USAA Auto Insurance Accident Claims (and Payouts)

I’m going to tell you how to increase your chances at getting a big and fast settlement with USAA.

We’ll look at how USAA handles auto insurance claims.

Here, I’ll discuss USAA settlements and verdicts.  We’ll talk about car accident claims, and the average dog bite settlement amount with USAA.

That’s not it.

We’ll talk about other USAA injury claims as well.

USAA is above average as compared to other insurance companies. 

What is the Average Settlement with USAA in a Personal Injury Case?

In 2021 and through January 2022, my average personal injury settlement with USAA was $128,333.  

(When calculating my average settlement with USAA, I used the total settlement in cases where USAA was a bodily injury liability (BIL) auto insurer, or underinsured motorist insurer, and there was additional BIL insurance that I got from another insurer.)  

For example, in one case, USAA settled with us for $10,000, but another insurer paid an additional $25,000.  However, for my average settlement amount, I used $35,000 as the settlement figure, even though USAA only paid $10,000.

In 2021 through January 2022, one third of my personal injury settlements with USAA were for $300,000. The rest were for under $300,000.

Take a look:

My educated guess is that the average USAA settlement is under $15,000. This is because most cases don’t result in serious injuries.

I tend to take seriously injured cases.

USAA tends to pay better than other car insurance companies.  For example, USAA has a reputation for paying better than Progressive (Uber’s insurer in Florida), State Farm and GEICO and Allstate.  I’m referring to the personal injury part of a claim.

But USAA is still an insurance company. And its goal is to pay you as little as possible. Remember that.

If you keep up with injury cases, you’ll see that there were many times that USAA used an argument that the jury or judge ruled was wrong.

Can USAA pay out more than the coverage limit?

It depends on the state where the accident happened. For example, Florida has bad faith laws. Bad faith laws put pressure on USAA to pay the policy limits if the case is worth the limits or more.

If USAA fails to pay the coverage limit and protect its insured driver/owner, USAA may be on the hook for the entire judgement (after a verdict).

In Florida, bad faith laws also apply to uninsured motorist claims with USAA.

However, to have a valid bad faith uninsured motorist (UM) insurance claim, the injured party (or his/her attorney) must file a civil remedy notice of insurer violation. Additionally, 60 days must expire after filing the notice against USAA. In other words, USAA has 60 days to cure the bad faith and not face an excess judgment.

$300,000 Settlement with USAA (Car Accident)

Jose (not real name) was riding a motorcycle in South Florida. A driver crashed into Jose and he got injured.

USAA insured the car. We settled with USAA for $300,000.

Here is the settlement check (redacted):

My client was lucky that the driver had a big insurance policy with USAA.

Most USAA policies are for much less than $300,000.

$200,000 Settlement with USAA & another insurer

Mary (not real name) was driving her car in Miami, Florida. She was heading through a green light.

At the same time, a driver of another car ran a red light. Mary t-boned the other driver.

This is the damage to Mary’s car:

An ambulance took Mary to the hospital. An x-ray showed that she had a broken wrist. At the hospital, a doctor performed surgery on her wrist. Specifically, they put a plate and screws put in her wrist.

Shortly after the accident, Mary hired me as her attorney. USAA insured the at-fault driver with a $100,000 bodily injury liability limit.

USAA sent a check for its driver’s $100,000 bodily injury limits.

Why did they pay the $100,000 limits so fast?

They paid very quickly because Maria had surgery to her wrist. I’ve said it hundreds of times before:

Surgery greatly increases the full value of a car accident injury case.

And this case was no exception. Without surgery, Mary’s case may have settled for under $100,000.

But I didn’t just accept the $100,000 limits.

I wanted to get Mary more money!

Through aggressive representation, I was able to discover that the other driver was working at the time of the accident.

This was big news!

Old Dominion (Main Street America Group) insured the employer of the at-fault driver.

I got Mary a $200,000 settlement for her broken wrist. This is one of my many broken wrist settlements.

Tip: Jurors tend to award more for intersection accident cases than for rear end cases.  This is because intersection crashes have more jury appeal (more “exciting”).  Tell the adjuster that you know this.

What would’ve happened if I wouldn’t have found out that the at fault driver was working at the time of the crash?

Unfortunately, we would’ve been limited to a $100,000 settlement with USAA.

This would have meant that Mary’s case would’ve settled for $100,000 less than she got in this case!

That’s a whole lot of money.

$100K Settlement with USAA (Bike Rider Hit By Car)

Rina (not real name) was riding a bike through an intersection in Cooper City, Florida.

At the same time, someone driving a pickup truck was making a right hand turn.

The front of the pickup truck struck Rina.

I recreated the crash diagram (below) from the accident report.

As as result of the impact, Rina suffered facial fractures and collapsed lungs.

Paramedics came to the scene and took Rina to the hospital. Her family member called me.

I gave her a free consultation and she hired me.

USAA insured the pickup truck with $100,000 in bodily injury liability coverage. USAA paid me the $100,000 insurance limits.

We were able to get the hospital to lower her medical bills.

$70K Settlement with USAA (Pedestrian Hit By Car)

Watch an interesting video about this settlement:

A passenger, Daisy (not real name), was in a car driving down the street in West Palm Beach, Florida.  It was daylight outside.

Daisy saw a hose in the middle of the street.  She decided that she wanted to get the hose.

The driver (Barbara) of the car that she was in made a u-turn.  The driver stopped the car.

Daisy got out of the car and walked to the middle of the street.  Thus, she was a pedestrian. She was walking on her way back to the median.  Before reaching Barbara’s car, another driver (William) hit her.

Daisy had the following injuries:

• 4 bulging discs
• a broken leg (tibial plateau fracture)
• a sacrum fracture
• a shoulder injury (shoulder impingement)
• herniated discs.

USAA insured the driver of the car that hit Daisy.  USAA’s first offer was just $30,000! Ultimately, I settled her auto insurance claim with USAA for $70,000.

Here is a settlement check:

On the bottom left of the settlement check, you can see that it says “Fed-Ex Overnight”.

I told the USAA claims adjuster that I would only accept the $70,000 offer if they sent the check via overnight delivery. And they did so. It never hurts to ask.

Here is a comparison between USAA’s first offer and settlement:

Like most cases where a car hits a pedestrian, most of the settlement was for pain and suffering.

I estimate that about $68,057 of the $70,000 settlement was for pain and suffering.

The rest was for the out of pocket medical bills.

After my lawyer fees, costs and paying back my client’s medical bills, I gave her a check for $44,667.

The $70,000 payout was about 36 times the final out of pocket medical bills.

In other words, the pain and suffering multiplier was about 36.

This is one of my many settlements for a pedestrian who was hit by a car.

$52,000 USAA Insurance Claim Payout (Car Hit Bike Rider)

A young bicycle rider was cut off by a car that he then crashed into.  He was thrown of his bike and landed on his back.

The car failed to yield the right of way.  It happened in Key Biscayne, Miami-Dade County, Florida.

He had a closed head injury but he did not lose consciousness.  The bicyclist also suffered compression fractures from T3-T5.

He also had a small disc protrusion.  USAA, the UM insurer, settled the claim for $42,500.

United Automobile Insurance Company (UAIC) insured the driver of the car that caused the accident.  United Auto paid $10,000. I represented the injured bicyclist.

$50K USAA Car Accident Settlement (2021)

In 2021, Pierre was driving a company car near Orlando, Florida at night. He was heading west. (In the above diagram, Pierre’s car is #2.)

John was driving a van heading East. That car is #2 in the diagram above. Pierre made a left hand turn to pull into a gas station.

While doing so, John’s van hit Pierre’s car almost head on. Pierre claimed that John’s van had its lights off. The crash report said that an independent witness said that he couldn’t see the van.

As a result of the crash, the airbags in Pierre’s car deployed.

Paramedics took Pierre to the hospital.

There, a doctor took an x-ray of his finger.

It showed that his finger was broken.

The doctor put a cast on Pierre’s finger:

USAA insured the other driver on his personal car.

At the time of the accident, the other driver was driving a rental car. However, he didn’t purchase rental car insurance.

Fortunately, Pierre did not need surgery to his finger.

Pierre also had neck pain. An MRI of his neck showed that he had a C6-7 broad based central posterior disc herniation resulting in impingement of the thecal sac.

The same cervical (neck) MRI said that Pierre had straightening of the normal cervical lordotic curvature which can be seen with muscle spasm due to ligamentous sprain and disc Injury.

I got USAA to pay us the other driver’s $50,000 bodily injury liability policy limits.

USAA likely felt that the pain and suffering value of this case was over $36,000. I say this because the final medical bills were almost $14,000.

$10K USAA Car Accident Claim Settlement (State Farm Also Paid $25K)

Sandra’s employer gave her a car to use for work. In August 2020, Sandra was driving east in Crestview (near Pensacola), Florida. Daniel was in a car heading south. He ran a stop sign.

As a result, the front of Sandra’s car struck the passenger side of Daniel’s car.

You can see the damage to Sandra’s car here:

You can see the actual diagram from the crash report here:

State Farm insured Daniel’s car (#1 in the diagram) with $25,000 in bodily injury liability insurance coverage.

After the accident, Sandra had back and neck pain. She said that her workers’ compensation insurance company gave her limited information about how wage loss worked.

Sandra searched Google for how wage loss works with workers’ compensation. She found my website my website. She got a free consultation with me.

After we spoke, she hired me.

An MRI that showed that she had a herniated disc.

Sandra was working at the time of her accident. Thus, her workers’ compensation paid all of her medical bills.

In February 2021, I got State Farm to pay me its driver’s $25,000 BIL insurance policy limits. You can see the settlement check:

This was about 6 months after the car accident.

It gets better:

USAA insured Sandra’s personal car with $10,000 of uninsured motorist insurance coverage. At the time of this accident, Sandra was not driving her personal car. However, her underinsured motorist insurance (from her personal car) covered her for this accident.

In February 2021, I got USAA to pay me Sandra’s $10,000 limit of uninsured motorist coverage.

The total settlement was $35,000. After my car accident lawyer fees and costs, Sandra gets a check for $23,333.33.

Normally, you have to pay back the workers’ compensation insurance company from your personal injury settlement. However, they must reduce their claim (lien) by your attorney’s fees and costs and other factors.

Here, Sandra’s workers’ compensation lawyer got the workers comp insurer to waive it’s lien. Sandra was happy with our personal injury settlement.

Sandra also settled a workers’ compensation claim with her employer’s insurance company.

$30K Settlement for Meniscus Tear from Orlando Car Crash

Check out my $30,000 settlement after a driver was rear ended in Orlando, Florida. She claimed that the accident caused a meniscus tear in her knee.  USAA insured the at fault driver.

USAA Pays Car Passenger $25K (Herniated Disc, Shoulder Tear and Other Injuries)

Ian (seen above) was in a pickup truck in Key Largo, Florida.

Another driver crashed into the back of his pickup truck.

You can see the damage to the back of Ian’s pickup truck:

After this rear end accident, Ian hired me to make a personal injury claim against USAA and any other parties.

He claimed a herniated disc, labrum (shoulder) tear, and back pain.  He also had a finger and knee injury.

USAA was his uninsured motorist (UM) insurance company.  The driver who caused the accident had Infinity Insurance.  However, he had no bodily injury liability insurance on his car insurance policy.

Thus, the only available insurance was my client’s USAA UM coverage on his car insurance policy.  We settled with USAA for $25,000.

Most of the settlement was for pain and suffering.  Here is the USAA uninsured motorist insurance settlement check:

Watch a video where Ian talks about his case and experience.

You can read more about his $25,000 settlement.

USAA Pays Driver $25K for 6 Bulging Discs and Annular Tear

See why a driver got $25,000 after a pickup truck rear ended him in Miami. He claimed that the crash caused or aggravated 6 bulging discs & an annular tear.

USAA Pays $9,850 (of $19,850) to Driver Hit By Car (Herniated Disc)

A driver failed to yield the right of way and crashed into a car, driven by a 29-year-old man.

State Farm insured the car that caused the crash.

The 29-year-old man claimed that the accident caused his herniated disc with impingement.  The careless driver was driving a friend’s vehicle at the time of the accident. State Farm paid its policy limits of $10,000.

The car that the claimant was in (“host car”) had UM coverage with USAA.  USAA paid $9,850.

USAA argued that my client was not wearing his seat belt at the time of the crash.

I’ve also had other settlements with USAA.

USAA Offers $44,500, Gets Hit With $173,250 Judgment for Golf Cart Accident Case

Look:

I’ve said that USAA pays better than the other big auto insurers in Florida.  However, they still pay less than the fair value of the case.  Here is one example.

This isn’t my case.  Roslyn Posner claimed that on January 13, 2009, Linda Berger-Buvitt ran a stop sign at the intersection of the golf cart path and pedestrian sidewalk.

Posner was allegedly 82 years old at the time of the crash.  USAA insured Berger-Buvitt.

Posner claimed that the accident caused a compression fracture of the vertebrae in her thoracic spine. She sued USAA’s insured, Berger-Buvitt.

Posner also sued The Polo Club for failing to maintain the bushes in the area.  Berger-Buvitt blamed the bushes for blocking her line of sight.  Zurich insured The Polo Club.

USAA offered $44,500 to Mrs. Posner to settle her personal injury case.  She didn’t accept this offer.  At trial, the jury found Posner 25% at fault.

The good news for her?

They found USAA’s insured, Berger-Buvitt, 75% at fault.  Thus, after reducing the value for Posner’s fault, she got a $173,250 judgment against USAA’s insured.

This is crazy:

Settlement isn’t an exact science.  However, USAA’s offer was too low by $128,750.  It’s not like USAA’s offer was off by $1,200.  Or even $12,800.

USAA was off by over $128,000!

Point this case out to USAA the next time they try to lowball you.

Wife’s Death Results in $10 Million Dollar Judgment Against USAA Insured

This is not my case.  USAA issued an automobile insurance policy to Andrew Booth Buckman.

In November 2010, Buckman was involved in an automobile accident that resulted in the death of Dennis Lee Kemp’s wife. Kemp sued Buckman for wrongful death in a Florida state court.  He got a $10 million dollar judgment against Buckman.

The case is Kemp v. USAA Casualty Insurance Co., Dist. Court, SD Florida 2015.

USAA Offers $100K to Settle Injury from Fall (from Dog Encounter)

This is not my case.  In 2011, a claimant sustained personal injuries when the claimant fell.  She fell after an encounter with dogs owned by Colleen Brennan, a USAA insured.

The claimant made a pre-suit demand for the $100,000 policy limit of Brennan’s insurance policy. USAA accepted the demand and tendered its check for the policy limits.

Rather than cashing USAA’s settlement check, the claimant, in March 2013, filed a personal injury lawsuit against Brennan.  She sued Brennan and others in the Palm Beach County.

The case is United Services v. Offices of Herssein, 233 So. 3d 1224 – Fla: Dist. Court of Appeals, 3rd Dist. 2017

USAA Argues That PIP Doesn’t Have to Pay Off a Workers’ Compensation Lien

If you have PIP insurance with USAA, and were working at the time of a car accident, should you still give all of your medical providers your USAA PIP information?

Yes.  Even if workers’ compensation pays your bills and/or lost wages.

Otherwise, USAA may argue that USAA PIP doesn’t have to pay a workers compensation lien.  USAA is has a reputation for making this argument.

If a court agrees with USAA, this would put less money in your pocket.

Hit by a Drunk Driver Insured With USAA (Claims and Settlements)

What happens if a drunk driver (insured with USAA) hits you and injures you?

First, hopefully the drunk driver’s USAA car insurance policy has bodily injury liability (BIL) coverage. Unfortunately, BIL coverage is not required on Florida auto insurance policies for private passenger autos.

Either way, you want to make a personal injury protection (PIP) and Medpay claim with your car insurance company. You should give your PIP and Medpay information to the hospital.

If you are from out of state and you’re in a Florida car accident, you may or may not have PIP. It may depend on whose car you were in at the time of the accident. If you were in your own car (from another state), you need to see whether your out of state car insurance covers you with PIP. It will depend on the language in your auto insurance policy.

Either way, the hospital should bill your PIP or Medpay coverage before your health insurance. Failure to give your PIP or Medpay insurance to the hospital can delay your settlement. Also, give the hospital your health insurance information.

If Medpay pays your medical bills, your car insurance company may be entitled to get reimbursed. One of the 13 advantages to hiring a personal injury lawyer is that a Medpay insurer often has to reduce the amount that you’ll pay it back by your attorney’s fees and costs. In Florida, the Medpay insurer must do this. Thus, if you have an attorney, you get a benefit. If you don’t have an attorney, you don’t get this benefit.

The solution is simple:

Get an attorney.

If you’re from another state, whether you’ll have to pay back Medpay may depend on the other state law.

If the DUI driver who hit you has BIL coverage, this is good news. DUI means driving under the influence. Of course, you can make a claim with the DUI driver’s insurance company for your out of pocket medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering. This assumes that the DUI driver’s carelessness caused your injury.

You can also tell USAA that you are also making a claim for punitive damages against the DUI driver. A Florida auto insurance policy won’t cover punitive damages against the DUI driver. However, USAA as a duty to settle claims against the drunk driver if it could and should.

A punitive damage claim increases the full value of the personal injury case against a drunk driver. Thus, a punitive damages claim against the drunk driver adds pressure for USAA to settle for more money (and quicker).

I have lots of experience making a claims against drunk drivers. Check out some of my drunk driving accident settlements.

USAA May Not Be Able to Remove an Uninsured Motorist Insurance Cases To Federal Court

Many car insurers like to remove UM injury cases from state court to federal court.  They believe that having a UM injury case in federal court means that they will owe less money than if the case was in state court.

Different rules of procedure apply in federal court.  If you sue USAA for uninsured motorist insurance benefits, they may be able to remove your case to federal court. It will depend which USAA entity you sue.

Look at the USAA declarations page to see if USAA is listed as United Services Automobile Association (“A Reciprocal Interinsurance Exchange”).  If they are, they won’t be able to remove the case to federal court. This is because its members it is a reciprocal with its members everywhere so they cannot remove.

However, USAA owns at least one incorporated insurer, that is incorporated in Texas, and they can remove the lawsuit to federal court. I know a personal injury lawyer who says that this USAA will remove when they want to, based on how they feel about the state court judge assigned to the case.

USAA is more likely to remove to federal court if they think that the state court judge is more liberal (leaning towards favoring the plaintiff as opposed to an insurance company) in his/her decisions. USAA General Indemnity Company is an incorporated insurer who can remove personal injury lawsuits to federal court.

I also believe that USAA Insurance Inc. can remove injury claims to federal court.

Is Garrison Property and Casualty Insurance Company the same as USAA?

Yes.  Although they are different businesses, your claim is basically handled the same way, and by a USAA adjuster.

In Florida, USAA issues liability policies as:

• USAA Casualty Insurance Company
• USAA General Indemnity Company
• Garrison Property and Casualty Insurance Company

You can go to Florida Office of Insurance Regulation Company Search to get USAA’s current mailing address for Florida claims.

You can go to A.M. BEST to get USAA’s main fax number.

However, sending a fax to the main corporate office may not speed up a claim. From my experience, USAA adjusters do not give out their email address.

As with larger insurers, USAA adjusters tend to me more educated than adjusters at smaller insurers.

The USAA Property and Casualty Insurance Group is the sixth largest private passenger auto insurer and fifth largest homeowners insurer based on 2011 direct written premiums.  To put it simply, they are a huge insurance company.

How Do I Submit a Claim To USAA?

You can call USAA at 1-800-531-USAA (8722) to report a car accident claim.

However, I can’t emphasize this enough…

An injured person should not give a recorded statement if he or she is making a claim against someone who USAA insures.

Why not?

The injured person doesn’t legally have to.  The statement can be used against them.  It can decrease the full value of the case.

As with every insurance company, the representative will ask you some basic questions.

The USAA representative will then give you a claim number.  The claim will be assigned to a particular adjuster.  If you have a more serious injury, the claim will be assigned to a higher level adjuster.

USAA Claims Adjusters Tend to Be Nice

The USAA insurance claims adjusters whom I’ve dealt with have been nice.  Below are just a few of them:

PIP

• Christine Gutierrez
  Southeast Regional Office
  USAA General Indemnity Company
• Many others

I’ve had claims with USAA bodily injury liability adjusters Kathy Gegan, Jodi Weaver, and Shannon Luker and many others.

What types of liability insurance does USAA offer?

USAA offers many liability insurance products, such as auto insurance:

USAA also offers enters Insurance, Homeowner Insurance, Rental Property Insurance, Home and Property Insurance, Umbrella Insurance, Motorcycle, RV and Boat Insurance, and Small Business Insurance.

Did someone’s carelessness cause your injury in a Florida car crash or other type of accident?

Watch My Video About USAA auto insurance claims

See if I can represent you against USAA (or someone else)

Call us at (888) 594-3577 to find out for FREE if we can represent you.  Call us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.  

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Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on May 2013 and has been completely revamped and updated.