This page will provide insight and information on handling auto accident injury claims with USAA insurance company.
About USAA
USAA (United Services Automobile Association) is national insurance company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. USAA has become one of the bigger auto insurance companies in the U.S. due to expansive growth over the last 20 years.
USAA is somewhat unique among insurance companies in that it focuses on offering insurance only military servicemembers and their extended families. USAA has deliberately used this association with the military to hold itself out as a more trustworthy, or “better” insurance company compared to others.
The reality, however, is that USAA is a for-profit insurance company that is no different that any other auto insurance company when it comes to paying out on claims or dealing with its insureds. Notwithstanding USAA’s association with the military and patriotism, the company can be just as unreasonable and financially driven as any other insurance company. Dealing with USAA on accident claims is no different than dealing with GEICO or any other insurance company.
Handling Accident Claims With USAA
USAA handles all of its accident claims processing out of its corporate headquarters in San Antonio, Texas. All of its claim adjusters are centrally located here and they seem to have certain adjusters assigned to handle claims in specific states or regions. So when you deal with a USAA adjuster, its likely someone in the San Antonio claims office that is part of the claims team for your state.
USAA uses a popular software program called Colossus to come up with valuations for claims and make settlement offers. The claims adjuster simply enters certain information about the claim into the software. This includes things like the plaintiff’s injuries and medical treatment records. The Colossus program then analyzes this data and comes up with a valuation for the claim. The Colossus software is notorious for consistently undervaluing claims and this is certainly true for USAA.
What to Expect From USAA on Accident Claims
Our lawyers have dealt with USAA on hundreds of auto accident and injury claims. This section will offer our inside scouting report on what you can reasonably expect from USAA when handling an accident claim.
Inconsistency
Although USAA uses Colossus to evaluate claims, the settlement offers can vary widely depending on the adjuster handling the case. In reality, there appears to be minimal consistency in the types of settlement offers provided. This indicates that USAA claims adjusters may bypass Colossus and rely on their personal judgment.
Our lawyers have noticed over the years that USAA claim adjusters seem to have much more individual authority and leeway for using their own subjective judgment when valuing claims. The net result of this is that the amount of the settlement offer you often get from USAA varies a lot depending on which adjuster you have.
Litigation Adverse
All insurance companies generally push the minor panic button and raise their settlement offers after a lawsuit is filed, but USAA tends to do so more dramatically than others. Right after a suit is filed, USAA often makes a significantly higher offer to settle the case quickly and avoid litigation and the costs of hiring defense counsel. This is one thing that USAA seems to do very consistently and very drastically.
Delayed Second Offers After Lawsuit
As soon as you stop negotiating a claim with USAA and file a lawsuit against their insured driver, they will almost immediately make an increased settlement offer. Their hope is that you will accept the higher offer right away and they can avoid the expense of defending the lawsuit. If you reject this initially offer, however, USAA has a notable tendency to dig in their heels and litigate the case. They typically will not make a follow-up settlement offer until just before the trial date.
Aggressive Defendant
If you reject USAA’s initial offers to settle your claim prior to litigation (or shortly after a lawsuit is filed) and opt to litigate your case, USAA often turns into a very stubborn and overly aggressive defendant. Our lawyers have seen USAA exhaustively defend cases to the end even when it seems very irrational.
USAA Verdicts and Settlements
Below are summaries of recent verdicts and reported settlements in auto accident injury cases in which USAA was the primary insurer.
$25,000 Settlement (Virginia 2024): The decedent was a pedestrian who was struck and killed by a driver who was insured by USAA. The estate brought a wrongful death lawsuit and USAA quickly agreed to settle for policy limits.
$50,000 Verdict (Wisconsin 2024): The defendant was exiting a parking lot when the plaintiff was driving on the adjacent road. The defendant failed to yield while coming out of the parking lot and caused a T-bone collision resulting in various unspecified injuries to the plaintiff.
$18,754 Verdict (Louisiana 2024): The plaintiff was driving her automobile in a restaurant parking lot when it was struck on its passenger side by another vehicle attempting to turn left in the parking lot. The plaintiff suffered injuries to her head, neck, shoulders, arms, back, legs and hips, due to the collision and sought damages under her UIM coverage with USAA. USAA denied the claim and took the case to trial.
$265,140 Verdict (Iowa 2023): The defendant failed to stop and a stop sign and struck on the plaintiff’s vehicle from the side. The plaintiff allegedly suffered injuries that included cervical dystonia, cervical bulges, and cervical radiculopathy. The plaintiff sought UIM benefits from her insurance company, USAA, for the accident.
$195,000 Verdict (Maryland 2023): The plaintiff alleged she sustained unspecified personal injuries that surpassed the policy limits of the former defendant’s insurance coverage. She then filed a claim against her own insurer, USAA, seeking underinsured motorist coverage for her additional damages. USAA contested the extent of her injuries and proceeded to trial, where they ultimately faced a significant defeat.
$400,000 Settlement (New Jersey 2023): Plaintiff, a minor, was a passenger in a vehicle traveling west on the interstate, when an uninsured motorist, who was driving an eastbound vehicle on the interstate, lost control, crossed the center median, re-entered the opposite roadway, and struck the vehicle containing the plaintiff. The plaintiff reportedly suffered lacerations to his bowel and underwent an exploratory laparotomy, repair of the duodenum, and segmental resection of the transverse colon, resulting in scarring.
$175,000 Settlement (South Carolina 2023): Plaintiff P.H., a six-year-old boy, said he was riding his bicycle outside the lane of travel by the fog line when he was struck by a pickup truck operated by defendant. The plaintiff reportedly suffered multisystem organ trauma, acute intracranial hemorrhage, right pulmonary contusion, an open fibula fracture, a closed femur fracture, and lacerations to his face, liver, and kidney. Both his parents had insurance policies with USAA that included UIM coverage and he sought damages under those policies.
Contact Us About USAA Auto Accident Claims
If you have an auto accident claim involving USAA, call our attorneys today for a free consultation. Call us at 800-553-8082 or contact us online.