A Corporate Beacon Amid the Wreckage of American Enterprise
Yeah, yeah, I'm going to wax poetic about a company. Why? Because I've been doing business with them for about 12 years now and they have not once screwed me over, shorted me or otherwise been anything less than wholly ethical, fair and a pleasure to be associated with.
And that's not only highly laudable but extremely rare these days. A company that you want to evangelize unlike a shitty company like Wells Fargo that you just want to roast over an open flame.

USAA is a company founded to provide low cost insurance to the military. It used to be that only officers were invited to join but they've since opened that up to all military personel, I believe. My father was a captain in the Army years and years ago so, as his child, I'm entitled to join.

They never mistreated me even amidst my idiot teen years when I thought insurance was a waste of money and that driving drunk was not only cool, it was good fun (don't worry, I have since learned the error of my ways but not the hard way meaning no tickets and no accidents).

USAA has since expanded their offerings beyond insurance, which normally comes in at well under half what any other major carrier can offer. I laugh at the Geico people when they call because there is no way they can touch USAA. Same thing for Progressive and all the others. Now USAA also offers banking including online payments, credit cards, savings accounts and all the other goodies. They also offer retirement account management and lots of other good products offered at reasonable rates.

I could go on and on but let me give me one small example of this company and how they do business.

Eight and a half years ago, when I was relocating myself from the chilly extremes of Northern New England to the far sweeter climate of Santa Cruz, I had stopped to visit friends in Tempe, Arizona. During my visit, my crappy beater mountain bike was stolen. I'd had the foresight to get renter's insurance to cover my assets in the cross country drive and called USAA to file a claim. Not only did they take care of the claim in record time (think they had it ready for me before I got from Arizona to Santa Cruz) but they sent me replacement cost for the bike. A bike I'd been given by a friend, a bike that had spent a winter outside in Vermont, a bike that was more rust than metal. And still, no questions asked, boom, here's your replacement check.

So yeah, I'm a fan of USAA and I think its a good idea to point out those agencies that are doing a good job as well as those companies that are stealing, looting, robbing and otherwise pursuing morally bankrupt policies (the worst of which are raises for board members while the company plummets like a stone, how can you reward yourselves for killing a company?).

As of right now, I have my insurance through USAA, a credit card from them with a good rate and also have a checking/savings account that gets my paychecks direct deposited into it. They even reimburse me when I use another bank's ATM and pay me dividends for using my cards. Oh yeah, they also send me a credit every year the company does well, they reduce the cost of my insurance commensurately. And any company that kicks down to all members is a company that I will both support and evangelize as loudly and as often as possible.

Next up on the blog express?
The car buying process, the pyschology of the salesman and our new Jetta!

[Update 6.19.03: Yeah, not only did USAA insure P when we aren't quite married yet but they also chopped about $150 off her six month insurance rate. And took $15 off of mine for my motorcycle. Gotta love that.]