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By 'military member' you mean Commissioned Offices only, until recently.
They certainly do not have a history of helping the US military.
They opened membership to enlisted members in 1996 which is almost 20 years ago. Is 20 years ago "recently" in your book?
How have they not helped the US Military? They are a great company and have great customer service. They have great products for military members. Unfortunately their current insurance prices keep them from being competitive these days but I still use them for many financial products.
Jan. 1: First enlisted personnel gain eligibility and become USAA members.
USAA commissions own ethics study. The USAA Ethics Office is created to formalize USAA's long-standing commitment to ethical business conduct. In the 1990s USAA becomes part of a grassroots effort in American industry to establish ethics offices.
USAA is named to Working Mother magazine's "100 Best Companies for Working Mothers."
BusinessWeek magazine names USAA its No. 1 Customer Service Champ again.
USAA sponsors first prime-time TV special — America United in Support of our Troops.
USAA introduces online Car Buying Service.
Eligibility requirements are expanded to include:
Military retirees, regardless of when they retired.
Military personnel who received an Honorable discharge on or after Jan. 1, 1996.
After they join, spouses and children of the above may also be eligible for membership.
My husband is a VietNam era vet (discharged in the 1970s) and I just got quotes for home and auto. We currently have The Hartford through AARP. We have a daughter in college in Florida who has one of our cars with her but she maintains her legal residence at our home (western state).
Assuming ALL the cars were in our home state, the USAA quote was almost double our Hartford rate. The homeowners was over $850 and our current with Hartford is just less than $650.
And, since our daughter has a car with her out of state they told me we would have to insure that vehicle with Florida rates which are much higher than our home state...with a 24 year old driver...are you kidding me! I specifically called The Hartford when she planned her move a few years ago and they emphatically told us that as long as her drivers license and the vehicle are registered at home we should definitely keep the car on the policy at home, and they encouraged us to do so.
I wondered if we took her off our policy and she got her own USAA and we had our own USAA...um nope. The cost just for her to be insured on a 10 year old Saturn (even reducing the coverage and increasing the deductible) was as much as we pay for the entire family (3 drivers, 4 vehicles!) with AARP, before our quote (just for the two of us) was ever considered. She has an excellent credit rating and clean driving record and we do too. I specifically asked if all the quotes included the same discounts we have now with Hartford (good student, multi-vehicle, combo home and auto, air bags, anti-lock brakes) and they included all of that in their quotes.
All of these quotes were apples to apples... same coverage amounts, same deductibles, same drivers assigned to the same vehicles. I'm not really sure why everyone raves about USAA. We have very few claims and have had excellent service with State Farm (had it from the time I started driving for the next 25 years) and also great service from The Hartford for the last 12 years. My husband (car guy) even had a restored Mustang totalled by a drunk driver and they worked with him to a fair conclusion.
I'm also relatively certain the USAA rep told me they do not offer homeowners insurance in Florida during the discussion, but you might check on that. I think it came up as part of the discussion for our daughter to get renter's insurance in FL.
You have to be 50 or older to get the AARP through The Hartford. But it you are, it's worth getting a quote. I pay a small AARP membership fee ($40?/year) which also affords us discounts on hotels, rental cars, and lots of other stuff.
When you read all the experiences people have with so many different Insurance companies. It makes you wonder why the rates vary so much from person to person. When Allstate raised my rates the $100 this renewal for no reason at all. I decided it was enough. I would be done with them. I got quotes from virtually everyone, and USAA gave me the cheapest rates for the same coverage with Allstate. Some of the quotes from various companies were as much as $2000 a year. I really had no choice but go with USAA.
I have no idea what my future experience will be with USAA, but I hope they live up to their many good reviews.
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