CGA Cadet Auto Coverage & USAA

[PapiBear]

DD is current swab and on our USAA auto policy. She’ll obviously not drive much at all in the next few years, but dont want her uncovered. So is the right answer to drop her, keep her or get her own policy given she’s now AD and will continue to be full time student? I’ve heard USAA may have a provision for this? Before I reach out, we were curious how others have managed or this figured out properly. Any shared enlightenment on the best way forward is appreciated.

 

[Gabe_]

DD is current swab and on our USAA auto policy. She’ll obviously not drive much at all in the next few years, but dont want her uncovered. So is the right answer to drop her, keep her or get her own policy given she’s now AD and will continue to be full time student? I’ve heard USAA may have a provision for this? Before I reach out, we were curious how others have managed or this figured out properly. Any shared enlightenment on the best way forward is appreciated.

All/most insurance companies have a provision for this. We do not have USAA, but we contacted our agent. He took her off our policy, but she is covered when she returns home, etc.

 

[Haveaniceday]

Yes, USAA will take care of this. Once they are notified your child is at an Academy, they put them in a special category since they know they are not authorized vehicles yet and will not be home much. Essentially, they are covered as an occasional driver for no charge until there 1/c year when they are authorized a vehicle, then the regular insurance charge kicks in again. It's a very good deal. Don't drop her from your policy, just put her in academy status and enjoy the reduced premiums.

Side note, USAA does a very cheap renters policy for academy kids as well that covers all military uniforms at 100% if they are lost etc. I think they have laptop insurance too. If I remember right the whole thing was like $55 a year to cover military gear and the laptop. Again, a very good deal. USAA is set up to handle academy kids. NFCU and others are competitive, so it may be worth it to shop around.

With USAA often the first step is for the cadet to log on and change there profile to active duty - military academy. You may have to call or fax the appointment letter to prove eligibility.

 

[corescue59]

Agree with Haveaniceday. Our family has USAA and our son was on our policy. We notified them about him attending USCGA and they put him in a special status where we were not charged for him being a driver. Yet he was covered when he came home on leave.
Once he got his car he notified USAA and got his own policy thru them for auto coverage. He also gets a discount until he is 24 since we are a USAA family.

As far as renters policy goes: he did get one to have while at USCGA. Covered uniforms, computers etc. It also had coverage for his class ring. Highly recommend it.

So now he has an auto policy, renters policy and his loan thru USAA. Easy to manage.

 

[Gabe_]

Side note…you can place a student at a “typical” college on this program as well. It does not have to be an academy. I checked with my friend/agent. It’s called Long Distance Student/Student Away.

 

[VAcadetmom]

Side note…you can place a student at a “typical” college on this program as well. It does not have to be an academy. I checked with my friend/agent. It’s called Long Distance Student/Student Away.

We have a daughter at a regular university and she has the "away at school with no car" discount as well (we have USAA). We did find that the Academy discount was greater than the regular away at school discount. Also, her renter's insurance is about twice the annual cost than his is (his is about $5 a month and hers is around $10). We did the auto changes under our policy, but had each of our kids take out the renter's insurance under their own name. This helps establish insurance and credit history in their own name.

 

[PapiBear]

Yes, USAA will take care of this. Once they are notified your child is at an Academy, they put them in a special category since they know they are not authorized vehicles yet and will not be home much. Essentially, they are covered as an occasional driver for no charge until there 1/c year when they are authorized a vehicle, then the regular insurance charge kicks in again. It's a very good deal. Don't drop her from your policy, just put her in academy status and enjoy the reduced premiums.

Side note, USAA does a very cheap renters policy for academy kids as well that covers all military uniforms at 100% if they are lost etc. I think they have laptop insurance too. If I remember right the whole thing was like $55 a year to cover military gear and the laptop. Again, a very good deal. USAA is set up to handle academy kids. NFCU and others are competitive, so it may be worth it to shop around.

With USAA often the first step is for the cadet to log on and change there profile to active duty - military academy. You may have to call or fax the appointment letter to prove eligibility.

That’s perfect thank you!

 

[PapiBear]

We have a daughter at a regular university and she has the "away at school with no car" discount as well (we have USAA). We did find that the Academy discount was greater than the regular away at school discount. Also, her renter's insurance is about twice the annual cost than his is (his is about $5 a month and hers is around $10). We did the auto changes under our policy, but had each of our kids take out the renter's insurance under their own name. This helps establish insurance and credit history in their own name.

Thanks for sharing those additional insights!

 

[Impulsive]

Almost ALL insurers offer the "occasional driver" provision. Think of this, you have a neice or nephew who lives in another state and is licensed in that state, would your insurer expect you to put them on your policy for two weeks of visitation. Almost all auto policies contain the occasional driver provision and adult children away at school for the majority of the year are usually included in this provision (check with your agent). We have GEICO and they provide the same thing, and so does State Farm.

As far as renters policies, USAA has the best for Academy students. I truly think the reason is that while at an Academy a student has no furniture, limited personal electronics (no four large screen TV's), and not much in the way of "personal civilian clothing", so USAA is insuring the uniforms, issued and personal electronics (at more cost) that are kept on a military installation. ROTC students do not get the same discount, our one son pays $100+ a year, the other $300+, mainly because he has furniture, appliances, clothing, and other things a typical renter has, that Academy students do not have.

I remember back when, that USAA and GEICO both offered discounted "renters" policies for members on AD living in government leased or owned housing. Not sure if it is still that way, especially given the state of much of the availalbe military housing both on base and off that is leased. There are so many issues with some of leased housing that I beleive sometimes even with insurance it is hard to settle a claim because of the state of decay and disrepair for some government leased housing.

 

[Bash On]

I might have to check with USAA again. When I inquired about the Cadet discount the USAA rep seemed to be clueless and didn't know anything about service academies or discounts for same (she was very nice, though!). Moot point, anyway, as USAA was almost double (!) the premium cost as my current carrier (of 40+ years).

Wish I had known about the renters' insurance. DD had her bag with laptop and lots of others things stolen on her way to her summer duty station. Total loss was about $4500. Our homeowner's insurance deductible is $4157 so we'll write off that loss.

 

[Capt MJ]

I might have to check with USAA again. When I inquired about the Cadet discount the USAA rep seemed to be clueless and didn't know anything about service academies or discounts for same (she was very nice, though!). Moot point, anyway, as USAA was almost double (!) the premium cost as my current carrier (of 40+ years).

Wish I had known about the renters' insurance. DD had her bag with laptop and lots of others things stolen on her way to her summer duty station. Total loss was about $4500. Our homeowner's insurance deductible is $4157 so we'll write off that loss.

Elevate the call if the rep seems unfamiliar with the USAA set-up for service academy cadets and midshipmen. It is not an away at school “discount,” which is not what you want. You want the arrangement where they are at one of the 5 service academies without a car, they will be covered at home as an occasional driver, and you will no longer owe that part of your auto insurance premium to them. Newer phone reps or those that don’t regularly work with this relatively small population may not know how to pull this up on their screen. Be sure you say “Naval Academy” and not “Annapolis.”

The service academy renter’s policy must be requested by the midshipman or cadet, as the policy holder. USA is always happy to conference in a parent.

 

[corescue59]

Elevate the call if the rep seems unfamiliar with the USAA set-up for service academy cadets and midshipmen. It is not an away at school “discount,” which is not what you want. You want the arrangement where they are at one of the 5 service academies without a car, they will be covered at home as an occasional driver, and you will no longer owe that part of your auto insurance premium to them. Newer phone reps or those that don’t regularly work with this relatively small population may not know how to pull this up on their screen. Be sure you say “Naval Academy” and not “Annapolis.”

The service academy renter’s policy must be requested by the midshipman or cadet, as the policy holder. USA is always happy to conference in a parent.

We actually had power of attorney to take care of these things for our DS. All we needed to do was send in proof that he was actually a cadet at USCGA and they took care of this for us.
As Capt MJ said, ask to speak to a supervisor. They have quite a few new people working for them that do not understand what this is all about.

 

[Bash On]

As Capt MJ said, ask to speak to a supervisor. They have quite a few new people working for them that do not understand what this is all about.

Good advice and I don't hesitate to do that (worked through law school as a consumer affairs investigator) but did not need to in this case as USAA was so much more expensive than my current auto insurance to begin with.

 

[camo-it]

When you talk to USAA, ask for US Service Academy "Non-Operator status". For your DD/DS. They will be covered when they come home to drive on leave. NOTE: They are not covered if they rent a car or borrow an upperclass's car. If they do that, you have to put them back on the policy for the time that they rent/borrow the car. Some nearby companies rent to cadets and often 1/c let underclass borrow cars, although it's typically not 4/c.

 

[USMA 1994]

The only downside of the occasional driver is that they will not be insured if they are driving someone else's vehicle or rent a car during their time away. As others have said, all insurance covers an occasional driver. Your DS or DD away is no different that you letting your brother use your car if he comes for a visit.

 

[unkown1961]

Insurance companies offer lower rates once your kid goes to any college, but it will vary based on miles away and if they access to a car. We have USAA and our kids were all earmarked as being over 1k miles away with no car and we paid much smaller premiums.
You can take them off the policy and they'll have coverage at home because they would be an approved driver by you. But the benefit it keeping them on the policy though is that they'll have coverage if they rent a car (some colleges like MIT offer this through local rental firms) or borrow a car.
Also, as respects personal property coverage, look around because there are a few carriers offering property coverage for student's personal property. Students are covered under your homeowners but the coverages and deductibles may not be as good. This is the program we used for our three kids:
https://www.collegestudentinsurance.com/
USC offered coverage through a group called GradGuard but the above linked program had better coverages. USC was a little sneaky in doing this. The option popped up when my son was choosing housing and it looked like it was a special deal and required. They must make some good money from this partnership.

 

[Don't Give Up the Ship]

Auto insurance can cover incidents where your DS or DD is not driving. In one case, USAA covered a regular college student who was on a bike and was hit by a 3rd party driving rental car. USAA covered the college student because he was named as a driver on the parents USAA auto policy. The 3rd party driver only has a $25K rental insurance policy. Medical expenses were about $500K-months of hospital care involved. USAA paid for that and for Pain & Suffering for the college student who, suffered the severe injuries. The bike helmet he wore saved his life. The parent had $1M uninsured and underinsured coverage on their USAA Policy. If you can afford it, keep the MIDN or Cadet named as a driver on your policy. It can make a huge difference. Some insurance is not worth skimping on. Some coverage may differ with insurance carrier and the state. Check with your insurance underwriter.

 

[AROTC-dad]

Insurance companies offer lower rates once your kid goes to any college, but it will vary based on miles away and if they access to a car. We have USAA and our kids were all earmarked as being over 1k miles away with no car and we paid much smaller premiums.
You can take them off the policy and they'll have coverage at home because they would be an approved driver by you. But the benefit it keeping them on the policy though is that they'll have coverage if they rent a car (some colleges like MIT offer this through local rental firms) or borrow a car.
Also, as respects personal property coverage, look around because there are a few carriers offering property coverage for student's personal property. Students are covered under your homeowners but the coverages and deductibles may not be as good. This is the program we used for our three kids:
https://www.collegestudentinsurance.com/
USC offered coverage through a group called GradGuard but the above linked program had better coverages. USC was a little sneaky in doing this. The option popped up when my son was choosing housing and it looked like it was a special deal and required. They must make some good money from this partnership.

I will second the use of the above link. I found them to be very good for all four of my kids when away at college. Claim service was flawless the one time my oldest son had a loss. (spilled "fraternity beverage" on laptop). Good value and it is better not to encumber your homeowners insurance policy with a minor claim loss.

 

[justme]

Just as a matter of caution... Each state has its own rules regarding auto coverage and various liability issues. Make sure you do your homework and double check the answers, especially from a call-center rep.

 

[unkown1961]

I will second the use of the above link. I found them to be very good for all four of my kids when away at college. Claim service was flawless the one time my oldest son had a loss. (spilled "fraternity beverage" on laptop). Good value and it is better not to encumber your homeowners insurance policy with a minor claim loss.

"Spilled fraternity beverage" - haha! We definitely were pleased with them. My son's claims more than paid for his premiums.