Anyone ever have a claim (auto) against USAA insured driver?

[tinatark]

We were in an accident last week - the at fault driver has USAA insurance.

I have heard so much about USAA's "phenomenal" customer service - guess it doesn't apply to second-party claims - they did accept responsibility immediately, but the adjuster has "3-4 business" days to come review the damage and give me a check - tomorrow is the 4th business day.

I also talked to the dealership where the car will be repaired - they said when they get inside the car, if they find additional damage, they have to stop working on the car and call the adjustor to come back and okay (to pay for) the additional repairs. Apparently there is one adjustor in my area - I thought "surely not" but the name of the person the claims agent said would be coming was also the name of the person the dealership said they use. I'm just (im)patiently waiting for him to come check the car!

The other thing I discovered, because I asked, was, since they were at fault and I am entitled to a car, if I don't get a rental (the car involved was our 3rd car) the company will pay me the set rental rate for each day from the accident through the repair process.

If you've been involved in an accident with their insured, were things handled to your satisfaction and in a timely manner? It really seems like they're dragging feet just getting this started. Who is it, Geico, who advertises their adjustors at accident scenes?

 

[Christine]

Well, I am a USAA customer so I really don't know but I was recently involved in a accident with a Farmer's client. I called USAA the day of the accident and reported it to Farmer's the next morning. They took all my information but Farmer's would not even "let" me go to an adjuster until their client called and told them their side of the story. The law states that they had 2 weeks to make that call. As you can guess, the people who hit me waited the full 2 weeks and I had to ride around with a flopping bumper. If I wanted it fixed earlier, I would have to drag USAA into it and put it, temporarily, against my insurance. Had the car been non-driveable I would have done that.

While I was mad at the lack of response (it seemed) from Farmer's, apparently there are set time periods that each company has to respond and I'm betting that they all take their sweet time.

 

[Aimeedyan]

Did you have the option of having your company take care of everything for you?

I've had 2 totaled cars - both were not my fault - I didn't deal with the other ins company at all. I called my people, they totaled out my car, got me a rental, settled a fair amt on my loss, and repaid my lost wages and medical bills. Then THEY went after the other ins company for reimbursement. Since I was their customer, I think I was probably taken care of better than someone hit by their customer. It never dawned on me to contact the other drivers company and deal with them. I thought that was why I paid big bucks for insurance? Or maybe it's just when a car is totaled?

Anyways, I have USAA. I've dealt with other ins companies because I have been involved in accidents with them but never in a situation like yours. It was always just to give statements. They all waited weeks to contact me for those.

I hope you get answers soon and I'm glad you weren't hurt.

 

[lovemygoofy]

I have USAA and can't exactly testify to their great customer service as I had 2 months of hell trying to sort out an accident that wasn't mine and the other person had State Farm.

I don't know where you are but USAA has relationships with auto body shops that can also act as the adjuster when need be.USAA also told me that if one of these auto body places is used they have a lifetime warranty on your car while you own it. I don't know if you have a preference of auto body shop but you could call and ask about this.

I was basically told for the case to get anywhere quickly a claim should be made by you to your insurance and let them front the money and then they go after the other insurance company. It's all such a hassle I know. Anyways good luck.

 

[tinatark]

We really are grateful no one was hurt - in either car.

I have Farm Bureau, talked to our agent when it happened, and they told me I could handle it either by directly dealing with USAA or by making a claim with them, then they would go back and get their paid out $ from USAA - the agent is a good friend of ours and said if it were him he would go to USAA - no so if it were some fly by night company, but Allstate/State Farm/USAA, etc. are all very reputable companies.

Apparently USAA doesn't have a relationship with the Toyota dealership in Knoxville (TN) - I talked to them today about how USAA is, and they have to stop working if they find additional damage - there is ONE USAA claims estimator in the area!

The good thing is, this is our 3rd car - our 15 year old's... he was driving - he's better about it than I am - he drove home after the accident (we were close to home, less than a mile).

Also, the other thing, I know they don't *want* to pay out, but the rental rate is around $30 a day... so far that is over $200 and they haven't even looked at our car.

I'm glad to see these stories - guess it's the goal of *all* car insurance companies to make us miserable!

 

[ahutton]

Often, if there is not an adjuster in the area, the supplemental damage sheets are reviewed and approved by fax. It can add a couple days to the repair time but that is most often because of the need to acquire parts that may have to be ordered. Having a claim with anyone can be a headache, there is the time to repair the car, the running around of looking for a new one if yours is a total loss, and the general inconvenience. The good part is they accepted liability pretty quickly, which means their customer made contact with them timely and that was often the biggest hold up!

 

[marciemi]

We have USAA and have for 24 years. I just recently filed my first claim and they were very nice and helpful when working with me. However, I can't say much about how they were with the "second-party" since unfortunately for me that second-party was the yellow pole at the McDonald's drive through that I ran into!

 

[Chris2597]

We have had USAA insurance for almost 20 yrs and they are the best. We have 3 now adult children that drove as teens on our insurance....so we have dealt with fender benders over the yrs and USAA has been extremely easy to deal with. Call and talk to a supervisor at USAA if you are unhappy with the way your claim is being handled. They are so customer service oriented. They care about their name and how the public perceives them.

 

[golfgal]

Actually it sounds like what is happening is fairly standard. Of course they will want to review any damage found that wasn't there in the initial inspection. It is common with car accidents. As for the rental car, as long as the car is drivable you typically won't get a rental car until you have it in the shop for repairs. If it isn't drivable you should get a rental car. Your son won't be allowed to drive the rental so you will probably have to switch cars with him. Did USAA give you a list of preferred shops? Often they have a list and it simplifies the process if you use one of those shops. They are generally certified by the insurance company and when they find damage that wasn't originally detected they can usually proceed with the repairs. Often with these shops they will take the mechanic's estimate as the claim amount without sending anyone out there even.

I would have filed the claim with your own insurance company. You could have gotten the repairs done faster. The big difference in doing it that way is that you would have to pay your deductible and then it would be refunded to you once your company collects from USAA. This isn't so much a USAA problem vs this is how the auto claims in the insurance industry works problem. Actually, from how it sounds you are moving through the process much faster then you would with most companies.

 

[NCRedding]

We've had USAA for over 20 years. As an insured, their service has been very good. However, MIL was killed in an auto accident. FIL pursued an underinsured claim (he had coverage of $1 million) since the other driver had only minimal coverage. As a party seeking insurance coverage, they are horrible to deal with. I guess one of the reasons they can keep the premiums low and look after their insureds is to be very difficult to deal with when you are opposing them.

 

[tinatark]

The appraiser came today. Crap.

Damage is $4500, or 90% of their 60% of the actual cash value threshold to total the car.

Once the dealer gets it, if they find more damage, the car will most likely be totalled and we will be on a car search again. We will be given the option to buy it from USAA for salvage value - probably $1500-$2k, then could repair it and still have $$ left over.

Luckily, we got a GREAT deal and paid cash for the car - did a little work (tires, timing belt) and will still come out ahead if they total it for what I backward-multiplied and figured out they were basing the actual cash value on.

On the other hand, do I want my 16 year old driving an $8k car with $5k in repairs?

There's also this pesky carfax reporting - we will never be able to sell it (later) for what it should be worth with such a large collision record showing.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Hmmm...I've had damage repair from an accident by a hit and run driver. Your claim period sounds reasonable.

However--unless you have rental coverage on your insurance, I'm not sure that automatically entitles the other company to pay for it.

Your experience doesn't seem bad to me at all at this point.

My repair was done at a specific shop designated by USAA. They did find additional damage after removing my van bumper and tail gate. However--it was fixed without issue.

It was several thousand in damage. They were not at fault--but they covered it even in the end when the driver could not be found (his vehicle was) and the fact that he was uninsured based on all records anyway.

 

[cvjw]

I was rear ended by a teen girl with usaa insurance. It was a terrible process dealing with usaa.

I have State Farm and when you file a claim with them, you are assigned a group of people to handle your claim. You call in and speak to anyone in the group. You can always get someone on the phone to help you.

With Usaa, I was assigned one person to deal with. It was weeks before I could get her to call me. I left messages, called their help desk, tried to get a supervisor on the phone. Nothing worked. I finally had to call my states insurance commissioner and file a claim to get her to call me.

When she did, wow was she unpleasant to deal with. I did get my van repaired with Honda parts only because the auto repair shop knew how to work their system. My injury claims took months to pay. I finally just settled with them so I would not have to talk with my usaa contact anymore.

I had toyed with the idea of switching to usaa for our insurance. After that experience, I loath them.

 

[Denise W]

I was rear ended by a teen girl with usaa insurance. It was a terrible process dealing with usaa.

I have State Farm and when you file a claim with them, you are assigned a group of people to handle your claim. You call in and speak to anyone in the group. You can always get someone on the phone to help you.

With Usaa, I was assigned one person to deal with. It was weeks before I could get her to call me. I left messages, called their help desk, tried to get a supervisor on the phone. Nothing worked. I finally had to call my states insurance commissioner and file a claim to get her to call me.

When she did, wow was she unpleasant to deal with. I did get my van repaired with Honda parts only because the auto repair shop knew how to work their system. My injury claims took months to pay. I finally just settled with them so I would not have to talk with my usaa contact anymore.

I had toyed with the idea of switching to usaa for our insurance. After that experience, I loath them.

Zombie thread alert!
Denise

 

[tinatark]

Zombie thread alert!
Denise

LOL. When I started reading this thread, I thought "hmmm... this seems familiar!" Took me a minute to realize why!

 

[monsterkitty]

Funny this should pop up because we were rear ended last week on the highway by a person with USAA. We were on our way to the funeral of DH's aunt and the highway was at a complete stop. Since DH was driving, I was playing games on my phone. All the sudden he says a few bad words and then BAM! We were hit by a guy in a Ford Explorer. His license plate embedded into the bumper of our Prius. In fact, you can still read the plate number!

I had no time to mentally or physically prepare for the crash, like DH did, so as usual with a hit from the back, my head went forward and back, hitting the seat. As we pulled over to the side, my head started throbbing but I thought that was due to the stress of the past month. When police got there, the called fire because I was as white as a sheet and nauseous. I still insisted it was the stress so they let me sign a release and told me to follow through if anything changed. I made it through the funeral and my DH, his brother and his wife made me go in. I have whiplash, bruises from the seat belt, and a slight concussion.

I want nothing other than medical bills paid, our car to be fixed, and for USAA to return our calls. The driver hasn't even contacted USAA, from what the original agent said when DH called. It's been a week. Our insurance company is going to step in tomorrow at the one week mark if we are not contacted by USAA (we have Amica and they've been great). Oh, we also want the driver to agree to never be looking at his phone again because when we were stopped, DH was looking in the mirror to see what the car behind us was going to do. He saw the driver looking down at his phone as he hit us.

 

[LYSE]

Usaa was great when one of their drivers hit my parked car, but it was a small claim..Just some bumper repair and paint.

 

[Q-man]

When she did, wow was she unpleasant to deal with. I did get my van repaired with Honda parts only because the auto repair shop knew how to work their system. My injury claims took months to pay. I finally just settled with them so I would not have to talk with my usaa contact anymore.

I had toyed with the idea of switching to usaa for our insurance. After that experience, I loath them.

That's the whole idea and many insurers go that route which is why you always file with your insurer and let them subrogate the claim with other party's insurer.

Progressive gets a rapid response agent out to you within 2-4 hours; A. in hopes you'll sign a settlement while you're still in shock and don't know the extent of your medical needs. B. to evaluate how you'd look to a jury in court.

 

[starry_solo]

Insurance companies all work very similarly.

 

[MJ204]

I was hit in October 2018 by a USAA driver & for some reason the law & my insurance had an extremely hard time getting the at fault drivers complete info, but thats not even the worst part, after my insurance moved my totaled vehicle to another garage, 3 days after being there its suddenly drivable enough (despite it couldnt even be moved out the road after accident) but somehow 3 days later a known crack head was able to steal my vehicle before the the adjuster got to officially total it, but my insurance which i called doa took care of my rental for 6wks still had no word from at fault drivers insurance, then after so many days had to consider it a total loss under my fire & theft insurance, which i had to pay my deductible, & even though the other guy was at fault it seemed he was goin to get off free, not too mention the negligence of the tow yard that knew an employee obviously had been making "adjustments" on my vehicle to where he was able & free to "drive it around the lot" & forgot the keys in it..knowing this vehichle was gettin totaled out ok..jan 2019 3mons later i finally recieved notice of the claim thru USAA, but so far my insurance paid 500+ for Rental, and was reimbursed 800+ which i dont understand why they got paid more, when i had to extend the rental from my own pocket for over a week..now there's 2 claims open again against the tow company & the USAA driver but right now hes only reimbursed for rental, nothing under collision, but yet still says in payment in process but if theyre not making no payment under collision what would it fall under, & then theres the deductible recovery, & im not sure what the tow yard will be responsible for...but if anyone understands any of the payments & issues please explain them to me, bc 5 mons is ridiculous when theres absolutely NO doubt whos at fault, & 2 eyewitness as well as the af drivers own statement, but when u go off the main road on passenger side trying to pass a stopped vehicle waiting to turn but rather than hitting a pole u cut back & hit the passenger front fender so hard pushing the car into the oncoming traffic lane & had he not shoved my tire into my fender so bad making my cars wheels lock up & dead stop, he'd pushed me into the rock hill after pushing me acrossed the other lane where oncoming traffic couldve made this even worse..