My USAA nightmare began by one of it's insured motorists, who shall remain nameless, running a red light and hitting my car. I had a witness who gave me his information. The guy who hit me apologized and admitted that it was his fault on the spot.
I called USAA and they told me to drive my car even though it had been hit because I thought I could make it home. When I asked about getting a rental, they denied me time and time again saying that the claim was pending until they could get a statement from the witness. I told them the other driver already admitted fault, but that fell on deaf ears.
I finally got a rental two weeks later.By this time my car was toast because I had to drive on it. Bear in mind, USAA still had not managed to contact the witness although they claimed to have made several attempts. When it was past 30 days, they magically reached this elusive witness. It's funny because I had been able to get in touch with him, or at least leave him a message to call USAA. However, this was an elderly gentleman and their claims phone menu was confusing to me. I can't imagine what it must have been like for a senior citizen.
They offered me market value, thousands lower than blue book value for my car. A dented hood, headlight, fender totaled out a 2001 SAAB Convertible. I faxed them in over 2,800 dollars in receipts - they only upped the amount by a few hundred dollars. To add insult to injury, they stated that I could buy the car back for 13%. With all the money I had spent on the car that I wasn't getting back, what choice did I have?
The worst part about USAA is their manipulation of the insurance laws to avoid doing the right thing and taking car of victims of drivers they insure. Their customer service, depending on who you get, can be rude, offensive, and hang up on you when you're trying to get information. One claims representative in particular, Ericka, was particularly rude to me and hung up the phone when I was in the crisis of having no car after my SAAB broke down and I was trying to get into a rental. I wish nothing but the worst for this company. They are the epitome of a cold, unprofessional, sleazy insurance company.
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