I know it is a newbie question, but I don't know how to get the USAA discount, I have never been in the army, nor any relative I know, any help here?
If it is inconvenient to post it, would you mind pm me?

Thanks!

 

Join and serve. Benefits are earned.

 

So if you, spouse, parent, or inlaws are not currently in service, honorably discharged from service, or existing full eligible USAA member then I believe you cannot become full eligible USAA member. With the full eligibility status you can get the extra incentive money off. If a parent or inlaw was honorably discharged, etc then there is a path but it still isn't that easy.

You can still get USAA car buying service prenegotiated pricing. You can even get that pricing via American Express as well. It sounded like people were getting better than that prenegotiated pricing.

There are some other incentives that are around at times. There appears to maybe still be conquest cash incentive if you currently own bmx, audi, lexus (not sure which other makes).

 

The only USAA service reserved for military members and relatives is Insurance (home, Auto, etc.)

You don’t have to be affiliated with the military in any way to get any other type of USAA account.
Just apply for any USAA service like you would at any other bank. (online of course)

 

I dont know what you mean by "full eligibility status" but everything is available except Auto and Home Insurance.

 

Try signing up at their web site. I served in the army but wasn't asked about service. Maybe they verify by social which is required. The car buying program is spelled out there.

 

The extra cash incentive money off MB is only available to a person if USAA considers you as full member/eligible member I was told by USAA. So for me a non service person to be eligible with an in-law that was honorably discharged the path would be.... my in-law needed to join USAA and give service dates, branch of service and rank when the person left the service along with other personal info (ssn, dob, etc), my in-law then would be given a waiver to actually get lesser insurance policy to get eligibility status and then be able to make his children become eligible to become the full USAA members (i.e. have access to home, auto, etc insurance). Then to get the extra cash incentive said child would need to actually open up home or auto insurance policy with USAA. But the kicker for me was USAA could not give me an insurance quote until my in-law became a full USAA member. Then once my spouse was eligible to become a full USAA member and eligible to get their home/auto insurance, then I could get a quote. I was on the phone for a very long time 2 times. If I was misled please let me know.

And to the other response, I don't know if they fully check or if you could lie or say you are the child of someone who is a full USAA member. I don't know how thorough the checks are. I would never try. I investigated the path I do have to the money.

So everything is not available except home and auto insurance. That mercedes cash incentive is another example of something tied to that home/auto/fully eligible USAA member bucket.

I'm not complaining, I think people that are or have served in the military deserve perks. And I did acknowledge anyone can get access to the car buying service negotiated pricing via USAA or even AMEX. Just not that additional cash incentive.

But to those of you that then must have USAA insurance, do you like it? I would have to change some aspect of my insurance and I'm hesitating because I don't know what USAA is like to deal with if I ever had a claim.

 

I switched from Allstate to USAA and saved almost $700/yr for the same coverage (plus some perks Allstate couldn't touch). User reviews were overwhelmingly positive. FWIW I insure two newer cars on full coverage (06 Jetta, 08 GL) and three pre '90 on liability only. After switching I had to get over the feeling that Allstate had jacked me all those
years.
Definately a happy prior service USAA member!

 

We were really happy with USAA until we needed homeowners insurance on short notice (starting a remodel and existing insurance broker was unresponsive). USAA refused to write the policy due to the county we lived in ("we have too many insured properties there already") even though we had been long-time auto policy holders with them. I told them they'd lose the auto policies, too, and they didn't care.

We ended up with cheaper auto insurance with better service from Allied.

But I appreciate the $3K USAA saved me on the GL.

- Mark

 

I saved money with USAA back in the early 2000 when they had good insurance rates. I never had to file a claim with them so I can’t rate them on service in that regard. As of 2008 they had horrible Auto and Home insurance rates so I had to dump them. I switched to Progressive who I was with before I went to USAA.

Like I said before they had unbeatable rates early last decade but now for some reason they can’t compete with Progressive for 2 cars, bike and Home insurance.

 

I have switched from USAA to Progressive and Geico and back, and the rates may be slightly higher with USAA, but service is stellar. The package deal you get with USAA us in fact, super stellar. I have not seen any regular available to most joes financial institution that can touch them on quality of product as a whole. More power to you if you want to join USAA solely for the new car incentives, but realize you can probably do just as good or better by negotiating for yourself.

 

The other piece is the flexibility in auto insurance that USAA offers - say you're military with Kansas plates living in California. USAA will print you a CA policy, no questions asked whereas any other company I delay with would throw bureaucracy at me and demand I register my car in CA (F to the NO!) not understanding what being on active duty entails you to.