I have been a member of USAA since 1992, and had USAA auto insurance from 1999 2002.
While I was a member of USAA insurance, I was another unfortunate victim of their fraudulent and unethical practices. During my brief few years of coverage, USAA reported false claims to CLUE that not only raised my rates until I was finally dropped by USAA, but also made it impossible for me to get insurance from any other source. As of now, I have been without insurance for 10 months due to the activities of USAA. Below is an account of my experience with USAA.
04/23 While driving down the road, I was forced into a curb by a motorist that made an illegal turn. There was no damage to the vehicle, and only a minor scratch done to one of the rims. I made an inquiry on the USAA website as to my coverage and also mentioned the minor accident. No claim was ever filed, and USAA paid no money on the accident. 12 months later, I find out that this had been reported to CLUE as an At Fault Accident. When I inquired with USAA as to why this had been reported, I was informed: because you told us about it. Of course I told them about it isn't that what we are taught to do as good citizens? How was I to know that my ethical behavior would result in an unethical backlash from the company that was supposed to be protecting me?
07/28 This is a situation where a turn into a driveway was taken a little too closely and the result was a few scratches on the vehicle. Once again, not knowing that this would result in a negative action against me, I alerted USAA. The estimate for the damage originally came to be $950.00 (paint is expensive these days), so I did file an initial claim. A few days later I found a body shop to do all of the work for $386.00! I called USAA and CANCELLED the claim once again, they paid nothing. I never received any other word from USAA and paid the bill myself.
I thought the issue was resolved. Five (5) months later, in December of I received a check for the damages from USAA. Immediately I called them and asked why a check was issued. I was informed that they had the claim in the system and were issuing payment. When I advised that I had cancelled the claim, USAA told me the following: Just send back the money for the claim. As long as you send back 100%, we will remove the claim and it will not count against you. So as an ignorant, trusting person, I sent them their 5 month late check back. Result? The incident was still reported to CLUE as an At Fault Accident AND they kept all the money!!! I lost twice!
03/19 My vehicle is parked while I am in a business. Sometime while inside, someone hits the parked vehicle. Once again USAA was called this time I am the victim, right? WRONG! Once again I was hit on CLUE, by my guardians, USAA.
It is clear that insurance companies can do whatever they desire without any recourse when it comes to reporting your driving information. As citizens, we have little or no action that we can take against deceitful, unethical, and corrupt insurance agencies like USAA. I have tried everything I know to do, and I still can't get USAA to even consider looking at this problem more less do anything about it.
Thanks to USAA, I have not been able to find any insurance that I can afford in almost 10 months (average quote is $705.00 a month for full coverage). I definitely need help, but so do the 1000's of other people that are being ruined by unscrupulous companies like USAA every day (for every person that speaks up there are 100's that don't). Hopefully someone will find a way for us to fight back, but until then, research any company you are using or thinking about using and stay away from USAA!!!
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