Customer Review - USAA

What, exactly, is the "Claims Process?"

I'm going through the process of settling a claim, right now. Accident happened on a Thursday. I reported it on Friday. I didn't get to talk to a claims adjuster until Monday afternoon, and it was ME that initiated the phone call.

I was told that a specific person was assigned to my claim. Tried to call him at the extension they provided. No answer. I ended up pressing "0" and getting handed off to the first available adjuster, instead. I imagine that, in a perfect world where everyone is equally experienced/intelligent/qualified, this would be a great way of making sure that customers were getting responses quickly and accurately. Unfortunately, I wound up having to call them three times in the course of the day, and got three different reps. Never once did I get to talk to the actual person that was assigned to my claim. Not great, as far as I'm concerned.

So, I took my truck to one of their recommended repair facilities. The mechanic looked it over. I never actually saw him look under the vehicle for damage. He just, glanced over the exterior and took some notes. I asked him for a price quote. He wouldn't give it. Reason stated: He would have to talk to the adjuster before he knew what the price would be. Odd?! He knew what would have to be replaced. He has books that will tell him how many hours he is allowed to charge for the work, (one from the state and another published by USAA that he agreed to honor in order to obtain their recommendation). He should be able to look up the parts required and price them... Why would he need to talk to an adjuster before he can give a quote?

The mechanic told me that he would have to obtain permission from USAA to charge them for the parts he had to buy. I asked him to explain. Parts are parts, right? He explained that it's easy to find prices for after-market or OEM components. However, USAA he claimed that USAA requires them to use the cheapest parts that can be found. This includes salvage parts from a JUNK YARD... nice. He specifically cited that things like taillights can cost $135 brand new, but if they can be obtained for $35 from a junk lot, USAA would find out about it and CHARGE HIM the difference in price if he DIDN'T use the junk part.

Apparently, USAA has the resources to identify exactly what they're willing to pay for every part on every model of car that they insure in central New Jersey. They also have the book that tells the repair guys how many hours of labor they're allowed to charge, and how much they're going to get per hour. With this in mind, I called the adjuster back to ask for an estimate. The adjuster told me that he couldn't disclose the information until he had the estimate in hand. SO WHICH IS IT? DOES THE MECHANIC GIVE THE ESTIMATE, OR THE ADJUSTER? Or maybe they come to some kind of agreement. If that's the case, WHERE DO I COME IN?!

Anyway, this story is far from over. I'm sure that if I was the kind of guy that just "allowed" things to happen without digging below the surface, I would be perfectly happy with the convenience of their claim service. Unfortunately, I like to know what kind of service I'm really getting. The jury is, most definitely, still out on this one.