Research commissioned by insurer
Aviva has found that six out of 10 people believe that providers only settle between 31% and 60% of claims – a stark contrast to the 96% of claims the firm accepted in 2016.
Aviva has revealed that it paid £2.7 billion last year in cash settlements and services to more than 775,000 UK policyholders across motor, home, travel, protection, and health insurance policies. The reasons for the non-settlement of the remaining 4%? The top ones cited by Aviva were fraud, misunderstandings on the level of cover or nature of the policy, and failure to disclose vital information when taking the policy out.
Here’s the breakdown:
| Aviva individual claims paid 2016 |
Claims settled |
Claims settled (%) |
| Private motor (not including third party) |
360,278 |
99.8% |
| Home |
93,172 |
93.2% |
| Travel |
106,735 |
87.8% |
| Life insurance |
15,525 |
98.9% |
| Critical illness |
4,268 |
92.3% |
| Income protection |
3,549 |
92.6% |
| Health insurance and group protection |
192,000 |
94% and 95.4% |
Among the biggest claims were a £700,000 fire-related home insurance claim; a travel insurance claim for medical expenses worth over £500,000; and a car repair for more than £100,000. Meanwhile smaller claims are attended to faster, thanks in part to digital tools such as online portal MyAviva.
“There’s no such thing as an ‘average’ claim. Each claim has its own story – a human story – where our customers are relying on us for our help and expertise to put things right,” stressed Rob Townend, Aviva’s UK claims director. “This is why people buy insurance – to remove uncertainty from their lives. Helping our customers when they need it most is why we are here.
“Where we haven’t paid a claim, we wanted to share the main reasons why, and what our customers can do about it. That’s why we have published our ratio of settled claims across a broad range of personal lines business, from health and general insurance to life and protection.”
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