QuestionWe have been with USAA auto insurance for almost 7 years now.
We have 2 cars 1989 Mazda and a 1998 Honda. The Honda is our main vehicle and is the first car on the policy. Also being the newer car, we have always made sure to poses comprehensive insurance for the Honda. And for the past 7 years we have paid the extra amount. Well that is what we though. Two days ago I was involved in a minor accident, My fault. No big deal, I thought. The 2 insurance companies will work it out. Anyway my car was much worse than theirs. My only concern was the 500 dollar deductible I would have to fork over for my Honda. Well the other day when we went to report to our insurance co.. they told us that no the Honda has no comprehensive coverage. It's the old beat up Mazda that has the extra coverage.
Were not to good at keeping records. The only records we have are for the last 2 years from USAA. And yes they both do state that it is the older car, the Mazda. That has the comprehensive coverage.
Our fault again, for not going over the policy to double check we just assumed that it was the newer car that had the extra coverage. Well they said the would look in to it and get back to us next week.
Did the policy just at one point, just magically change, in their system? I highly doubt that. I remember we originally had the extra coverage on both cars when we first enrolled with USAA. Than six months or so, into the coverage we dropped the comprehensive on our oldest vehicle. This is where they made the made the mistake. And we made the mistake of not checking the policy closer.
I'm so embarrassed that I let this happen. It should be obvious that out of the 2 cars. That the little, 2 door beat up old 89 Mazda. Would not be the car to carry comprehensive, that by itself, is probably worth not much more than the $500 deductible. Why would we drop coverage on the newer, larger 4 door Honda.
Is their any thing we can do? I'm sure the answer is a big NO. That we had almost 5 years to catch this. It's our fault even if they original made the mistake.
AnswerHi John,
You keep referring to comprehensive coverage. I hope you are using that as a generic term. There are actually 2 different coverages that would protect your vehicle. The first is 'Collision coverage". This is the coverage that would pay to repair your car in the event of a collision. The second is "Comprehensive coverage" This is to pay for theft, fire, vandalism, deer hit, hail, etc.. If you only had "Comprehensive coverage" on the honda it would not have paid for damage from a collision anyway.
Assuming you were using the term comprehensive generically, you will have to let the company check the records back to the time you changed the policy. Considering how much time has passed since the change it will be up to the company if they want to correct the coverage change retroactive back to the original change date. It is considered to be your responsibility to check your policy each time it is sent to you so you can make any corrections necessary. I'm sorry your in this situation, but there is nothing I can suggest unless you have a copy of a change request form that would prove the error.
I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh
