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USAA lost 1.3 billion dollars last year


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On 5/8/2023 at 12:33 PM, Clintonaldo said:

Funny enough I am at Hilton Head for a work conference and the average cost to repair  went from $3,125 in 2019 to $4,240 in 2022 and the rental average went from 13.5 days to 18.5 days. 
 

 

 

Is there info available on the cost of EV vs ICE (gas) vehicle insurance  ?

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Is there info available on the cost of EV vs ICE (gas) vehicle insurance  ?

It’s more expensive to repair an EV if that’s what your asking but I can’t tell you on average how much more. It’s all so new that data is still being gathered and interpreted.
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On 5/7/2023 at 10:59 AM, Incredulity said:

https://www.nhtsa.gov/equipment/driver-assistance-technologies#:~:text=Forward collision warning systems use,to prevent a potential crash.
 

all at the mandate or “recommendation” of the federal government.

 

P.S. A government “recommendation” to vehicle manufacturers isn’t the same as the government recommending you eat less salt.

This is stupid. As noted upthread, the govt is flawless and this is purely the work of capitalism.  Get a clue. 

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USAA customer service used to be great. It’s pure shit now. I have a claim going for a YEAR and they have no idea what they’re doing. I have the state insurance board investigating them for inaction, there be ruling on my favor next month.  

There were always 2 USAAs.  The good one based on military service and the other (for teachers) one. The good one is gone. 

I’ll be speaking with a broker once my claim is finished. USAA jacked my homeowners rate up 32% in 2021 and car rate 12%. We had never had a claim until 2022. 

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Do we not have an insurance expert on this board? I find that hard to believe.

I was at a board meeting for a Galveston condo home owner's association two weeks ago. They had a special presentation from the insurance broker talking about why there's 20% less coverage for wind damage at a 50% rate increase. One of the other owners got up and said he'd had the same personal experiences with his apartment complexes throughout the midwest, even though he has no history of making claims. I've read how catastrophic the impact on claims has been on Florida coast properties. Some mortgage companies are waiving insurance coverage requirements on beach properties because of the impossibility of finding any, or how cost prohibitive it is. Which seems completely and utterly insane to me. I don't even understand how that works as a business model. 

I had a recent fire that gutted a small 6 unit apartment complex I have (no one was there or hurt). It will be at least a $700k claim. The adjuster just came back and said it doesn't meet coverage requirements under the policy because of the presence of aluminum wiring. A have a documented statement from a licensed electrician that there's no aluminum wiring in the complex. This policy is from a broker I've done business with on all investment properties for 30 years. The broker's hands are tied. They cannot help with the claim. 

The insurance business is a state regulated industry. Sure, like any smart business the industry invests a lot of time, effort, and resources into influencing the make up of those regulatory boards to make them as insurance industry friendly as possible, but it's still not untrammeled capitalism, and there is a degree of political oversight on their business practices, regardless of how effective it might be. 

But their current business model is taking a beating across the board. This is not something isolated to USAA, although I find the anecdotal experiences listed on here interesting. My guess is that the industry stabilizes at some point, and we see rates go down and become more accessible, but maybe this is the new normal. 

I also don't understand the outrage about people charging higher prices for a good suddenly in greater demand. If all of your peers were getting paid 20-30% more than what they were previously but you chose to stand fast and make the same amount you'd always made, you'd look like a chump. You'd feel like one, too. But when it's something we purchase/consume versus our own services, suddenly there's some kind of moral authority attached. Maybe I don't have all the details and it's more like what has happened in the insulin market than I realize. But it's difficult for me to feel like there should be some kind of outrage attached because someone is charging a higher price for a product because they can. 

Anyway, I'd love for someone in the industry to explain further what's going on across the board. Or heck, I'd love for people outside the industry to opine, too. It's just that it's the industry perspective I'm looking for more than anything else. 

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On 5/6/2023 at 12:22 PM, tx 3 putt said:

They’ve ventured too far from their core focus / products, chasing $$$ 

The industry as a whole is under siege. This is the hardest personal insurance market anybody currently in it has ever seen.

 

On 5/6/2023 at 1:43 PM, Rimbo said:

It's going to take a while before my premiums with USAA catch up to my claims, so I'm sticking with them.

Still the best insurance there is.

There's better than USAA but not everybody qualifies. The high net worth carriers offer much broader coverage with better claims practice than any other carrier in the market. Chubb's minimum home is $500K on the dwelling but they're usually not competitive price-wise until you get to $1M and up. The other HNW carriers start at $1M or even $2M in parts of Texas now.

 

On 5/6/2023 at 8:13 PM, Horn said:

I’ve been with USAA for 20+ years. I knew I was overpaying for homeowners, but when they tried to raise my rate by 20% this year I finally caved.  I made one phone call to Allstate and they gave me the exact same coverage for 60% less.  My auto rate was competitive, but I switched both.  Clowns. 

Good luck with that. Allstate is hot garbage if you have a claim.

 

On 5/7/2023 at 7:28 AM, Clintonaldo said:


A lot of it. Also, manufacturers keep putting more cameras, radars and sensors on vehicles and crash frequency hasn’t really changed and crash severity has skyrocketed. The average cost of repair used to be around $2,600 4 years ago and it is now $4,000. Manufacturers are also making a lot of shit one time use thus contributing to high repair costs.

This is the crux of the problem. Cars cost much, much more to repair than they used to. They're safer, yes, but we've also added in the distraction of smart phones to the equation.

 

On 5/14/2023 at 6:09 PM, The Ace of Aces said:

USAA customer service used to be great. It’s pure shit now. I have a claim going for a YEAR and they have no idea what they’re doing. I have the state insurance board investigating them for inaction, there be ruling on my favor next month.  

I've heard that. Every time you need something done, you call the service center and get somebody different every time. That isn't ideal IMO.

 

37 minutes ago, SL Xpress said:

Do we not have an insurance expert on this board? I find that hard to believe.

I was at a board meeting for a Galveston condo home owner's association two weeks ago. They had a special presentation from the insurance broker talking about why there's 20% less coverage for wind damage at a 50% rate increase. One of the other owners got up and said he'd had the same personal experiences with his apartment complexes throughout the midwest, even though he has no history of making claims. I've read how catastrophic the impact on claims has been on Florida coast properties. Some mortgage companies are waiving insurance coverage requirements on beach properties because of the impossibility of finding any, or how cost prohibitive it is. Which seems completely and utterly insane to me. I don't even understand how that works as a business model. 

I had a recent fire that gutted a small 6 unit apartment complex I have (no one was there or hurt). It will be at least a $700k claim. The adjuster just came back and said it doesn't meet coverage requirements under the policy because of the presence of aluminum wiring. A have a documented statement from a licensed electrician that there's no aluminum wiring in the complex. This policy is from a broker I've done business with on all investment properties for 30 years. The broker's hands are tied. They cannot help with the claim. 

The insurance business is a state regulated industry. Sure, like any smart business the industry invests a lot of time, effort, and resources into influencing the make up of those regulatory boards to make them as insurance industry friendly as possible, but it's still not untrammeled capitalism, and there is a degree of political oversight on their business practices, regardless of how effective it might be. 

But their current business model is taking a beating across the board. This is not something isolated to USAA, although I find the anecdotal experiences listed on here interesting. My guess is that the industry stabilizes at some point, and we see rates go down and become more accessible, but maybe this is the new normal. 

I also don't understand the outrage about people charging higher prices for a good suddenly in greater demand. If all of your peers were getting paid 20-30% more than what they were previously but you chose to stand fast and make the same amount you'd always made, you'd look like a chump. You'd feel like one, too. But when it's something we purchase/consume versus our own services, suddenly there's some kind of moral authority attached. Maybe I don't have all the details and it's more like what has happened in the insulin market than I realize. But it's difficult for me to feel like there should be some kind of outrage attached because someone is charging a higher price for a product because they can. 

Anyway, I'd love for someone in the industry to explain further what's going on across the board. Or heck, I'd love for people outside the industry to opine, too. It's just that it's the industry perspective I'm looking for more than anything else. 

When my wife and I went to Charleston for High Water Fest, we went about an hour north to meet her Clemson sorority big sis and her brother, who happened to be one of my wife's best guy friends in college. I'd never met them. He's a commercial insurance broker based in Myrtle Beach. He specializes in condos/apartments and is seeing the exact same thing you're describing.

An article came out in Insurance Journal yesterday discussing the federal flood program and increasing rates for this year in response to last year's hurricanes (and cat events before that). https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2023/05/08/719832.htm

I have a FW-based client who owns a 13th-floor condo on the West coast of Florida. This was in an area that got clobbered by Ian. I think the building is still without full power, at least it was about a month ago. It's uninhabitable. He can't use it. He can't use it as a STR. He's stuck. He's also been hit with $35K in tenant assessments. He had a $65K claim to his unit. Insurance paid $25K of his assessments but he's out of pocket for the rest. And he couldn't sell that property if he wanted to right now.

 

On a side note, I'm happy to look at anybody's stuff if they're shopping around. I just want to set expectations, especially in what we call middle market. We don't have many solutions beyond Safeco and Travelers and those aren't less than what you can get from direct writers in many cases. If you're in the HNW world for a "stuff" standpoint and with a direct writer like Allstate, State Farm, Farmers, etc OR with a carrier not named Chubb, AIG, PURE, Cincinnati, Nationwide Private Client, Vault or Berkley One we can without a doubt improve coverage substantially and hopefully do it at a reasonable cost. Insurance is NOT a commodity in the HNW sector. (It isn't really in the middle market as not all policies are created equal.) You get what you pay for. A few bucks more now might save you a ton down the road in a serious claim situation.

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58 minutes ago, SL Xpress said:

I also don't understand the outrage about people charging higher prices for a good suddenly in greater demand. If all of your peers were getting paid 20-30% more than what they were previously but you chose to stand fast and make the same amount you'd always made, you'd look like a chump. You'd feel like one, too. But when it's something we purchase/consume versus our own services, suddenly there's some kind of moral authority attached. Maybe I don't have all the details and it's more like what has happened in the insulin market than I realize. But it's difficult for me to feel like there should be some kind of outrage attached because someone is charging a higher price for a product because they can. 

There's been interesting and recent research from the fed that shows no correlation between the recent rise in compensation (IE: cost in a generic economic model) and in inflationary rates, but rather the expectation and anticipation of increased costs in the future.

https://www.kansascityfed.org/Economic Review/documents/9329/EconomicReviewV108N1GloverMustredelRiovonEndeBecker.pdf

This has led to firms electing to increase prices in advance of their forecasted increase in costs (or supply constraint), and the ensuing spiral. If you've got time I highly recommend giving the above paper a read, it starts with modeling what pricing behavior looks like in a monopoly and then builds a view of what pricing behavior was and now is. 

 

Suffice to say - there's less and less real world evidence to show that wages have been driving true cost increases, and a growing mountain of evidence to show that the greater portion of inflationary pressure has been from increases in profit taking by firms.

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6 hours ago, SL Xpress said:

Some mortgage companies are waiving insurance coverage requirements on beach properties because of the impossibility of finding any, or how cost prohibitive it is. Which seems completely and utterly insane to me. I don't even understand how that works as a business model. 

That is batshit crazy on the lender's part.

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6 hours ago, C-Man said:

The industry as a whole is under siege. This is the hardest personal insurance market anybody currently in it has ever seen.

 

There's better than USAA but not everybody qualifies. The high net worth carriers offer much broader coverage with better claims practice than any other carrier in the market. Chubb's minimum home is $500K on the dwelling but they're usually not competitive price-wise until you get to $1M and up. The other HNW carriers start at $1M or even $2M in parts of Texas now.

 

Good luck with that. Allstate is hot garbage if you have a claim.

 

This is the crux of the problem. Cars cost much, much more to repair than they used to. They're safer, yes, but we've also added in the distraction of smart phones to the equation.

 

I've heard that. Every time you need something done, you call the service center and get somebody different every time. That isn't ideal IMO.

 

When my wife and I went to Charleston for High Water Fest, we went about an hour north to meet her Clemson sorority big sis and her brother, who happened to be one of my wife's best guy friends in college. I'd never met them. He's a commercial insurance broker based in Myrtle Beach. He specializes in condos/apartments and is seeing the exact same thing you're describing.

An article came out in Insurance Journal yesterday discussing the federal flood program and increasing rates for this year in response to last year's hurricanes (and cat events before that). https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2023/05/08/719832.htm

I have a FW-based client who owns a 13th-floor condo on the West coast of Florida. This was in an area that got clobbered by Ian. I think the building is still without full power, at least it was about a month ago. It's uninhabitable. He can't use it. He can't use it as a STR. He's stuck. He's also been hit with $35K in tenant assessments. He had a $65K claim to his unit. Insurance paid $25K of his assessments but he's out of pocket for the rest. And he couldn't sell that property if he wanted to right now.

 

On a side note, I'm happy to look at anybody's stuff if they're shopping around. I just want to set expectations, especially in what we call middle market. We don't have many solutions beyond Safeco and Travelers and those aren't less than what you can get from direct writers in many cases. If you're in the HNW world for a "stuff" standpoint and with a direct writer like Allstate, State Farm, Farmers, etc OR with a carrier not named Chubb, AIG, PURE, Cincinnati, Nationwide Private Client, Vault or Berkley One we can without a doubt improve coverage substantially and hopefully do it at a reasonable cost. Insurance is NOT a commodity in the HNW sector. (It isn't really in the middle market as not all policies are created equal.) You get what you pay for. A few bucks more now might save you a ton down the road in a serious claim situation.

Re Allstate, it's a sample size of one but I had a claim from them in 2020 that had no problems.  Granted, it was in an area that was declared a disaster area by the state due to a huge hail storm (pretty much every house within a half mile of me got a new roof) so there might have been pressure from the Minnesota state regulators but I got all new roof, gutters, skylights etc. with no questions asked. 

Since the roof was already pretty old and at the end of its useful life, my pocketbook was not upset with that turn of events.

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7 hours ago, C-Man said:

The industry as a whole is under siege. This is the hardest personal insurance market anybody currently in it has ever seen.

 

There's better than USAA but not everybody qualifies. The high net worth carriers offer much broader coverage with better claims practice than any other carrier in the market. Chubb's minimum home is $500K on the dwelling but they're usually not competitive price-wise until you get to $1M and up. The other HNW carriers start at $1M or even $2M in parts of Texas now.

 

Good luck with that. Allstate is hot garbage if you have a claim.

 

This is the crux of the problem. Cars cost much, much more to repair than they used to. They're safer, yes, but we've also added in the distraction of smart phones to the equation.

 

I've heard that. Every time you need something done, you call the service center and get somebody different every time. That isn't ideal IMO.

 

When my wife and I went to Charleston for High Water Fest, we went about an hour north to meet her Clemson sorority big sis and her brother, who happened to be one of my wife's best guy friends in college. I'd never met them. He's a commercial insurance broker based in Myrtle Beach. He specializes in condos/apartments and is seeing the exact same thing you're describing.

An article came out in Insurance Journal yesterday discussing the federal flood program and increasing rates for this year in response to last year's hurricanes (and cat events before that). https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2023/05/08/719832.htm

I have a FW-based client who owns a 13th-floor condo on the West coast of Florida. This was in an area that got clobbered by Ian. I think the building is still without full power, at least it was about a month ago. It's uninhabitable. He can't use it. He can't use it as a STR. He's stuck. He's also been hit with $35K in tenant assessments. He had a $65K claim to his unit. Insurance paid $25K of his assessments but he's out of pocket for the rest. And he couldn't sell that property if he wanted to right now.

 

On a side note, I'm happy to look at anybody's stuff if they're shopping around. I just want to set expectations, especially in what we call middle market. We don't have many solutions beyond Safeco and Travelers and those aren't less than what you can get from direct writers in many cases. If you're in the HNW world for a "stuff" standpoint and with a direct writer like Allstate, State Farm, Farmers, etc OR with a carrier not named Chubb, AIG, PURE, Cincinnati, Nationwide Private Client, Vault or Berkley One we can without a doubt improve coverage substantially and hopefully do it at a reasonable cost. Insurance is NOT a commodity in the HNW sector. (It isn't really in the middle market as not all policies are created equal.) You get what you pay for. A few bucks more now might save you a ton down the road in a serious claim situation.

Can you sell to this who live outside Tx?

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5 hours ago, The Ace of Aces said:

Can you sell to this who live outside Tx?

Yeah, I've got clients with stuff all over the US and abroad. Not all of the HNW carriers are in all 50 states but they're in most of the ones that are necessary.

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