USAA Banking and Insurance Review

We had a home claim for our front porch roof & back patio roof in January 2008.  The USAA rep came right out, was very polite & knowledgable, cut us a check and then left us high & dry to find our own repair person/company.   I made several calls back to our rep and got no response.  The 2 repair people she did refer to us never returned our calls either.  We had to hire a small repair company on our own to fix the problems.   

After a long dry spell and then alot of rain, the front porch roof started leaking again.  The back patio roof was still fine...at least for now.

Basically my main gripe with USAA is, we were forced to find the repair company/persons on our own, and they were sub-standard.  I didn't file another claim this time - we've already done the repairs ourselves.

Another USAA issue: 

Driving by there from time to time ~ it's a MASSIVE complex ~  I knew they must be doing something alternative/green as far as their energy consumption.  When I called the USAA rep, I asked, as an aside, BTW, how is the complex powered, do you use alternative energy, etc?  The rep said they have at least some wind power.   Since we are seriously considering this for our home, I asked if/how much they could insure us for.  The rep said "not until the majority of U.S. insureds (homeowners) get solar/wind power" can they insure us.   Perhaps this is the same with all insurers though. 

I talked to them again yesterday (9/26), different rep this time, and she said they DO insure for alternative energy....so I'm getting a bit of conflicting info.  We can have solar panels installed on the roof or the ones that are detached, which we would place in our back yard.   Of course, when we do, we'll get a licensed contractor that's up to code.

Yet another issue: 

I called them to ask What the ?? is up with our auto insurance going up $27 since my last statement on 9/5?  We haven't had any claims in years (and that was for a break-in involving the Ford, back in 2005)  We've had zero tickets.  They told me there was a rate increase in April across the board in Texas, but I was never notified until I opened the statement.  Even then, there was no explanation so I had to call 9/26.   

I rate them "average" for now, based on the rep not calling us back (nor her referrals) for our roof claim, the conflicting alternative energy questions and our auto insurance going up for no explained reason, until I called and found out why.

I'm pretty sure no one beats USAA's prices for their coverage.  So, that's the main reason we stay with them. We've been researching some more and getting quotes from other companies just to be sure.  I've been with USAA personally for 20+ years.  I might recommend them to a friend, as long as they knew of our issues and if they are eligible.