I am reaching either near the end or the beginning for my insurance claim. Where do I start? The beginning I guess.
Date of Accident: 11/12/2023
Location: Chattanooga, TN
Insurance Provider: USAA
Extent of Damage: Undriveable at the Scene (4 Cars Involved)
Claim Date: 11/12/2023
Pictures of the accident exist elsewhere on the forum. See this thread: https://lucidowners.com/threads/actual-cash-value-quotes.7127/
General Notes: My adjuster always sent my calls to voicemail. Sometimes I would hear back after 1 day. Sometimes I would hear back almost 3 days later. Emails were worse. Most of the time I had to call twice to get an answer.
11/12/2023, Day of the Accident: The car was towed without any hassle on my end to a location nearby. We grabbed a ride with one of the folks involved to a local airport to get a rental because we had a non-movable appointment on 11/13/2023. Rental car scheduled the next day for a location on the way back (actually near Chattanooga, TN).
11/14-15/2023, Return from Trip: Enterprise folks were nice. Kia Soul was the only option, so we kept the one we rented on our dime, swapped into insurance policy, and continued on our way.
11/17/2023, Planned Tow to SCA Site: Agreed on date. Tow got delayed repeatedly. Eventual tow was sometime the next week.
11/26/2023, Planned Inspection Completion: Never occurred. The inspection was delayed to the next week.
11/30/2023, SCA Inspection Completed: USAA paid SCA to do the inspection. This was supposed to be THE inspection, but I found out after calling SCA and USAA that it was not. The SCA inspection details had to be sent off to an internal team at USAA due to being an electric car and a specialty car. More delays... Wasted time.
12/07/2023, Crash Data from Lucid: Lucid was fairly prompt with the request (under 1 week). The data put us at fault going 11 mph. No information on the car that absolutely rammed us from behind. USAA was more than happy to put us at fault with no disclosure on responsibility percentage.
Additional Context: At this point, I am calling every other day for updates. I have expressed holding a new Lucid on order with incentives expiring 12/31/2023 with a need to execute quickly. The possibility of totaling the car if repairs were estimated to take 6+ months had been made. Rental car set to expire after 50 days. The car does not have an estimate of damages, timeline for repairs, etc.
12/27/2023, Car Declared Totaled: The completion of the initial estimates showed 40k+ in damages. However, USAA declared the car totaled. I moved forward immediately to purchase a new car to get a 2nd vehicle back in the driveway and swinging the loan in the meantime. A literal 2 minutes from signing the Purchase Agreement USAA calls to tell me the car is not totaled, oh well if I had signed the Purchase Agreement, to expect no wiggle room on totaling the car if repairs take 6-9+ months, and so out of luck for wasting 50 days of the rental car period. A 2 minute difference before bringing sheer financial chaos because of USAA with little to no apology. The cherry on top: USAA admitted the time wasted for an estimate was useless because no one was qualified to provide an accurate quote of the damages and labor, so we waited for nearly 50 days for nothing.
12/27/2023, Contacted Certified Body Shop: I sent over the initial estimates with photos. Shop was quick and asked to have the car brought in immediately after photo review.
01/04/2023, Planned Tow to Certified Body Shop: This was after USAA made no progress of selecting a certified body shop or offering options. An off the wall claim of Lucid having a policy of only being allowed to tow Lucid vehicles lest voiding warranties, etc., etc., etc. Delays... More delays... I called to see what was going on since the car had not moved on the app. SCA could not tow the car due to crossing state borders.
01/10/2023, Car Arrives at Certified Body Shop: After several false starts, the car finally gets towed to the shop. The promised 1 week turnaround was gone. Initial questions about the accuracy of the initial quote resulted in outright laughter and mockery of USAA's ability to be contacted and provide accurate estimates by the shop. I was not amused, and the behavior seems to extend beyond specialty cars.
01/25/2023, Supplemental Quote: 83k+ in damages. 99 days inputted for the time to repair. Questions to the shop about battery, frame, and exposed electronics have received no response, but they are quick and will likely get back to me on Monday. My suspicion is 99 days was the max they could input. My gut feeling is easily 6+ months.
01/25/2023, Call to USAA: I received the typical voicemail. Maybe I will hear something back Monday from USAA, but I suspect I will be told to take a hike on getting the car totaled. If the repair route occurs, my time of ownership and driving (<12 months) will almost equal my time of waiting on USAA and repairs (2 months for accurate repair estimates, 6-9+ months of repairs?, 8-11 months total).
Conclusion: We will see. Right now I would drop USAA in a heartbeat if it weren't for the accident forgiveness. Those details have not been sorted out to date. Insurance premium increase? Who knows. Incompetence and dodging of any and all responsibility as an insurance provider for timely updates have been the hallmarks of my experience. Sheer debauchery of 50+ days for an accurate estimate when a certified shop should have been the first place the car was sent. The near financial chaos USAA nearly sent my household under due to falsely claiming the car was totaled is unforgiveable. I suspect the true clash will begin Monday if they decide the repair route to leave my household down to 1 car for an outrageous amount of time.
I hope fellow USAA insured owners never have to go through this process.
Date of Accident: 11/12/2023
Location: Chattanooga, TN
Insurance Provider: USAA
Extent of Damage: Undriveable at the Scene (4 Cars Involved)
Claim Date: 11/12/2023
Pictures of the accident exist elsewhere on the forum. See this thread: https://lucidowners.com/threads/actual-cash-value-quotes.7127/
General Notes: My adjuster always sent my calls to voicemail. Sometimes I would hear back after 1 day. Sometimes I would hear back almost 3 days later. Emails were worse. Most of the time I had to call twice to get an answer.
11/12/2023, Day of the Accident: The car was towed without any hassle on my end to a location nearby. We grabbed a ride with one of the folks involved to a local airport to get a rental because we had a non-movable appointment on 11/13/2023. Rental car scheduled the next day for a location on the way back (actually near Chattanooga, TN).
11/14-15/2023, Return from Trip: Enterprise folks were nice. Kia Soul was the only option, so we kept the one we rented on our dime, swapped into insurance policy, and continued on our way.
11/17/2023, Planned Tow to SCA Site: Agreed on date. Tow got delayed repeatedly. Eventual tow was sometime the next week.
11/26/2023, Planned Inspection Completion: Never occurred. The inspection was delayed to the next week.
11/30/2023, SCA Inspection Completed: USAA paid SCA to do the inspection. This was supposed to be THE inspection, but I found out after calling SCA and USAA that it was not. The SCA inspection details had to be sent off to an internal team at USAA due to being an electric car and a specialty car. More delays... Wasted time.
12/07/2023, Crash Data from Lucid: Lucid was fairly prompt with the request (under 1 week). The data put us at fault going 11 mph. No information on the car that absolutely rammed us from behind. USAA was more than happy to put us at fault with no disclosure on responsibility percentage.
Additional Context: At this point, I am calling every other day for updates. I have expressed holding a new Lucid on order with incentives expiring 12/31/2023 with a need to execute quickly. The possibility of totaling the car if repairs were estimated to take 6+ months had been made. Rental car set to expire after 50 days. The car does not have an estimate of damages, timeline for repairs, etc.
12/27/2023, Car Declared Totaled: The completion of the initial estimates showed 40k+ in damages. However, USAA declared the car totaled. I moved forward immediately to purchase a new car to get a 2nd vehicle back in the driveway and swinging the loan in the meantime. A literal 2 minutes from signing the Purchase Agreement USAA calls to tell me the car is not totaled, oh well if I had signed the Purchase Agreement, to expect no wiggle room on totaling the car if repairs take 6-9+ months, and so out of luck for wasting 50 days of the rental car period. A 2 minute difference before bringing sheer financial chaos because of USAA with little to no apology. The cherry on top: USAA admitted the time wasted for an estimate was useless because no one was qualified to provide an accurate quote of the damages and labor, so we waited for nearly 50 days for nothing.
12/27/2023, Contacted Certified Body Shop: I sent over the initial estimates with photos. Shop was quick and asked to have the car brought in immediately after photo review.
01/04/2023, Planned Tow to Certified Body Shop: This was after USAA made no progress of selecting a certified body shop or offering options. An off the wall claim of Lucid having a policy of only being allowed to tow Lucid vehicles lest voiding warranties, etc., etc., etc. Delays... More delays... I called to see what was going on since the car had not moved on the app. SCA could not tow the car due to crossing state borders.
01/10/2023, Car Arrives at Certified Body Shop: After several false starts, the car finally gets towed to the shop. The promised 1 week turnaround was gone. Initial questions about the accuracy of the initial quote resulted in outright laughter and mockery of USAA's ability to be contacted and provide accurate estimates by the shop. I was not amused, and the behavior seems to extend beyond specialty cars.
01/25/2023, Supplemental Quote: 83k+ in damages. 99 days inputted for the time to repair. Questions to the shop about battery, frame, and exposed electronics have received no response, but they are quick and will likely get back to me on Monday. My suspicion is 99 days was the max they could input. My gut feeling is easily 6+ months.
01/25/2023, Call to USAA: I received the typical voicemail. Maybe I will hear something back Monday from USAA, but I suspect I will be told to take a hike on getting the car totaled. If the repair route occurs, my time of ownership and driving (<12 months) will almost equal my time of waiting on USAA and repairs (2 months for accurate repair estimates, 6-9+ months of repairs?, 8-11 months total).
Conclusion: We will see. Right now I would drop USAA in a heartbeat if it weren't for the accident forgiveness. Those details have not been sorted out to date. Insurance premium increase? Who knows. Incompetence and dodging of any and all responsibility as an insurance provider for timely updates have been the hallmarks of my experience. Sheer debauchery of 50+ days for an accurate estimate when a certified shop should have been the first place the car was sent. The near financial chaos USAA nearly sent my household under due to falsely claiming the car was totaled is unforgiveable. I suspect the true clash will begin Monday if they decide the repair route to leave my household down to 1 car for an outrageous amount of time.
I hope fellow USAA insured owners never have to go through this process.
