Flood victim says insurance will not cover damage from I-24 flood, insurer claims it was ‘wear and tear’

Cheri Dinshah’s Hyundai Elantra stuck in the floodwaters on I-24 on August 12, 2025. (Courtesy: Cheri Dinshah)

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- It’s been nearly a month since devastating flash floods hit the Chattanooga area.

Many of those victims are continuing to clean up from that disaster.

Cheri Dinshah was one of the unlucky drivers who found themselves on I-24 the evening of August 12.

That is when 7 inches of rain struck this area in three hours, triggering a major flash flood.

Dinshah said, “The floodwaters were rising quickly. I tried to move out of the way but the whole road was flooded. My car was submerged in water.”

Dinshah’s car was one of the ones that was damaged as the result of this was over $5,000 in damages to her Hyundai Elantra. 

She said, “There was a lot of rust in the inner parts.”

She reached out to her insurance company, USAA, to get these damages covered.

Despite being a customer of that company for over a decade, her claim was denied as the insurer claimed the damages were quote, “wear and tear”.

Dinshah says this explanation makes zero sense.

She said, “It makes me mad because I pay full coverage which is a pretty penny… It only got like 134,000 miles on it. To me, that’s kinda high mileage but it’s not. I have never had any issues.”

According to research conducted by independent firm Weiss’s Ratings, USAA was found in 2024 to have not paid a single cent to almost half of all claims filed to them.

Dinshah says this decision has opened her eyes.

She said, “I think it’s really messed up for someone to be a member for almost twn years, someone who has never missed a payment, who has paid full coverage. Who has taken care of their vehicle and then all of a sudden, they say no because of wear and tear? When it’s obviously due to a flood?”

We have reached out to USAA for comment on this story.

They have yet to respond to our inquiry.