Aviva Car Insurance

luci

We have had both cars insured with Aviva for the past year and now both are up for renewal.

As usual I went through all the comparison sites, read the policies and chose Aviva.

The renewal has come in for the first car (one is due 16 Feb and the other 21 Feb). The renewal premium looks reasonable, about the same or slightly less than last year. We have changed both cars during the year.

I am tempted to just renew with Aviva to save reading all the policies again.

Is there anything about Aviva I should be aware of? I realise you don't know how good an insurance company is until you need to make a claim and wondered how good they are in this respect.

dacouch

It's a good policy, the claims and customers service are mostly offshore so if you don't like offshore call centres it's not for you (Funnily enough they do a lot of the quotes in the UK call centres).

The policies they offer through brokers have wider cover

luci

Thanks for that. So no major concerns then?

I have had to call the offshore call centre a few times to change the car details and with a couple of queries and found them better than some offshore call centres I have dealt with.

What would the wider cover through a broker cover?

We both do about 15000 miles per year commuting to work and I have opted for the enhanced courtesy car.

dacouch

The broker policy includes RAC Breakdown in Europe free of charge (You pay extra if you want RAC in the UK).

You get free greencard cover and most of the rest of the covers are higher amounts.

Direct Companies tend to par their cover back so their price is low, a broker tends not to sell on price alone and will recommend quotes based on a combination of cover, price and claims.

You quite often find the broker price is the same, less or only slightly more than teh Aviva direct price. Obviously you get the services of the broker if you have a claim etc etc.

http://broker.aviva.co.uk/document-library/files/pr/private-car-and-private-car-gold-policy-summary-key-facts.pdf

http://broker.aviva.co.uk/document-library/files/pr/private-car-policy-e-services.pdf

It might be worth trying a local broker, you may also get them to through the Legal Cover in free to get your business. (Most brokers hate Aviva Direct so will do their best to undercut them).

Don't use Swintons

luci

Thanks again.

We don't drive in Europe so don't need that cover and I have Legal Cover through Payless so will be taking that off if I renew. We also have breakdown cover through Auto Aid.

The only other companies I may consider are the RAC and Co-op which both have £70 cashback through Topcashback. I wondered if this would be a bargaining tool to get a lower premium with Aviva if I agreed to stay with them?

Quentin

luci wrote: »

Is there anything about Aviva I should be aware of? I realise you don't know how good an insurance company is until you need to make a claim and wondered how good they are in this respect.

They are unusual in charging an additional (£200) excess (ie on top of any compulsory or voluntary excess you agreed to pay) on a policyholder who wants to use their own choice of repairer rather than accept the aviva repairer.

luci

Thanks Quentin, I had forgotten about that.

Is there any benefit in using your own repairer rather than the Aviva repairer?

dacouch

Some people prefer to use a main dealer if they have a newish car and if you have ever used one of the approved repairers that Aviva actually own (They are under the Solus brand) you would want to avoid them. They have non Solus approved garages but the claims staff will try and direct you to them unless you ask for a different repairer. (We tell all our Aviva clients to ask for a non Solus garage as we have had a hell of a lot of problems with the local branches)

luci

Thanks, that's worth knowing.

My car is brand new, only got it 6 weeks ago, and OH's car is 18 months old, both Fords.

I have checked the Solus site and the nearest branch is 150 miles away. Is it likely that Aviva would direct us to a repairer in the area, possibly Ford? Is it worth calling them to ask who they would use?

I may look into the RAC and Co-op options as I am not keen on paying an additional £200 excess just to avoid Solus.

dacouch

When you put in a claim they suggest approved repairers based on the nearest to your post code (With Solus being given preference). They would not recommend a Solus if it is 150 miles away as they are likely to have 1 or 2 other approved garages within 25 miles of you.

In a way it's nice that your put of by the excess as in the industry it's not a very popular thing so if people vote with their fee Aviva will hopefully do their normal and quietly drop it when they realise it's costing them money.

The amusing thing is when you have a claim the parts are normally the same price eg at manufacturers list prices and if you use a non approved garage they normally negoiate on the labour costs so the differences in price are not as much. The Insurers prefer the approved repairers as they have more control over things and no doubt a longer payment period

luci

Think I'm going to keep my options open and get quotes from the RAC and Co-op. Any thoughts on these two companies?

If the difference including the cashback is minimal I may stay with Aviva or if you have positive feedback on the other two I may change.