USAA Renters Insurance Review

Table of Contents

1. Evaluating USAA renters insurance – the 7 factors to consider
2. How expensive is USAA renters insurance?
3. What does USAA renters insurance cover?
4. Can you bundle USAA renters insurance with other policies?
5. How easy is it to buy a policy and file a claim?
6. What are USAA’s consumer satisfaction ratings?
7. Is USAA financially stable?
8. Are you eligible for USAA renters insurance?
9. Recap: Should you choose USAA renters insurance?
10. USAA renters insurance: Our final rating

Evaluating USAA renters insurance – the 7 factors to consider

If you’re eligible for USAA’s renters insurance, there’s a good chance it’s your best option. USAA has a long track record of providing tenants with excellent service.

When evaluating USAA’s renters insurance, there are seven questions you need to ask:

1. How expensive is USAA renters insurance?
2. What does USAA renters insurance cover?
3. Can you bundle USAA renters insurance with any other policies?
4. How easy is it to buy a policy and file a claim?
5. What are USAA’s consumer satisfaction ratings?
6. Is USAA financially stable?
7. Are you eligible for USAA renters insurance?

USAA performs well in most of these categories, especially when it comes to the coverage they offer and their claims handling process.

How expensive is USAA renters insurance?

USAA’s website notes that they offer renters insurance for as little as $10 per month, which is well under the industry average of $20 per month.

However, the price of renters insurance is affected by several factors, including:

• Your neighborhood’s crime rate
• Whether your state sees a lot of extreme weather
• Your credit score (although in a few states you can get renters insurance with no credit check)

This means that unless you live in a perfectly safe neighborhood and have an equally perfect credit score, you’ll probably have to pay a bit more than $10. The numbers on USAA’s website are an ideal, not an average.

What is the average price of USAA renters insurance?

It’s hard to gather data on USAA’s average prices because relatively few people can get renters insurance quotes from them (only people in the armed forces and military families).

However, we conducted a small survey of USAA customers and asked them:

• How they found USAA’s prices relative to their competitors’
• Whether they felt USAA’s homeowners or renters insurance was worth the price

The results were mixed. Several people said that USAA was the cheapest option in their area, but others disagreed. One person claimed that “USAA never has the cheapest rates” and another said that “they’re a little more expensive than their competitors,” although both of these people followed up by saying that they felt USAA’s higher prices were worth it.

The mixed responses suggest that USAA’s rates are variable, but are broadly similar to their competitors’. The only way to find out what your price will be is to call them up and get a quote.

Takeaway: Overall, we found USAA’s pricing was about average, although we were hampered by the difficulty of collecting data about them.

What does USAA renters insurance cover?

Most renters insurance policies are fairly similar, especially ones provided by major insurers.

USAA provides the same 4 types of coverage as its competitors:

• Personal property coverage: With this type of coverage, if somebody steals your possessions or they’re destroyed by a disaster listed in your policy (known as a covered peril), USAA will reimburse you for the lost item’s value.
• Personal liability coverage: If you damage someone else’s property or injure them, USAA will cover your legal liability, including your attorney fees if they sue you.
• Guest medical coverage: This is also known as goodwill coverage. If someone is injured in your residence, USAA will pay some of their medical bills, even if they don’t try to hold you liable.
• Loss-of-use coverage: Also known as additional living expenses coverage, this will cover your hotel bill and other miscellaneous expenses if a covered peril forces you to leave your home for a while (such as a fire that requires extensive repairs).

Although all renters insurance includes the same basic types of coverage, USAA’s policies are more comprehensive than their competitors’ in several important ways:

USAA provides earthquake and flood insurance

Although renters insurance doesn’t usually cover earthquakes or floods, USAA’s policies cover both.

This makes USAA unique. While a few other insurers offer earthquake and flood riders, only USAA covers them with their standard policies, for no extra charge. (A renters insurance rider is an optional add-on to your policy.)

If you live in a hurricane or earthquake-prone area like Florida or California, this coverage alone makes USAA’s renters insurance very attractive.

USAA has no restrictions on dog breed

Although renters insurance covers dog bites, many insurers refuse to cover pit bulls and other breeds commonly regarded as dangerous, such as Rottweilers and wolf-dog hybrids.

USAA doesn’t have a breed blacklist, which makes them a good option if you own one of those dogs. However, be aware that owning one might still cause USAA to raise your monthly renters insurance premiums, and they can decline to insure you if your dog has a bite history.

USAA has no deductible for military-related items

USAA will waive your renters insurance deductible (the amount you have to pay out of your own pocket) if you file a claim for your military equipment or uniform.

Realistically, you’ll still have to pay a deductible most of the time, and if you don’t keep equipment in your residence this isn’t relevant to you at all. Still, it’s a nice little perk, and it’s consistent with USAA’s military focus.

Takeaway: Overall, we found that USAA’s coverage was significantly better than average.

Can you bundle USAA renters insurance with other policies?

Most insurers allow you to bundle their insurance policies — in other words, to purchase them together to get a discount.

USAA offers a discount of up to 10% when you bundle auto insurance with renters insurance. This is nice, but not a significant selling point — it’s close to what most of their competitors offer.

Takeaway: Overall, we found that USAA’s renters insurance bundling options were about average.

How easy is it to buy a policy and file a claim?

USAA lets you buy a policy or file a claim in a few different ways:

• Via their website
• Via their mobile app
• Over the phone

USAA’s website and app

None of the people we surveyed reported any trouble signing up for renters insurance on USAA’s website. We tested USAA’s site and app for ourselves and found that they were both well-designed and the claims handling feature worked as intended.

Because USAA offers other financial services, including investment and banking services, you can access those features from their website and app as well. Despite this, neither interface feels crowded or confusing.

However, there was one significant negative: password security. When you create a USAA account, they limit your password length to 12 characters.

Although this is a common practice, it’s an outdated one with no technical basis, and most security experts recommend abandoning it. It’s especially frustrating to see a company like USAA put arbitrary limits on your password given that they ask you to entrust them with very sensitive data.

USAA’s over-the-phone customer service

USAA has a reputation for top-notch service, and the survey we conducted backed that up. Most of the respondents noted that USAA’s claims handling was quick and painless, and their agents and reps were friendly.

Overall, USAA’s reputation for customer service is noticeably better than most of its competitors. It’s possible to find people who had a negative experience, but they’re in the minority.

Takeaway: Overall, we found that USAA’s user experience was better than average.

What are USAA’s consumer satisfaction ratings?

Our survey was relatively small (and opt-in, which opened it up to self-selection bias). To get more reliable data, we looked at three metrics of customer satisfaction:

• USAA’s J.D. Power rating
• Their Better Business Bureau customer reviews
• Their total NAIC complaints

USAA’s J.D. Power rating: 888/1000 (significantly above average)

Every year, the data analytics firm J.D. Power polls the customers of every major insurance provider and asks them to rate their insurer in various categories, including claims handling, customer service, and pricing.

In 2020, USAA’s homeowners and renters insurance received a score of 888 out of 1000, the highest out of all the insurers that J.D. Power collected data on. For comparison, the next highest was Lemonade, with a score of 866, and the majority of the others had scores between 820 and 845.

USAA’s Better Business Bureau customer reviews: 1.24/5 (slightly above average)

On the BBB’s website, USAA has a score of 1.24 out of 5 stars. (That’s an average of the reviews left by actual customers, and not produced by the BBB themselves.)

USAA’s negative BBB reviews — which cite incorrectly denied claims and unresponsive adjusters — contrast sharply with the glowing reviews our survey received.

However, USAA’s score is less shocking when you put it into context. 1.24/5 is actually a bit above average for an insurance company. By contrast, Liberty Mutual has a score of 1.1/5, and Allstate has a score of 1.13/5. The BBB’s insurer reviews skew strongly negative because most people only review insurance companies when they’re unhappy.

We were a little disappointed that USAA’s BBB rating didn’t match our survey’s results, but their score is still slightly above average.

USAA’s NAIC complaints: 4 (slightly better than average)

In 2020, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) received 4 complaints about USAA’s renters insurance. That’s slightly better than you’d expect for an insurer of their size.

Every year, the NAIC generates a complaint index by dividing each insurer’s total complaints by their size and market share. USAA’s homeowners complaint index (which includes renters insurance) was .84, slightly better than the baseline of 1. (The lower the number, the better.)

Takeaway: Overall, we found USAA’s consumer reviews to be above average.

Is USAA financially stable?

Renters insurance reviews often devote a lot of attention to the insurer’s financial health, looking at metrics like their AM Best and Moody’s ratings, which measure creditworthiness. The idea is that if your insurance company is struggling financially, they’ll be more likely to raise your premiums and less likely to pay out claims, particularly if there’s a major disaster, like a hurricane, that leaves them short of cash.

It’s absolutely true that insurers sometimes have a hard time dealing with large-scale events like hurricanes. However, our stance is that this isn’t something that you need to worry about. A major insurance company like USAA won’t have trouble paying out any claim you could realistically make on your renters insurance policy, and if their services ever suffer, you’ll hear about it. You don’t need to do any detective work by digging into their finances.

USAA has a 100-year track record, they’ve survived plenty of major disasters, and they don’t have a reputation for being at all stingy with claims. That’s all the average consumer really needs to know.

Takeaway: USAA’s financial stability is no cause for concern.

Are you eligible for USAA renters insurance?

USAA operates in all 50 states, plus Washington, D.C., so you can get their renters insurance no matter where you live. However, not everyone is eligible.

USAA only provides renters insurance to:

• Military service members
• Veterans with an “Honorable”-type discharge
• Certain family members of USAA members: spouses (including widows), children, stepchildren, and grandchildren, but not parents or siblings

Unfortunately, USAA doesn’t make exceptions. If you haven’t served in the military and you don’t have any family members who are USAA members, you won’t be able to get their renters insurance.

This policy is strict, but it does make sense — arguably, USAA is able to provide great service to its members because they’re selective about who they insure.

Recap: Should you choose USAA renters insurance?

USAA’s renters insurance is top-notch, but it’s not available to everyone.

USAA: Advantages

• USAA is the only insurer that includes earthquake and flood coverage in their standard renters insurance policies.
• Although USAA’s customer reviews aren’t perfect, their reputation for customer service is significantly better than their competitors’.

USAA: Disadvantages

• Unless you’ve served in the military or you have an immediate family member who’s a USAA member, you can’t get USAA’s renters insurance.

Why should you choose USAA renters insurance?

• You’re eligible through military service or a family member: If you can sign up with USAA, we recommend doing so. No insurer is perfect, but USAA’s coverage and claims handling makes them one of the best we’re aware of.

Why shouldn’t you choose USAA renters insurance?

• You’re ineligible: Obviously, if USAA won’t write you a renters insurance policy, you’ll have to look elsewhere.
• You have auto insurance with another provider: If you can bundle renters insurance with another policy, we recommend doing so — it’s almost always your cheapest and most convenient option. If you have auto insurance from another company and you’re sure you don’t want to switch, you should look into getting renters insurance from them, too.

USAA renters insurance: Our final rating

Overall, we rate USAA’s renters insurance five stars out of five. (5/5)

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