USAA Insurance

[roblenderman]

I have been with USAA for 15 years and am now buying an SPF registered as a 2004. USAA says it cannot insure this vehicle for anything other than liability. I do not want collector insurance as I want to be able to drive to work with the car when it is nice. It will be parked ten feet outside my work window in a very safe location. Nationwide and Allstate have given me quotes to insure it for roughly the same rate as USAA insures my S2000. I don't want to drop them but I may have no choice. Anyone have their car with USAA? If so can you tell me how you did it? I have called three times and each time they spend 30 minutes trying to get it for me but the final answer is always no.

Rob

[mr0077]

Rob, I have a funny story about USAA...I had my cobra with American National, got a quote on my other cars and found out that USAA was more than twice as high as American National! I called them and told them I was dropping coverage on the three cars they had insured. They told me I couldn't drop the coverage, only THEY could drop the coverage! I said "Well, fine, you can go ahead and cover them, but I am hereby notifying you that I am no longer paying the premium, so do whatever you want". As you can guess, I no longer have my cars on a USAA policy.
Point is, they couldn't/wouldn't cover my Cobra.
My coverage is about $324/year, for 5000 miles/year, pleasure-only, but some of the guys have State farm for daily driver coverage, with ordinary rates. Dennis, jump in, don't you have State Farm?

[Bruce Edwards]

Rob,

My father has our car with USAA and they are giving him full coverage on the car. They did start out saying the same thing as they told you. However we sent them a link to our web page with a picture of the car. We also made it clear that it is a professionally built car not a garage job and they said they would cover it.
If you think it may help I will see if I can find out who he was talking to. I know it took about two weeks to get it all sorted out. Let me know.

[SNAKEYES]

Rob:

I have my cobra as well as all my other vehicles and house covered with USAA...they insured my car without any hassles three years ago when it was purchased.

I am paying about $1000 with full coverage and no limitation on mileage or use.

[roblenderman]

How did you register your car? Mine is a 2004. They have taken it to underwriters and still rejected it. I don't have a single mark on my record. Their reason is that they do not know how to price the insurance. Do you have agreed value or regular car depreciation insurance?

Rob

[Hal Copple]

rob, please contact me privately off line for some assistance with this, i think you can do it by clicking on my name or profile or something like that.

hal

[Guinness]

I have all my cars, boat and house with USAA and have been with them for almost 20 years. They took all the info on my Kirkham and passed it to the underwriters. The next day they called back to say I was covered at stated value. Your problem may have something to do with what state you are in, the agent mentioned something about that.
Good luck'
Jeff

[John McMahon]

Don't just take the person on the phone at their word. As a USAA member, I feel you have room to "negotiate". You are with them for a number of reasons and they are all good. You've been with the military and you probably have a good driving record. USE THOSE FACTS TO YOUR ADVANTAGE!

When I wanted to insure my 20 ft trailer, they didn't want to do that either, but with a little coaxing and the fact that I have a number of vehicles insured with them, they decided to cover it.

I have not insured by 289 yet, but I suspect I will have to do a little coaxing for that too.

...strive to perservere!

Chief Dan George

[ORFIA]

Verrry interesting...
Years ago, I first tried to insure my FIA replica w/ USAA and they said "no way" (paraphrased), so I insured w/ Parrish. Didn't want to- but was forced to.
Great company, but now that Parrish has been bought out and no longer covers any single friggin' thing on, in, near or within sight of, a racetrack (slight exaggeration...) I might as well see if I can switch coverage back to USAA (who also won't cover me for any reason on a track).

Russ R

[John McMahon]

ORFIA,

NO ONE...I repeat, NO ONE will cover you ON the track. They will cover you getting to the track, but that's it.

Parish did it for a while and I know someone that collected on a wreck, but no more.

[SnakeBitt]

USAA is a great company IF you don't have anything on your record. I was insured with them for years and when I called to see what it would cost to insure a replica I was looking at (SPF) they ran my license and found out I got a ticket last Aug and not only told me they couldn't insure the Cobra / SPF, but they raised my premiums (doubled!) on my other vehicles!
If you have USAA, don't get any tickets. They're prices are very competitive when you have a clean record, but they make up for their cheap rates when you get a ticket!

[ORFIA]

Originally posted by John McMahon


ORFIA,

NO ONE...I repeat, NO ONE will cover you ON the track. They will cover you getting to the track, but that's it.

Parish did it for a while and I know someone that collected on a wreck, but no more.

Mmmebbe... There is a possibility; http://www.americancollectorsins.com/de_quali.htm
runs a "Driver's Education" program that sounds like exactly what we need!

I've known for quite some time that if I were unlucky enough to only have a Viper, Vette, BMW or a Porsche, I could get coverage- (that's a joke, folks- lighten up) but this company makes a point of saying "or similar performance vehicles" -I'd certainly like to think of a Cobra replica as a performance vehicle! (Although, I would hardly blame insurance agents for fearing track days run in an open cockpit fiberglass car! )

The program is only available in 14 states right now, but I encourage ALL of you to write them- I did, and was told they intend to get coverage to all 50 states, but it may take a while... Anyway you guys in those states oughtta give them a look as well.

Russ R

PS- Parrish, having a replica themselves, insured "drivers ed" stuff until they got bought out by Great American. First thing GA did was send out a letter saying "no more"! Sodding buggers.

[chopper]

I've got USAA on my vehicles and house and have had since 1971. Current full coverage policy on the Cobra is $850 per year, no mileage limit. This includes a couple of discounts like more cars than drivers, multi-car discount and low miles actually driven on all three cars.

I agree with some of the others on this post that USAA will hammer you if you have tickets or collisions for which they have to pay. They told me that a ticket or collision where they have to pay (key point there) will raise the liability of the principal car (that is, the most expensive to insure) by 40% per year for three years. A second ticket in that three year period will likely double the liability for that car, and a third within the three years will usually result in policy cancellation. If you do have a collision, it pays you to figure how much the repairs will cost and figure out the difference between the repairs and the three-year hike on the policy. If you have received no ticket for your participation in the collision, it may pay you to just pay it out of pocket and not notify them. Of course, if it's the other guys fault, and you have written proof rendered by a municipal representative, you should be OK.

They also have some funny rules. I had my briefcase stolen a few years ago, which included my key chain on which were the house key and keys to two of my three cars. USAA would not pay to rekey the cars (about $200 per vehicle) or the house. They would, however, pay to replace the cars and household goods if they were stolen. Rather short-sighted on their part, if you ask me. I was almost tempted to let the lowlifes have the 12-year old Toyota station wagon just to see how loud USAA would howl.

[Hal Copple]

on the other hand, USAA will treat you fair. About 20 years ago, my beloved TR-8 burned in my army quarter's garage, when the adjustor told them to send me a check, i told USAA that the car was rare, and worh more than that. They said "prove it".

Got some adds, a letter from our national chairman, and USAA said "OK here is $2000 more." No quibbles.

The same fire did a lot of damage to our stuff, and USAA did every thing and more as fast as they could to get it paid and resolved.

If i ever have a serious claim, i want USAA to be my carrier.

[klayfish]

If USAA is giving you a hard time, don't be so hard set on making them insure the car. There are other companies out there that will insure it. Or you can try to speak directly to one of the senior underwriters and find out what it is they have issue with and see if you can resolve it.

Working for a specialty auto company, I can tell you for sure you will get better results trying to discuss it with them than if you go in with guns blazing. Best of luck.

Steve

[roblenderman]

Thanks to everyone who has helped. I talked to USAA on the phone again yesterday and finally got in touch with a nice lady who comes from a family of racers. She is familiar with the car and is taking it this morning to see what she can do. I was also told the real reason they would not cover it initially. They said they do not cover cars that do not come complete(read with engines). After I explained that SPF cars are sold with an engine from the dealer after you pick one out she listened and took it for further investigation. I am suppose to hear this morning about her findings. As a backup I have Nationwide who will cover my Acura MDX and SPF for $750 total every six months. It is a great price but I want to stick with USAA. What makes this funny is that USAA bank is going to finance 80% of the car($44,000) but USAA Insurance will not insure it with anything other than liability. The lady financing it said they would do it because the underwriter for the loan has looked into buying one and knows their value. I think these are the reasons you should make friends with a good lawyer, doctor, insurance agent, banker, etc.


Rob

[C4 Cross Fire]

My USAA story...

I had USAA car insurance on two daily drivers. The wife and I were in the local Home Depot parking lot in one of them, my '84 Vette, waiting for a parking spot to open when an old guy in an old van backed into my passenger door and rear wheel. We were actually rolling backward slowly before stopping to wait for the parking spot to be vacated. Anyway, the Van driver hit my vehicle in the passenter door--between the passenger-side wheels--and USAA called it MY fault. Obviously the Van driver failed to clear the rear and backed into me! I went inside to call the police and talked with a Home Depot employee who was an off-duty Policeman here. He told me that we didn't need to call the Police and that we just needed to exchange insurance info, which we did, then we went our separate ways. I would up with only a scuff mark in the paint and a gouge in the rear wheel. When I later contacted USAA they told me that the other driver did NOT have insurance and that they paid HIS claim against ME! Their only reason for doing this was because I didn't call the police and have a report done.

Notice I said I 'had' USAA insurance...