Any one dealt with USAA for an auto accident claim?

[sam_gordon]

Well we will have to see how this plays out. In many cases it is near impossible to determine fault. I don't think they really bother to determine fault because of that. The insurance companies really don't care who is at fault.

It is a positive in this case that they got some verbal acknowledgement from one employee. Doesn't mean that USAA won't try to stonewall or lowball them. The company knows that no one is going to hire a lawyer to contest a case involving a 18 year old car.

It can't be an example of needing a dash cam (at least not yet).

 

[barkley]

Doesn't everyone have liability only on a 18 year old car?

the general rule of thumb is not to carry more than that if the annual cost surpasses 10% of the vehicle's value. in our case our 2006 runs us $73 per year for the additional coverage which with a current resale value of over $4000 is not a bad deal.

 

[kdonnel]

This is another example on why to get a dash cam. Insurance companies will use every excuse in the book to avoid paying claims. Video footage isn't foolproof but it sure is far superior to just your word. Even if you are 100% at fault your insurance company instructs you to say nothing and never to admit anything. And police won't show up now days unless there are serious injuries so the police reports are meaningless.

USAA has accepted 100% responsibility for the claim. They tried to tell me it would take 44 days before they could accept responsibility because their member was not being cooperative but after being forced to read the accident report USAA accepted 100% responsibility.

The police came in about 25 minutes. I managed to get there just before them. Because the accident occured on the interstate exit ramp, they had to drive one exit down, 8 miles down, and come back up the interstate, 8 miles up, to not have drive down the exit ramp the wrong way. I was coming from the south so I was able to beat them there.

The other driver freely admitted fault to the police. V1 is the USAA driver, V2 is my son.

V1 advised that he was traveling on the exit ramp when he advised that he was actually in the emergency lane. V1 advised that while he was traveling in the emergency lane a truck was stopped in front of him. V1 advised to avoid an accident he swerved to the left and side swiped V2.
V2 advised that he was traveling in the right lane when V1 side swiped his vehicle.
No injuries
End Report

Under operator factors on the police report:
V1: Changed Lanes Improperly, Improper Passing
V2: Other Unit Contributed to Crash

In this case a dash cam was not needed, but I understand your argument for a dash cam and have one on the car I primarily drive. There are many other scenarios where the footage would be very useful. Cost wise they are about $250 for a decent front and back camera system and an hours time to install if you are somewhat handy.

 

[tvguy]

Doesn't everyone have liability only on a 18 year old car?

No. It depends on the value of the car. I have full coverage on a 59 year old classic car. But it's worth more than our 2020 Camry Hybrid and 2018 Flex.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Doesn't everyone have liability only on a 18 year old car?

I have full coverage on my 2002 so no not everyone has liability only. I'm not doing it because of value of my car, my car hasn't been worth much in many years (it only started at $11-$12K brand new and I paid $7K for it when it was 3 years old).

I pay (and this is with an increase in September) for my 2002 for a 12 month policy $63 for comp coverage, $73 for collision both with a $500 deductible and a $50 glass deductible on the comp. Then I pay $13 for the 12 month policy for a $40 per day rental car reimbursement (which requires comp and collision).

I'm not using it to cover damages to the car to give me money in the event of a loss, I'm using it for having rental car coverage so I'm not out a car and for my insurance company to deal with it. The bulk of my costs is on BI and PD at $412 for 12 months.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Like I said, that was not my experience. An experience I hope never to repeat. However, I AM in California, which can be a different plant on a lot of things, especially insurance.

No, sorry tvguy that's still incorrect. Even in CA if you don't have comp and collision the car insurance company is not responsible for helping their insured with a claim for their own vehicle or pay out for a claim for their insured's vehicle. Medical pay and property damage to other than the insured's car is different.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

No. It depends on the value of the car. I have full coverage on a 59 year old classic car. But it's worth more than our 2020 Camry Hybrid and 2018 Flex.

Even if I agree with your thoughts because I myself have full coverage a classic car (especially one designated as an antique) will always be viewed differently. Many owners of classic and antique cars get specialized coverage anyhow for it. MillauFr is, I'm sure, speaking about regular cars that generally have nothing special to them other than the owner has kept them for a long time.

 

[longboard55]

Like what was stated, at best they will give you the value of an 18 year old car so not much

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

And police won't show up now days unless there are serious injuries so the police reports are meaningless.

I've found out this vastly depends on where you are located at, the involvement of one's police department and highway patrol and well public interest of one's community.

Around here you're going to get police out and likely very quickly. My husband was in an accident a year ago, a minor rear-end and the highway patrol showed up in about 8 mins and they were already done with the report by the time I was there to pick my husband up which was about 20mins after my husband called me, the tow truck showed up about 5 mins after I came.

In our case my husband was at fault but no citation was written and the other party was in a company vehicle but they chose not to do anything with it according to our insurance company. My husband's car was totaled. Then again just looking at my city's budget the newsletter that just came out said they spend 75% of the funds from the general fund on public safety and transportation and they just got 15 new firefighters and 2 new police officers. So in other words it matters to us in our community

 

[Music City Mama]

The loss process as explained on their page should result in substantially more than $500.

The should be looking for 3-4 recent sales in my area and average those prices together. They will also pay any required fees for purchasing a car in the state of Georgia like the 7% TAVT, title fee, tag fee, and electronic filing fee.

I have found that a 2006 Honda Accord EX-L goes for around $4500 so I expect a payout of around $5000. That is what it would cost to replace the car with a like car. The similar cars I find are listed for sale at $6000-$7000. Online sites that suggest a fair market value suggest a median of $4491-$4874.

Yes, this will be the more likely scenario as far as how much you'll get. We're in TN and things are probably done similarly.

About two months ago, our teen was in an accident -- other driver's fault. We also didn't have collision coverage for our 2005 vehicle, and, like you, our insurance could not subrogate because of that. Fortunately the other driver had valid insurance and I filed a claim through them. They wanted to total it without an adjuster even coming out (it was automatically towed because a headlight was knocked out and it was nighttime) and offered an amount -- believe it or not, $5,300 -- but the car only had 50K miles on it, leather seats, new tires, etc. That sounds good BUT we had just acquired the car for little to nothing from a relative and we knew we'd not be able to find a comparable vehicle for that amount. So I insisted that they tow it to my house and have an adjuster come out in person -- I really felt like it could be fixed and didn't need to be totaled. Turns out, it wasn't totaled and they had it fixed. It sounds like in your case it might be totaled, but I understand the frustration of the lack of communication. Fortunately, ours was pretty good (not USAA though). But, all of that to say, you're right about the approximate amount you'll get based on similar cars listed for sale.

 

[kdonnel]

Like what was stated, at best they will give you the value of an 18 year old car so not much

Surprisingly it appears to be worth $4500 or more.

The value I should be paid is what I could have sold the car for in a private party sale the day of the crash.

There are not a lot of 2005 Accords for sale in the immediate area, 100 miles, but the ones that are are priced at $5000+.

For example:
https://www.edmunds.com/honda/accord/2006/vin/1HGCM56716A040790/?radius=100
Is priced at almost $7000.

I know the dealer would negotiate that price so I don't feel like my $4500 expectation for the value of the car is unreasonable.

Then you add in the required taxes and fees in the state of Georgia that USAA said they will also reimburse and that $4500 becomes $5000.

 

[cvjw]

OP, I am in metro atlanta. I was rear ended by a teen girl who had USAA insurance a few years back. It was a nightmare. I was assigned to one lady at USAA who WOULD NOT RETURN PHONE CALLS and no one else could speak with me. This went on for weeks.

Out of desperation, I called my State Farm agent who was also a family friend. He called his insurance friends at USAA. Nothing changed. He called his friends at the GA insurance commission. Lady at USAA who hadn’t taken my call in weeks called me that day. And it was super easy from that point on. Made me loathe USAA. Would never use them for insurance.

 

[kdonnel]

Here is the replacement.



I was going to take my time to find my son a new car but ended up buying one already. It hurt to buy another car that runs on gas but was the best deal for him. It is a former dealer loaner that came with 3200 miles and $8000 off MSRP as a result. I have never bought a used car before, I hope I don't regret this one but with just 3200 miles I guess I could count it as new.

 

[kdonnel]

OP, I am in metro atlanta. I was rear ended by a teen girl who had USAA insurance a few years back. It was a nightmare. I was assigned to one lady at USAA who WOULD NOT RETURN PHONE CALLS and no one else could speak with me. This went on for weeks.

Out of desperation, I called my State Farm agent who was also a family friend. He called his insurance friends at USAA. Nothing changed. He called his friends at the GA insurance commission. Lady at USAA who hadn’t taken my call in weeks called me that day. And it was super easy from that point on. Made me loathe USAA. Would never use them for insurance.

I figure my next call will be to an attorney.

It appears that in Georgia auto companies have a limited amount of time to pay a claim once they accept liability. I am in no hurry to keep USAA from allowing me to file suit so I will just wait at this point.

 

[tvguy]

No, sorry tvguy that's still incorrect. Even in CA if you don't have comp and collision the car insurance company is not responsible for helping their insured with a claim for their own vehicle or pay out for a claim for their insured's vehicle. Medical pay and property damage to other than the insured's car is different.

Like I said, my insurance did. So I can only speak from my experience.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Out of desperation, I called my State Farm agent who was also a family friend. He called his insurance friends at USAA. Nothing changed. He called his friends at the GA insurance commission. Lady at USAA who hadn’t taken my call in weeks called me that day.

In the future I would suggest going the route of you first contacting the insurance commissioner if you're really dissatisfied and feel like you're getting nowhere after you've tried to get it handled with the other insurance company and a long time has passed. The reason is it becomes a record and that record is not something a company wants.

I don't think it was a bad move to try and have your agent contact USAA but in that situation it's a professional courtesy at that point rather than a formal process that can really help that wheel get going if you're not filing a formal claim with your own insurance company. I'm not in favor of willy nilly contacting the insurance commissioner or AG for everything under the sun but there are appropriate times for that.

My mother-in-law has her own story with the insurance commissioner of my state. In my state it's required for you to swap insurance information in the event of an accident. A semi clipped her and refused to provide this information, she wrote down the company name, contacted them and they refused to provide their insurance information, she contacted the insurance commissioner's office of our state and they got the information super fast.

I would go that route first before contacting a lawyer or threatening a lawsuit.

 

[MICKIMINI]

OP, I am in metro atlanta. I was rear ended by a teen girl who had USAA insurance a few years back. It was a nightmare. I was assigned to one lady at USAA who WOULD NOT RETURN PHONE CALLS and no one else could speak with me. This went on for weeks.

Out of desperation, I called my State Farm agent who was also a family friend. He called his insurance friends at USAA. Nothing changed. He called his friends at the GA insurance commission. Lady at USAA who hadn’t taken my call in weeks called me that day. And it was super easy from that point on. Made me loathe USAA. Would never use them for insurance.

Yes. A lesson to call your state's AG or insurance department. Amazing what a call from the state will do to spur that other agent to get off their you know what and call you.

 

[cvjw]

Yes. A lesson to call your state's AG or insurance department. Amazing what a call from the state will do to spur that other agent to get off their you know what and call you.

Yes. It was truly amazing. The young girl made my Honda odyssey undriveable. And then I couldn’t get in touch with USAA for a rental car. And thanksgiving was coming up and we were driving out of town. And couldn’t fit in my husband’s small SUV.

One call from my State Farm agent to the Insurance commissioner and all the problems vanished. They even gave me a Range Rover as a rental car. And a nice settlement. Which I know would not have happened if the insurance commissioner hadn’t gotten involved.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Like I said, my insurance did. So I can only speak from my experience.

I suspect we're not getting the full details here or talking about the same situation especially as you're talking about your parked car being hit and the OP is talking about getting their insurance company to pay and or help out on a coverage they don't have on their policy. I'm talking about responsibilities of a car insurance company as it relates to your comment about "you pay the premium that's what they are there for", just paying premium does not entitle you to this.

Your premium is comprised of coverages you pay for (legally required and optional), the dollar amount is comprised of many other components. Just paying your policy premium does not entitle you to have your insurance company handle a claim on your behalf for a coverage you don't have. We aren't talking about medical and whatnot that falls under liability.

People can confuse things that insurance companies do because they are trying to have good PR and things that companies are required to do. I have seen enough claims in my time where the insurance company did things they were not required to do, but that is not to be confused with merely calling up your insurance company and telling them "I pay you premiums so handle this for me". You have to be understanding to what coverages you are actually paying for.

 

[tvguy]

I suspect we're not getting the full details here or talking about the same situation especially as you're talking about your parked car being hit and the OP is talking about getting their insurance company to pay and or help out on a coverage they don't have on their policy. I'm talking about responsibilities of a car insurance company as it relates to your comment about "you pay the premium that's what they are there for", just paying premium does not entitle you to this.

Your premium is comprised of coverages you pay for (legally required and optional), the dollar amount is comprised of many other components. Just paying your policy premium does not entitle you to have your insurance company handle a claim on your behalf for a coverage you don't have. We aren't talking about medical and whatnot that falls under liability.

People can confuse things that insurance companies do because they are trying to have good PR and things that companies are required to do. I have seen enough claims in my time where the insurance company did things they were not required to do, but that is not to be confused with merely calling up your insurance company and telling them "I pay you premiums so handle this for me". You have to be understanding to what coverages you are actually paying for.

All I know is that when I reported the incident to my insurance, as required by my policy, they were the ones who said they would handle everything with the other insurance company if that company did not settle within a certain number of days. I didn't ask them to. I may be wrong that they did this because I was one of their insureds, even though I did not have anything more than basic liability. I hope never to be in that situation again, but if I am, I will ask them to do that again. Again, I can only go on my experience, which is what causes me to have that expectation.