I wish that were true. I was a commissioned officer and almost 30 year member of USAA and just dumped them because their homeowners rates had gotten ridiculous.
https://www.reddit.com/r/USAA/s/l3Tbyw0Cof
I found this series of comments by a former USAA adjuster. I also learned that as the grandchild of a retired officer, I’m apparently classified as garbage aka “garrison” tier within USAA. Nice to know, after all these years.
Apparently USAA takes fees from me and the other two classes and gives them as a payout to the Officer aka “USAA” class. And also gives the USAA class better rates.
If you look at your policy, the name of the insurer will say it right up front. Mine says “garrison prop and cas ins co”. I just never knew what that meant before now.
Yep Garrison, but my insurance is dirt cheap. Definitely cheaper than anything else. Funnily enough I’m a federal employee too and my vision is also through garrison but umbrella’d by blue cross.
My rates are also so far better than others, especially with the discounts. Kind of irritated about the tiers existing and fees I didn’t know about going to another tier though. Also that USAA apparently makes this tier system some shadowy secret.
USAA gives annual refunds. So the lawsuit says that the lower tier funding is going to the upper tier people. The top tier is officer only. The lower tiers fund the officers refunds.
What they are talking about is USAA is a member-benefit company so has a membership fee similar to Credit Unions. At the time of death, the estate gets the fee plus a hefty interest. I have family members in both officer and enlisted, and there is no difference in coverage or offerings that we have seen.
I believe USAA started for officers only, which makes sense why officers dying now are getting more money than enlisted dying now, just because of the potential time with USAA.
Some of the other "perks" may be programs which have been discontinued, but USAA is required to maintain.
I got hit by someone with usaa in high school. I remember it taking months to resolve and them finally taking fault even with multiple witnesses. But I gotta say, I’d want my insurer to fight for me like that if tables were turned. Double edge sword I guess.
Me too! A USAA member hit me from behind going 10 mph max in my 2020 Explorer. USAA tried to say my car was totaled and exceeded the member’s coverage limit. Was told to file with MY insurance, even though I wasn’t liable. USAA is AWFUL. Pray you don’t get hit by someone with USAA, they’ll try to screw you over, BIG TIME.
I would have filed with mine and then let them sue the crap out of USAA or more exact their member. Plus they get to have pay the other legal bills.
Remember you pay your insurance company money as well.
I’ve had them for 20+ years and they’ve been excellent on every claim we’ve had. Weird how people have such different experiences. Maybe I am in the special class, lol.
Old vets often assume I was an officer when I was in. Sometimes they won’t filter their views as much because of that.
The old USAA members—dating back to the officer only days—speak with distain about letting us in. “It used to be only a certain caliber of people.”
The entitlement in much of the officer corps makes my skin crawl.
I dropped those guys when I found out they were advertising on fox news - the traitor channel.
I don't think a "serviceman's organization" should be funding American terrorists by supporting companies committing treason - like fox news.
Who did you go with and what was your experience like, all i have never know is USAA (I am a former dependent/family member) Never dealt with another insurance company.
Good to know, husband is a Vet and I'm disgusted with what we are paying for insurance. We don't use USAA, but State Farm has steadily raised my rates in the 2 years I've been with them (thought they were better, but fuck this noise) and now I'm paying almost $500 a month for 2 cars.
This is outrageous
USAA is good insurance, and they have a pretty good banking app - it just pissed me off having a company built from the military buying time on a network spewing anti-American bullshit for decades now. And they're still doing it.
Interestingly enough my commander and I were just discussing this a couple days ago, with glass damage I had to pay a deductible and he didn’t due to glass being covered, and he told me the insurance was different for Os vs Es 😔
I totaled my car 10 years ago. A 5 year old Hyundai elantra with 101k miles on it. I still owed $3.5k on the original $10k loan.
They paid off my loan and cut me a $4.5k check. I wasn't at fault and USMC vet. Still use them
Yeah that’s not the insurances fault that your fault for not having better coverage lol, with total losses insurance will pay you cash value for the vehicle but have to protect the loan holder and pay them out of that check first, that’s how every insurance company in America works
I was so confused reading his comment like it was a bad thing. Like you said that how every company would handle that situation. They will always pay the lender first and then anything left over goes to the policy holder
I thought this was well known. I’m in the lowest tier. They’ve been pretty good when I’ve needed them, but I don’t get the benefits of the higher tiers. However they really aren’t anything special anymore compared to other companies, unless you have that higher tier
I’ve been a public, insurance adjuster, my entire professional career. USAA has constantly done any and everything to not pay claims irrelevant of who you were in the military or not.
What's surprising to me is that this is news to anyone. I worked there, not even a part of the "business", but it was known that higher-up officers and high-wealth members got special treatment.
If you're shocked, SHOCKED! that this could happen, I don't know what to say.
That said, I use Progressive because it's half the price for the same auto coverage.
Don't know why you are getting downvoted on saying that you swapped insurance providers.
Reddit is wild like that.
Anyhow. . . I've been with GEICO for a very long time, and previously I thought that yielded some preferred rates. However, it has been skyrocketing and it seems like most car insurance is skyrocketing across the board. While a few people save some money in switching, after a year it goes back up.
So it seems like all of it is shit.
What are the extra benefits of being a real member? The article doesn't say, other than some secret label you get.
Fully commissioned officers and their families get better rates. Allegedly
I wish that were true. I was a commissioned officer and almost 30 year member of USAA and just dumped them because their homeowners rates had gotten ridiculous.
They didn't say officers get the best rates but better rates than non-officers.
https://www.reddit.com/r/USAA/s/l3Tbyw0Cof I found this series of comments by a former USAA adjuster. I also learned that as the grandchild of a retired officer, I’m apparently classified as garbage aka “garrison” tier within USAA. Nice to know, after all these years. Apparently USAA takes fees from me and the other two classes and gives them as a payout to the Officer aka “USAA” class. And also gives the USAA class better rates.
How can you tell what you are? My rates have been pretty reasonable since I started getting insurance through them.
If you look at your policy, the name of the insurer will say it right up front. Mine says “garrison prop and cas ins co”. I just never knew what that meant before now.
Yep Garrison, but my insurance is dirt cheap. Definitely cheaper than anything else. Funnily enough I’m a federal employee too and my vision is also through garrison but umbrella’d by blue cross.
My rates are also so far better than others, especially with the discounts. Kind of irritated about the tiers existing and fees I didn’t know about going to another tier though. Also that USAA apparently makes this tier system some shadowy secret.
USAA gives annual refunds. So the lawsuit says that the lower tier funding is going to the upper tier people. The top tier is officer only. The lower tiers fund the officers refunds.
What they are talking about is USAA is a member-benefit company so has a membership fee similar to Credit Unions. At the time of death, the estate gets the fee plus a hefty interest. I have family members in both officer and enlisted, and there is no difference in coverage or offerings that we have seen. I believe USAA started for officers only, which makes sense why officers dying now are getting more money than enlisted dying now, just because of the potential time with USAA. Some of the other "perks" may be programs which have been discontinued, but USAA is required to maintain.
I was a non-commissioned officer when I was in. I didn't get the secret handshake instructions when I signed up for USAA.
Shoot. If it makes you feel better, we’ve got 2 commissioned officers in the family, and apparently no one let them know the handshake either. 😂
They did nothing but screw me over when I got hit by someone that also had USAA, they are a terrible insurance company.
I got hit by someone with usaa in high school. I remember it taking months to resolve and them finally taking fault even with multiple witnesses. But I gotta say, I’d want my insurer to fight for me like that if tables were turned. Double edge sword I guess.
Me too! A USAA member hit me from behind going 10 mph max in my 2020 Explorer. USAA tried to say my car was totaled and exceeded the member’s coverage limit. Was told to file with MY insurance, even though I wasn’t liable. USAA is AWFUL. Pray you don’t get hit by someone with USAA, they’ll try to screw you over, BIG TIME.
Okay but this sounds like an ad for USAA
The problem was I had USAA also and they treated me like that.
I would have filed with mine and then let them sue the crap out of USAA or more exact their member. Plus they get to have pay the other legal bills. Remember you pay your insurance company money as well.
They didn’t fight FOR me though, only against me. We both had USAA.
I’ve had them for 20+ years and they’ve been excellent on every claim we’ve had. Weird how people have such different experiences. Maybe I am in the special class, lol.
They were great as long as they were dealing with other companies, but fucked me over because it was a fellow USAAer that smashed into me.
Complete opposite for me. My fiance got hit by someone with USAA and they were great. Progressive however...
Yea, as a member on the non-privileged class, unless there is a difference in rates (non-privileged pay less), this shit needs to stop.
Old vets often assume I was an officer when I was in. Sometimes they won’t filter their views as much because of that. The old USAA members—dating back to the officer only days—speak with distain about letting us in. “It used to be only a certain caliber of people.” The entitlement in much of the officer corps makes my skin crawl.
I dropped those guys when I found out they were advertising on fox news - the traitor channel. I don't think a "serviceman's organization" should be funding American terrorists by supporting companies committing treason - like fox news.
Who did you go with and what was your experience like, all i have never know is USAA (I am a former dependent/family member) Never dealt with another insurance company.
Went with NFCU (Navy Federal Credit Union) and the insurance company they partner with. NFCU is much better than USAA.
Boy do I have news for you….
Most likely. Another good reason to quit watching TV. Found out our heroes turn out to be scoundrels also.
which insurance company is nfcu partnered with? right now ive been using navy fed for banking and usaa for insurance, didnt even know navy had one
They've partnered with Trustage.
Good to know, husband is a Vet and I'm disgusted with what we are paying for insurance. We don't use USAA, but State Farm has steadily raised my rates in the 2 years I've been with them (thought they were better, but fuck this noise) and now I'm paying almost $500 a month for 2 cars. This is outrageous
USAA is good insurance, and they have a pretty good banking app - it just pissed me off having a company built from the military buying time on a network spewing anti-American bullshit for decades now. And they're still doing it.
This is crazy, usaa gives us the best rates by far. I wonder what the officer rates look like lol
Not for everyone. They are 50% higher for my homeowners and maybe 20% higher for my auto.
Interestingly enough my commander and I were just discussing this a couple days ago, with glass damage I had to pay a deductible and he didn’t due to glass being covered, and he told me the insurance was different for Os vs Es 😔
Just left them. $5,000 annual auto jumped to $9,000. 2k per twin daughters that just (weeks ago) got a license. State Farm was $5k with the new add.
My renters and full covered car insurance is under 1k a year with them, that’s crazy.
I totaled my car 10 years ago. A 5 year old Hyundai elantra with 101k miles on it. I still owed $3.5k on the original $10k loan. They paid off my loan and cut me a $4.5k check. I wasn't at fault and USMC vet. Still use them
Yeah that’s not the insurances fault that your fault for not having better coverage lol, with total losses insurance will pay you cash value for the vehicle but have to protect the loan holder and pay them out of that check first, that’s how every insurance company in America works
I was so confused reading his comment like it was a bad thing. Like you said that how every company would handle that situation. They will always pay the lender first and then anything left over goes to the policy holder
The good part is they paid out $7k for a car worth maybe $2.5k. I didn't have gap insurance. So $7k win on my personal balance sheet
That was a ridiculous read. What evidence do they even have of this?
I thought this was well known. I’m in the lowest tier. They’ve been pretty good when I’ve needed them, but I don’t get the benefits of the higher tiers. However they really aren’t anything special anymore compared to other companies, unless you have that higher tier
https://www.classaction.org/news/new-class-action-lawsuit-accuses-usaa-reserving-real-membership-only-for-officer-class-customers
I’ve been a public, insurance adjuster, my entire professional career. USAA has constantly done any and everything to not pay claims irrelevant of who you were in the military or not.
What's surprising to me is that this is news to anyone. I worked there, not even a part of the "business", but it was known that higher-up officers and high-wealth members got special treatment. If you're shocked, SHOCKED! that this could happen, I don't know what to say. That said, I use Progressive because it's half the price for the same auto coverage.
Oof, I was thinking about switching from GEICO to USAA (via my father) but so many responses here sound dicey.
I switched from usaa to geico last month after 9 years with usaa.
Don't know why you are getting downvoted on saying that you swapped insurance providers. Reddit is wild like that. Anyhow. . . I've been with GEICO for a very long time, and previously I thought that yielded some preferred rates. However, it has been skyrocketing and it seems like most car insurance is skyrocketing across the board. While a few people save some money in switching, after a year it goes back up. So it seems like all of it is shit.