Check Your Policy: A Marine Family's $14K Bill for Base Housing Damage

The hassle alone was never worth it for me.

I have been a USAA member for 45 years. They have replaced one car when I was run off the road by a hit-and run where they never found the culprit and thus couldn't charge him, and fixed three other damaged vehicles, and have insured countless rented and owned homes. Although my rates went up slightly when they couldn't charge someone else for my totaled car, they have otherwise always been quite fair with me, and no other company has even tried to compete with the premium. Further, after 40 years, they even send me an extra bonus check every year!

Insurance companies have to insure based on risk or they would never survive. If you have shopped for the best price and are paying a lot, either you (the driver) or your car (cost, desirability, theft risk, etc) are high risk for the insurance company (a race car driver with a Lamborghini would pay lots more than a middle-aged school teacher with a VW Jetta).