My insurance renewal came in from eSure the other day and as it had gone up by well over £100 I thought it was high time to jump online and go through the pain of entering countless details in the hope of finding something cheaper. After going through all the main comparison sites (and rejecting a few cheap premiums offered by "internet only" insurance companies), I went to the Aviva website and was pleasantly surprised to find that their quote was substantially less than my eSure renewal figure for a better level of cover.

 

Now maybe I'm just a victim of advertising, but I thought hey, here's a big name company offering a good price...can't go wrong! So I went ahead and bought it, feeling generally quite smug that I'd saved a bunch of cash.

 

As someone who tends to look at reviews before buying most things, I then thought maybe I'd just check out Aviva's online reviews...and lo and behold they are completely and utterly awful! Countless reviews from very unhappy customer's about how Aviva had treated them badly, mishandled claims, etc, etc. 

 

So I was just wondering if anyone on here has used Aviva and had to make a claim? Were they OK? Or do the bad reviews paint an accurate picture and would I therefore be well advised to cancel and run far away from them?

I'll probably put the kybosh on my future relations with them, but I've been with them for over 17yrs & had one major claim with them. The claim (I totally wrote off my car) they stated was lower than market value, but this is what you expect from any company! So I sent of a detailed list of all the mods (declared) & new MOT, fully serviced etc etc & told them how much it would cost to purchase one of the local forecourt. They stated they had got their cost by looking at the local VW forecourt & had asked them about the car & the dealership knew my car & admitted to the insurance. So I just stated that if you all know my car & agree it is in good condition & that the dealer asks £X for a similar one why are you giving me way less than that? What do I pay my cover for?

 

Anyway got nearly what I wanted, & all dealt with quickly. I also had my recovery/ breakdown with them as well & each they have been goo as usually they use RAC!

Thanks for the info...puts my mind at rest a little! Tbh what you experienced was similar to what I experienced with eSure - had an accident a few years ago and they wrote the car of; first offer they made was below what I was hoping for but I managed to barter them up. Like you say, it's standard practice for all insurers I think.

 

Ah well...hopefully I'll never know what they're like when making a claim! Fingers crossed 

We have used Aviva for the last three years, had one claim, not our fault. Claim handled quickly and allowed to used body shop of my choice. However, when body shop didn't get it right first time Aviva didn't really want to know, but issue sorted by body shop. Overall they seem ok and reasonably priced.

Hi,

Please feel free to give us a try for insurance if you like. If you wanted to PM me some contact details I'd be happy to arrange for one of my quotes team to give you a call back.

Regards,

Dan.

Hi,

Please feel free to give us a try for insurance if you like. If you wanted to PM me some contact details I'd be happy to arrange for one of my quotes team to give you a call back.

Regards,

Dan.

Quotes generally ranging between £250 and £350 Not had much luck with forum sponsors up until now, but for the first time the other day decided to give Adrian Flux a ring. 

 

Takes the biscuit this one

 

Was put on hold while the first person discussed a couple of mods with the underwriter, trouble is she left the mic open. Heard them taking the p*** out of the fact I drove a Skoda, then proceeded to give me a quote over £900.

 

To add insult to injury they never sent the quote through via email even if i was daft enough to take the cover.

 

Good for a Skoda forum sponsor.

I can whole-heartedly recommend Chris Knott (also a sponsor), got 2/3 of the household cars with them now (Standard Octavia Scout and a Nissan 100NX) The Scout was £280 and the NX £230somthing. The NX was done in one call (giving all the details etc), the Scout then followed......"oh yes, we've got all your details here".....done in less than 5 minutes. :)

I think Aviva are no better or no worse than others. Take your premium off you at a decent price then at renewal if you're lucky it hasn't gone up too much. Maybe the second renewal is considerably higher for no reason and when queried they give you some guff about, well it was a good opening/new customer quote in the first place. That's the time you get back on the internet and try elsewhere. Or if the company you are with quote you a lower price on an internet quote than the renewal you have had from them in the post, time to change or barter them down.

I want the time to come when the insurers actually reward you with a loyalty price, all this talk about we give you NCB for good driving what about a reward for staying with them as well. It seems some want you off their books the way they shoot the price up.

Fought Aviva over a motorcycle write off claim and lost. Couldn't afford to replace bike with payout.  :S

 

Many years later Aviva home insurance was terrible after upstairs plumbing failure took down kitchen ceiling.  I ended up £2500 out of pocket after their small print team got out of paying 75% of the bills for repairs to ceiling and shower room above.  :(

 

I will never ever deal with Aviva again.

Aviva are a bit like "nameless insurance company I work for" in that they tend to charge a bit more because they have excellent customer service and claims handling. At least that's what they say - most everyone I've known that has claimed with them has had issues so I think it's mostly marketing.

I want the time to come when the insurers actually reward you with a loyalty price, all this talk about we give you NCB for good driving what about a reward for staying with them as well. It seems some want you off their books the way they shoot the price up.

Reality is very few insurance cos make any real money off new business. Everyone wants insurance cheap but costs are increasing. Thus renewals often get loaded because even if only 40% of business is retained at renewal there is more profit in that than writing business at or less than cost just to retain it. Before you take into account risk loading for car type, postcode, miles travelled etc etc you'd be surprised how much of the average premium is based on covering the cost of writing it in the first place.

^^^^^ I understand what you're saying and can fathom out now why an increase on your premium is reduced when you kick up about, I can get it xxxx cheaper elswhere etc..

Still don't agree why it has to be this way though.

I think Aviva are no better or no worse than others. Take your premium off you at a decent price then at renewal if you're lucky it hasn't gone up too much. Maybe the second renewal is considerably higher for no reason and when queried they give you some guff about, well it was a good opening/new customer quote in the first place. That's the time you get back on the internet and try elsewhere.

 

This reflects my own experience with Aviva.  I've taken out both car and house insurance with Aviva on two separate occasions in the past.  On both occasions the first year premiums were competitive but the second year premiums increased by 25-35%.  I went elsewhere.

 

I will never ever deal with Aviva again.

 

And this reflects my own feelings towards Aviva.

I can whole-heartedly recommend Chris Knott (also a sponsor), got 2/3 of the household cars with them now (Standard Octavia Scout and a Nissan 100NX) The Scout was £280 and the NX £230somthing. The NX was done in one call (giving all the details etc), the Scout then followed......"oh yes, we've got all your details here".....done in less than 5 minutes. :)

 

Thanks RainbowFire!

 

@slicendice, I'm not suggesting you do this but we'd be very happy to quote for you should you decide to cancel the Aviva policy within your 14 day cooling off period.

I was insured through a local broker for years, albeit they where swallowed up by Swinton years ago, and always got a got a great deal to about 4 years ago when the company they used stopped doing motor insurance and my renewal nearly trebled .. I've never been back with them as they can't even come close to online prices and I've had 4 different companies since as every year the renewal sky rockets up once they have you onboard

SWMBO has just left ESure as well when their renewal took the ****.

I was with them for about 5 years (although having to haggle every year), one year they refused to haggle on price and I left. Been with various companies since.

 

I remember Aviva always being 2nd or 3rd best price when I was looking but never actually bought with them.

 

Been with Chaucer for 2yr with only a windscreen claim.

Haha!  SWMBO's broker offered her renewal with (bloody) Aviva this year.  Phoned up to decline their kind offer and they wanted to know why - Oops! that set me off on a bit of a rant TBH. They got the message.

 

Unlike Sky who keep phoning to offer me movies and sports - that I cancelled in May 2000 after they f***ed me over a bill.  They must like hearing that rant still going on 15 years later!!