USAA

[viper154]

1 hour ago, Kenny Powers said:

So I'm paying ~$330/mo. for full coverage on 2 cars (pretty new, nothing exotic) and homeowners insurance on a $350k home.

I was previously paying ~ $180/mo before the move but the old home value was around $280k.

Does that check or are you guys seeing way better rates? Good driving records with no accidents/tickets in the past 15 years or so and great credit.

Wife and I have both vehicles, fairly new mid end cars fully ensured with Geico for $75 a month, clean records, good credit. We switched from USAA, they were charging $125 a month. Local company for home owners, live a mile from the coast, not in a flood zone, $1600 a year for - $270,000 home. USAA wanted $2800. 

[Springer]

On 3/31/2020 at 6:15 PM, viper154 said:

Wife and I have both vehicles, fairly new mid end cars fully ensured with Geico for $75 a month, clean records, good credit. We switched from USAA, they were charging $125 a month. Local company for home owners, live a mile from the coast, not in a flood zone, $1600 a year for - $270,000 home. USAA wanted $2800. 

47 years with USAA and NO claims auto or home with the exception of windshield replaced last year.  Getting the runaround on a house claim now.  It ain't the same USAA of old.

[rancormac]

On 3/31/2020 at 1:12 PM, Kenny Powers said:

Is USAA not the go to insurannce company anymore? Ha e others here found better rates with another company?

To be honest, I havent shopped rates in probably 15 years.

Geico is way cheaper.  USAA is run by cucks now.

[bcuziknow]

For all the sheeple out there - jus sayin~

https://www.expressnews.com/business/article/San-Antonio-s-USAA-Bank-hit-with-85-million-15648840.php
 

 

[gearhog]

2 hours ago, bcuziknow said:

For all the sheeple out there - jus sayin~

https://www.expressnews.com/business/article/San-Antonio-s-USAA-Bank-hit-with-85-million-15648840.php
 

 

Did you read the entire article? Who are you calling “sheeple”? And why?

[bcuziknow]

8 hours ago, torqued said:

Did you read the entire article? Who are you calling “sheeple”? And why?

No I just read the headline 🤦‍♂️ Did I miss something positive? The bonuses to the banking group? 

[BashiChuni]

I feel dirty going w them for home insurance just for the convenience factor

oh Damn I’ve been institutionalized 

[M2]

USAA isn't that bad, they're just not as good as they used to be...

Two weeks ago I was sideswiped by a semi going through an intersection onto Kelly Field.  I wasn't hurt, but my Toyota was banged up pretty bad (was eventually totaled).   I filed a claim online when I got home and a USAA rep called me soon after.  Eventually I ended up working directly with Progressive (the truck driver's insurance) to handle the claim, but USAA had my back if I needed help.

By the way, Progressive was very good about handling my claim as well.  Once I sent them the dash cam footage of the incident, they got to work getting my car appraised and getting me a rental car.  I was lucky in that I quickly found a replacement (a 2013 VW Jetta SportWagen TDI) in Austin and picked it up last Sunday.  The Progressive rep also instructed me to scan my signed title in and email it to her so she could start working the reimbursement instead of waiting for it to arrive via FedEx in a day or two. 

On a downside, I had driven to Austin on Friday to look at the Jetta and on my way back stopped at USAA to get a certified check for the purchase, only to find their bank lobby still closed due to COVID despite restrictions being eased up and many other banks being open.  I ended up having to do a wire transfer, which only happens on business days which could have delayed my getting my new-to-me car had not the seller been willing to work out a means to allow me to get it last weekend.

Overall, USAA isn't the company they once were, and I am not happy with their selling of their investment program to Charles Schwab (which I am ready to move away from); but living in SA they are still the most convenient insurance/bank around.  I have yet to find anyone significantly better...

[Day Man]

1 hour ago, M2 said:

I am not happy with their selling of their investment program to Charles Schwab

Really? While a bit less convenient having 2 separate accounts, the CS platform is leaps and bounds above USAAs. 

[BashiChuni]

34 minutes ago, Day Man said:

Really? While a bit less convenient having 2 separate accounts, the CS platform is leaps and bounds above USAAs. 

Agree. Best thing I did was move my investments far away from USAA. 
 

expense ratio fees for most of their accounts are high. Vanguard is money. 

[mightymighty]

I hate to sound like a commercial here but seeing this post peaked my interested and got me to call Geico - and now I'm switching.

I had some bad experiences with USAA, most recently with my car buying experience last February - and the insurance policy I just got with Geico is $80/month cheaper with all coverage's remaining the same as I had with USAA. 

I've been with USAA for over a decade - feels weird to change things up.

Edited October 23, 2020 by mightymighty
buffoonery

[17D_guy]

45 minutes ago, mightymighty said:

I hate to sound like a commercial here but seeing this post peaked my interested and got me to call Geico - and now I'm switching.

I had some bad experiences with USAA, most recently with my car buying experience last February - and the insurance policy I just got with Geico is $80/month cheaper with all coverage's remaining the same as I had with USAA. 

I've been with USAA for over a decade - feels weird to change things up.

Almost same.  Been w/ USAA for...14 years, maybe 18.  Called up a few places State Farm was the best and giving it a shot.  I will say I've had 0 issues with USAA, and their comms were always excellent.  But I'm saving almost $100 a month with full coverage.

[TheRealMe]

3 hours ago, mightymighty said:

I hate to sound like a commercial here but seeing this post peaked my interested and got me to call Geico - and now I'm switching.

I had some bad experiences with USAA, most recently with my car buying experience last February - and the insurance policy I just got with Geico is $80/month cheaper with all coverage's remaining the same as I had with USAA. 

I've been with USAA for over a decade - feels weird to change things up.

We were with Geico for YEARS. I called in to cancel because I had found a cheaper quote... 2 adults and a teenager with a 4WD Wrangler.  They told me to hold on, thanked me for my longevity, etc., then moved me to a Geico sister company. Everything is identical, still use the same app, payments to the same place, the difference was the legal entity name added 'Mutual' or something similar to the paperwork. Cut my Geico rate by about 30%. This was so they keep good customers at the lower rate, and show a loss of $ on the main company (thats how it was explained to me.

[viper154]

5 hours ago, mightymighty said:

I hate to sound like a commercial here but seeing this post peaked my interested and got me to call Geico - and now I'm switching.

I had some bad experiences with USAA, most recently with my car buying experience last February - and the insurance policy I just got with Geico is $80/month cheaper with all coverage's remaining the same as I had with USAA. 

I've been with USAA for over a decade - feels weird to change things up.

Never had any bad experiences, I think I said this in here before, but I cut my rates in half going to Geico. USAA was charging me $150 a month for full coverage on two vehicles for myself and wife, both with clean driving records. Geico charges me $70 for the same coverage. USAA wouldn’t even attempt to match them so I left. 
 

I do have boat insurance through USAA who uses Progressive, they beat all the other competitors by far. 

[uhhello]

I've looked into leaving quite often.  Nobody has been cheaper overall with two vehicles/house/and rental property.  I really really want to leave them but it hasn't made fiscal sense yet.  I've had zero claims (knock on wood) since I started with them in 2006 while overseas.  

[Duck]

Wife and I just switched to ALFA. If you live in a state that ALFA serves (I think, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama and a couple more maybe), they even beat Geico.


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[CaptainMorgan]

Anyone else annoyed by their constant advertising and sponsorship of halftime during football games? I think that they could come up with a better way to spend advertising dollars, given the vast majority of NFL viewers aren’t eligible to sign up.


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[Homestar]

I'm tired of hearing the non-jingle U-S-ay-ay jingle, that's for sure.

[Duck]

Got a quote for homeowners insurance... they were double GEICO and TRIPLE than ALFA...


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[Guardian]

DUCK! How are ya buddy?

[drewpey]

I'll add my .02 for USAA homeowners...

I was renting a FL home for a bit, and when I came back between renters I found my 15 year old roof had damage to it...mostly from being baked brittle in the FL sun for 15 years and going through some hurricanes.  Called a few roofers out, and they him hawed about it, told me I needed to buy a new roof...until they heard I had USAA.  They said USAA doesn't really put up a fight, whereas other insurance companies would require lots of documentation near the time of a recent hurricane along with justification...just too much work.  USAA was no problem, sent them the quote...they tied it to the last major storm 6 months prior, and a few weeks later I had a new 30 year roof.  That's luckily my only experience making a homeowners claim...so I'm not sure if it's that way with others, but the roofers made it seem like they liked working for USAA.

[skibum]

So I think I'm finally done with USAA. Going to move insurance and banking and be done with the crappy service. Any good suggestions? I do not live in ALPHA state. I figure to will be a lot of work to make the move after decades of one company, but I'm paying for services I do not receive. Not sure how it's not just called stealing...

Anyhoo, before I drag myself into a solid 40+hours of investigating I thought I'd look for recent success stories.

[viper154]

1 hour ago, skibum said:

So I think I'm finally done with USAA. Going to move insurance and banking and be done with the crappy service. Any good suggestions? I do not live in ALPHA state. I figure to will be a lot of work to make the move after decades of one company, but I'm paying for services I do not receive. Not sure how it's not just called stealing...

Anyhoo, before I drag myself into a solid 40+hours of investigating I thought I'd look for recent success stories.

I cut my car insurance in half with Gieco, they also gave me the best rate I could find for my boat. Home owners I had to go local, all big companies wanted almost double what local companies were quoting. (Hurricane prone area). I still use USAA for banking, although my wife uses Navy Federal for her business and personal account,  no complaints this far. 

[Tank]

7 minutes ago, viper154 said:

I cut my car insurance in half with Gieco, they also gave me the best rate I could find for my boat. Home owners I had to go local, all big companies wanted almost double what local companies were quoting. (Hurricane prone area). I still use USAA for banking, although my wife uses Navy Federal for her business and personal account,  no complaints this far. 

We’re the same but use All State Insurance for our auto and a local company for our home owners insurance.  
Use Schwab for all investments.  
My wife uses Eglin FCU for her business accountants and we still use USAA for general banking (checking, savings, credit card).  
 

No complaints…

[skibum]

So I just switched. Still have USAA for banking but not for insurance. I took the emotion out of it and assumed all insurance companies can have customer service issues from time to time. I just compared rates.

For both home & auto I used my existing USAA coverages and got estimates that matched (apples to apples). I got quotes from Progressive, Geico, Nationwide, Liberty Mutual, All State, Farmers and State Farm. All had easy, online systems for adjusting coverage to match my USAA policies. I examined costs for auto/home bundles and separate policies. I also looked at each company's app just to make sure it didn't suck. I ended up choosing Liberty Mutual (31% less than USAA) for auto and Nationwide (35% less than USAA) for home. Bundling with one company did not save money overall.

Surprisingly, in the comparison USAA had the highest rates by far for both -- and it was even close. They were 24% above the average of all the auto quotes and 17% higher than the next closest competitor. For home they were 22% higher than the average and 16% higher than the closest competitor. For bundling they were better as it seems each company tends to have better rates for one or the other. For bundling they were only 9% above average and within 7% of the next closest competitor. However, the bundling appears to be a red herring as none of the companies had a deal anywhere close to the combined rates when using two separate companies.

With my switch I'm saving so much that I decided to increase my coverage. For example, I was able to reduce my auto deductible to just $250 for each vehicle for both comprehensive and collision, zero deductible for glass, twice the liability, add uninsured motorist, add rental car reimbursement, upgraded towing (100 miles free), and "better car replacement" (next year model newer and 15,000 less miles if car is totaled) and still save 26% over my crappy USAA coverage. For home I increased my overall coverage by $265K, reduced my wind/hail deductible to $1500 (USAA was at $12,500), add increased coverage for guns, tools and jewelry (and a bunch of other extras) plus guarantee rebuilding regardless of building cost. That Cadillac coverage still saved me 26% over USAA's crappy coverage.

What I learned is that I've been wasting a lot of money with my loyalty to USAA and false assumptions about their competitiveness. I recall looking into this 15 years ago and found nobody could come close to their rates. Now they are not competitive. The were significantly higher than every other company. It's also not small change. As a bonus, my USAA Subscriber Savings Account (some profit sharing thing) pays out in full with give me over $10K cash. That's actually a nice incentive to switch.