After USAA CEO Stuart Parker took the reins four years ago, he set out to make the company’s members more financially secure by creating an “advice-centric organization.”

The San Antonio company provides banking, insurance and other financial services to military personnel, veterans and their families. It has said a third of its members — now numbering about 13 million — live paycheck-to-paycheck.

So, a better approach to a soldier who wants to buy a new car but can’t really afford it, Parker said in a 2017 interview, might be to encourage that member to drive his car a little bit longer and save his money.

USAA has had a more than decade-long partnership with TrueCar Inc., a Santa Monica., Calif., company that provides pricing data on new and used cars and connects users to its dealer network. TrueCar has maintained a car-buying website for USAA to assist its members in the car-buying process.

So just how would that advice to the soldier — to wait before buying a new vehicle — go over with TrueCar, given USAA is its largest customer and a major shareholder?

“I don’t care,” replied Parker, a former financial planner. “They’re not who I’m serving. I’m serving the members. I want what’s right for that individual member.”

On ExpressNews.com: Parker climbs to the top at USAA

A USAA spokesman later added the company cares “very much” about its relationship with TrueCar because it provides “real value to our members.”

USAA’s shift to an advice-centric organization is the crux of a couple of lawsuits filed against USAA, TrueCar and some of its officers and directors this month in Delaware federal court.

According to the suits, in June 2017, USAA’s co-branded car-buying website was redesigned. The change required members to provide information about their personal finances and monthly budgets.

“The purpose of these questions was to make sure USAA members could actually afford to purchase the cars before they could access the car buying site,” the suits say.

The redesign had a “material, negative impact” on the number of USAA members who were redirected to TrueCar’s web platform, hurting its bottom line, the suits add.

The actions are derivative lawsuits, brought by individual TrueCar shareholders on behalf of the company. So the company, not the shareholders, is entitled to any damages that are recovered.

The Oklahoma Police Pension and Retirement Fund, on behalf of TrueCar shareholders, originally sued the company over the website changes in a federal class-action lawsuit in California. USAA is not a defendant in that suit. Two months ago, a judge denied TrueCar’s motion to dismiss the case.

The Delaware suits contain various claims, including gross mismanagement and unjust enrichment by the individual defendants.

USAA is accused of insider selling, disposing of a chunk of its TrueCar shares before it was publicly disclosed that it had made changes to its car-buying site. The suit demands that USAA turn over any profits obtained through “improper” stock sales.

Last week, the plaintiffs moved to consolidate the two lawsuits. Calls to two plaintiffs’ lawyers were not returned.

In an email, USAA spokesman Matt Hartwig said, “USAA disputes any allegations that it acted improperly and will vigorously defend” itself.

TrueCar didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The partnership

More than a decade ago, USAA was receiving increasing complaints from customers who believed they were being taken advantage of by auto dealers.

USAA officials considered whether the company should build its own dealership network or partner with a company that could help its members.

In 2007, USAA chose to partner with TrueCar.

It also marked the first time USAA made a direct investment in a company, leading to the creation of a separate division called Corporate Development in 2009. It oversees USAA’s investments in fledgling companies. It had invested in more than 25 companies as of early last year.

On ExpressNews.com: USAA’s $330 million venture capital fund

The insurer became TrueCar’s largest shareholder with a more than 20-percent stake. USAA previously has declined to say how much it initially invested.

USAA estimated last year that its members purchased 1.5 million vehicles and saved more than $3 billion through TrueCar since the partnership started. On its website, USAA says members saved an average of $3,554 off the manufacturer’s suggested retail price on new vehicles in 2017.

In 2016, more than 254,000 vehicles were purchased through the car-buying site TrueCar maintains for USAA. USAA members were TrueCar’s largest source of revenue, accounting for 32 percent of all units purchased from its dealer network that year.

The company has been critically important to TrueCar’s business, the suits say. Under “risk factors” in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, TrueCar warned that USAA had “broad discretion” to make changes to the car-buying site.

USAA, in fact, made changes. The redesigned site sought to gauge whether members could afford a new vehicle. That caused some members to “pause, perhaps not continue, (or) perhaps come back at a later date,” TrueCar CEO Victor “Chip” Perry said on a Nov. 6, 2017, conference call with securities analysts, according to a transcript.

Sales fall

That contributed to a 5 percent decline in unit sales from USAA members in the quarter ended Sept., 30, 2017, from the same period in 2016, TrueCar reported. Dealers pay TrueCar a fee of $299 for each new car and $399 for each used car sold, according to the suits.

The conference call marked the first time the website redesign was disclosed to investors, the suits say.

A day after the call, TrueCar’s stock plunged 35 percent to $10.58 from $16.34.

The lawsuits allege that in April 2017, ahead of the website changes, USAA and some TrueCar insiders sold some of their shares in a secondary offering for $16.50 a share. They realized 90 percent of the proceeds from the offering, or $151.8 million, the suits add.

USAA sold more than 3 million shares for a total of $51.7 million. Today, USAA owns about 9 million shares, or 8.6 percent of the shares, making it the third largest TrueCar shareholder.

A few months after the offering, the lawsuits say some company officers “illicitly” profited by selling nearly 1 million shares for about $19 million.

“These insider sales were executed under highly suspicious circumstances and while the (sellers) possessed material, adverse, non-public company information,” the suits add.

Among other demands, the lawsuits want the court to direct TrueCar to improve its corporate governance and internal procedures — including controls over insiders’ purchases and sale of stock.

TrueCar’s annual financial reports for the last couple of years show sales generated by USAA members actually rose. USAA members bought 261,307 vehicles in 2017 and 271,830 vehicles last year. They accounted for 27 percent of all of TrueCar’s unit sales in both years.

TrueCar revenue has been steadily rising each year, reaching $353.6 million last year. Its lost $28.3 million last year, the third straight year it has narrowed the loss. Still, its combined losses since inception have climbed to about $373.5 million.

Patrick Danner is a San Antonio-based staff writer covering banking and civil courts. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | pdanner@express-news.net | Twitter: @AlamoPD