I'm not sure if this is the appropriate section to post this in, but I am desperate at this point. My wife recently totaled our WELL taken care of 2014 LX570, and USAA is basically treating it like it sat at the bottom of the ocean for its entire life. I have been using Claude to battle the USAA claims department for almost 2 months now while balancing work, an MBA, a wife, two babies, and a dog. I feel like I am talking to people that live on another planet, or are being knowingly deceitful. I am at the point now where I need to find an independent appraiser in the Northern VA / DMV area to try and tip the scales in my favor. Does anyone have any recommendations that could help me?
Wrecked LX570
- Thread starter novamarc
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how many comps have you provided? was it fully insured? was the wreck your fault? miles? was it heavily modded? what are you looking for? more money? a buyback? them to fix it? is it fixable?
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- #3
I have provided at least 10 comps, 2 of which were recent sales from Bring a Trailer that rated WELL above USAAs cash offer settlement, and USAA tried to tell me that a sale of a vehicle is not indicative of a vehicles value - I am not sure if they know what an economy or a market is at this point. The vehicle was fully insured, wife ran off the road taking an exit-ramp turn too fast hitting a weirdly flimsy light pole (huge eye roll, don't ask) 170k miles, southern vehicle, completely factory, taken care of by local Lexus dealers, and spotless. Grey over parchment interior, it was a prime example of a 2014. I'm really just looking for more money at this point as the USAA stated policy is to give me a cash offer for what the vehicle was worth the moment before the crash, and based on every applicable listing on auto trader and bring a trailer, USAA is just giving me the finger regardless of comps provided and plain logic on the situation.
TRDdrew
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fighting with insurance companies is literally what I do day in and day out, its hard talking to someone that doesn't know the difference between a headlight and a tail light. So I get your frustration...
you can try Ryckman appraisals or nationalvehicleapprasisal.com these 3rd parties will do their best to get you the most possible value for your truck but keep in mind, the more money you get the more they get out of your settlement, so it may just wash out.
On my last TL I had to fight with the insurance for over 3 months
Realistically, you probably need a lawyer. Denying claims means most people will fold and more profit for the company. I recently read an article about how that's slowly becoming the new internal policy across the board... It did mention once people get a lawyer they usually change tactics and values go way up
JakeisbadatThis
SILVER Star
I know this isn't going to help with this specific situation, but really, drop usaa. I had them for insurance for over a decade and when a teen driver hit my parked truck they wrote it up as my fault like 3 times. I wasn't even in the vehicle. They seemed to purposely make my life hell in hopes id drop it. And when i dropped them and went to stare farm, SF told me usaa had written it up as my wife was driving my truck and hit them. Completely scummy business and i tell everyone to drop them. Seriously, screw them.
I've seen modified vehicle lawyers that fight insurance on your behalf. Probably worth it
I've seen modified vehicle lawyers that fight insurance on your behalf. Probably worth it
TRDdrew
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That sucks about your experience with USAA but I will say after being in the collision repair industry for over 20 years, USAA is by far one of if not the best insurance companies to work with. They generally will do what's absolutely best for the vehicle within the policy that the customer agreed to. My two least favorites are State Farm and Geico, they will do everything in their power to screw their customers at every step IMO. With that said every insurance company have idiots that work for them and make mistakes. To each there own but I will say short of a "stated value" policy your best chance at a highest possible pay out is with USAA
I've been casually shopping for a 200, and from my perspective, the values on the 570s are all over the place. The market for them appears to be decoupled from the Toyotas. So I can understand why you're having a hard time with the insurer.
Without getting into specifics, is your position and their position off by thousands or tens of thousands?
My buddy used dvcheckdotcom last year when his brand near Pilot got side-swiped. I know he was pleased with the outcome. That was a diminished value claim, but should be a similar market-based approach.
Without getting into specifics, is your position and their position off by thousands or tens of thousands?
My buddy used dvcheckdotcom last year when his brand near Pilot got side-swiped. I know he was pleased with the outcome. That was a diminished value claim, but should be a similar market-based approach.
- Thread starter
- #11
Yeah, I'm coming up on 2 months now, which has been about half of my paternity leave spent pulling my hair out trying not to get completely bent over by USAA. I haven't been this frustrated by anything in life in a very long time. This forum has been extremely supportive and helpful though, very grateful for you all chiming in.
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- #12
It's definitely feeling like getting a lawyer is the only thing that's going to move the needle any further at this point.
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- #13
Believe me, I'm right there with you. I had already moved all my banking from them years ago, I'm just not sure where to go for better service these days. It seems like every insurance provider is trash with a different logo.
- Thread starter
- #14
That tracks with everything I've found on AutoTrader and BaT, unfortunately or fortunately, I'm not sure which one given the predicament I'm in. We had a really nice damage-free 570, but with 170k on the clock. I've found a handful of 14' 570s that match my vehicle exactly with the exception of mileage, and even the higher mileage variant was at least $5k above USAA's offer (and I think that 570 even had disclosed damage on the CARFAX). USAA honestly makes me think I'm taking crazy pills sometimes, like are you guys really this slimy? Very taxing on the mind to say the least.
imperium
SILVER Star
Would providing personal property assessment to USAA help? VA uses NADA values for personal property tax assessments and they'll assess everything at an "excellent" condition, regardless if your car was sitting under a tree for 15 years or just off the showroom floor. Might work out in your favor.
I'll add my 2 cents from my time with USAA. I had one claim with them and they paid it out from the time it took me to walk from the auto body office to the car. I've since switched to SafeCo (which I think is now Liberty Mutual) but have been looking for a "stated value" policy for this exact reason. I even went to an insurance broker from AAA to try and help me but couldn't find anything. Might have to give it another look.
I'll add my 2 cents from my time with USAA. I had one claim with them and they paid it out from the time it took me to walk from the auto body office to the car. I've since switched to SafeCo (which I think is now Liberty Mutual) but have been looking for a "stated value" policy for this exact reason. I even went to an insurance broker from AAA to try and help me but couldn't find anything. Might have to give it another look.
as you are likely aware, USAA and VA use 75% as the determiner for "totaled". doesn't take much to get there.
what is annoying is USAA (and likely all the ins co's) use a narrow of sales for their comps. auction sites are ignored. which i understand for most daily driver type vehicles but 200's really hold their value better than anything else I've seen.
wish i had the magic words to share that would get them to bump up the value. my only words of wisdom is really scrutinize the comps they come back with.
wife totaled her 2017 X5 a couple years back. dragged a concrete parking bollard from the passenger side door all the way to the rear bumper....at 5mph. anyways, USAA wasn't difficult to deal with but did come back three comps that were ~10k lower than they should have been for her low mileage loaded model. turns out they weren't calculating some of the options ours had, like the rare 3rd row seat option. a nationwide search by me showed ~3 similarly configured vehicles. after a phone call to them, they brought up the value. still feel it was a couple k low, but there was nothing left to squeeze. this was my 1st "total" so i have no idea how this would have gone w/ the other main ins co's. i feel like they only care about vehicles less than 3 years old still on dealer lots.
what is annoying is USAA (and likely all the ins co's) use a narrow of sales for their comps. auction sites are ignored. which i understand for most daily driver type vehicles but 200's really hold their value better than anything else I've seen.
wish i had the magic words to share that would get them to bump up the value. my only words of wisdom is really scrutinize the comps they come back with.
wife totaled her 2017 X5 a couple years back. dragged a concrete parking bollard from the passenger side door all the way to the rear bumper....at 5mph. anyways, USAA wasn't difficult to deal with but did come back three comps that were ~10k lower than they should have been for her low mileage loaded model. turns out they weren't calculating some of the options ours had, like the rare 3rd row seat option. a nationwide search by me showed ~3 similarly configured vehicles. after a phone call to them, they brought up the value. still feel it was a couple k low, but there was nothing left to squeeze. this was my 1st "total" so i have no idea how this would have gone w/ the other main ins co's. i feel like they only care about vehicles less than 3 years old still on dealer lots.