think I could've ever gotten the value they are talking about anyways. I think the whole KBB issue is a little odd especially for USAA. Just wondering if any of you guys/girls have any insight or advice...possibly even been through this situation before.

Thanks

Edited December 19, 2007 by c21guy

[drewpey]

Will USAA consider repair quotes from other sources? Even getting another quote from a USAA-approved shop will likely be different, maybe getting you above that number you're looking for.

[KWings06j]

There are 3 different values for a used car... The lowest value is the Trade-in, what you could expect a dealer to buy your car from you for. The highest value is the resale, what you could expect to pay the dealer to buy the car from them. The middle value is the private party value, what you could expect to get or pay to sell/buy your car from a non-dealer. Make sure your quote and USAA's quote are using the same value. Realize though that if there is a discrepancy and they do agree to total the car they will most likely give you the lesser amount.

[brabus]

USAA is a good company, but you're still dealing w/ insurance agents. They will low-ball you until you bitch and moan to the point they can't stand it. You can make the argument that the car's resale value is significantly reduced after it is fixed due to the extensive accident damage. You can provide proof of this by finding a car of the same year being sold that has been in an accident vs on that hasn't. It will require some extensive searching probably, but you can find it. Another option is shop around for different prices and hopefully you get one in the total range. Thirdly, I would demand OEM parts. No way would I ever settle for non-OEM parts on my car, especially when the accident wasn't my fault. All of this can be accomplished by, for lack of a better word, harassment of your insurance agent. They low-ball you b/c most people just accept it and move on. If you complain enough and be a big enough pain in the ass, they'll cave. I've seen/been a part of very similar situaitons as your...in this instance, brute force complaining will get you closer to what you want.

[Guest soflguy]

Ypu can have USAA sue the other dudes insurance company for future depreciation of the car (selling it after being in a big wreck) somehow. Ask them about it, my brother had his truck smashed in to and did that... got like 7000 extra.

[DigDug]

I'd thank USAA for their offer, tell them you're looking at other options and try again with the at-fault guys insurance company. USAA has you by the b@11s whereas the other insurance company has more to lose - (ie. they become a "defendant" in a lawsuit if they don't make you happy). Have a few estimates done on your own (shouldn't cost you much if anything at all) and make sure you let the shop go over your car with a fine tooth comb. If you still aren't happy with the response, it might be time to look for a lawyer. Heck, it's CA - home of thousands of those bloodthirsty guys.

Of course, this all means she'll be without that car for a while - if you can live with that...

[Guest Sparky]

I had a insurance issue with USAA about a month ago, I was trying to add a 3rd primary residence to our homeowner's policy and they declined. I explained the special circumstances being that yes, we have a vacation home and our primary residence...my wife and kids had to stay back in Louisiana for a few months during this latest PCS. USAA told me that since I was at their limit (including all my investment properties which are covered under fire policies and not homeowners) and that I was going to have to seek a policy with another company. I said "OK", but I am the type of guy that likes to have everything centrally located...so I will call you guys back in a few days and cancel every one of my homeowners, fire, automobile, floaters, and valuable article policies when I find my new insurance company. And while I am at it...all 12 of my accounts with USAA bank will be gone as well. I was called back w/in half an hour telling me they received permission to add another primary residence...I said "Thanks". Point of the story is...they are not AFPC, they are customer conscious and will respond to idle threats. Good luck!

[brickhistory]

Whisper the words "diminuation of value" into USAA's ears. You'll be amazed how quickly they respond to your request to total the car.

Not a lawyer nor did I stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night, but I learned this trick some years ago. Essentially, they HAVE to pay you the difference of what your repaired but heavily devalued car is now worth vs. what the Blue or whatever book they use to determine market value of an undamaged car. State insurance laws differ so that's could be an out for them, but probably not.

They hate this and might decide to drop you afterwards, but it worked for me to get them to respond to a similiar accident. And they did not drop me.