Anybody remember the series of storms we had back in March? There were a couple of tornado warnings in the northern Atlanta suburbs. At my house, we had an intense, thrilling hail storm, the likes of which I have never seen.

Well, I didn't realize it at first, but it turns out that the hail did some damage to our roof and other parts of the house. A couple of weeks ago, I called our homeowner's insurance company, which is USAA, to file a claim. Last week, they sent an adjuster out to inspect the damage. Yesterday, we got a check in the mail.

Now, the repair process isn't finished, so I don't know whether the settlement is actually fair in all areas. I do know that the estimate for replacing the roof is within $50 of the roofer's estimate, so I am hoping that the remaining items will be close as well.

I should also mention what happened with the representative from the roofing company we are using. He asked me who I had my homeowner's insurance with, and when I said, "USAA," his immediate response was, "Oh, you'll be fine. They'll take care of you." Bear in mind that this guy deals with insurance companies -- according to him, that's about half his job -- so he has experience with a lot of them. When he wrote out the roofing estimate, there was no dollar amount other than the upgrades that we are adding to the roof (i.e., that weren't covered by the repair-and-replacement settlement). The estimate was for whatever USAA determined was the replacement cost. He wrote the estimate the same day that the adjuster came to the house and agreed to do the job for USAA's price, sight unseen. Of course, as I mentioned, USAA's price was almost exactly what he said (verbally) the estimate was, so his trust was obviously well-founded.

Furthermore, USAA waived the usual "depreciation" deduction from the initial check. This means that they withhold a portion of the actual estimate until the repairs are actually done. They do this mainly for protection against the repairs costing less than the estimate. In our case, though, they just cut a check for the full amount. (I have no idea if they will want anything back if the repair comes in below the estimate. They're welcome to it if they do.)

I know that not everyone is eligible to do business with USAA. However, if you are, and you haven't looked into it, I suggest that you do. I have been with them in varying capacities for more than twenty years, and my experience has been uniformly good. This last episode just strengthens my opinion that they are a good company and worthy of my business.