Aviva Car Insurance

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Aviva writes its motor policies through Aviva Insurance Limited, a company registered in Scotland at Pitheavlis in Perth under number SC002116, authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by both the PRA and the Financial Conduct Authority under firm reference 202153. That reference is worth keeping: it lets you confirm on the Financial Services Register that the company taking your premium is the company carrying the risk, which is not always the case with motor brands sold online.

Scale is the first thing a driver is buying here. Aviva served almost 22 million UK customers at its 2025 full-year results, published on 5 March 2026, with group general insurance premiums up 18% to £14,145m and the UK and Ireland general insurance book up 27% to £9,787m at an undiscounted combined operating ratio of 94.1%. Its own repair network put more than 73,000 vehicles back on the road during 2025, and work done through that network is guaranteed for as long as you keep the car rather than for a fixed number of years.

The comprehensive wording is generous where it matters day to day. Personal belongings are covered to £500, tools to £500, non-manufacturer accessories to £1,000 a claim, and a child car seat is replaced after an impact even where nothing looks broken. Lost or stolen keys are met up to the market value of the car with no excess to pay, and being hit by an uninsured driver costs you neither your excess nor your claim-free years provided you can hand over the other registration. Aviva holds a 5 star Defaqto rating on its car product and says it was named a Which? recommended provider for car insurance in both 2025 and 2026.

What the published limits actually say

Aviva prints most of the numbers that matter in its product information document rather than burying them in a schedule you only see after buying, which makes the cover unusually easy to price against a rival before you commit. Motor injury protection pays £5,000 per person per period of insurance as standard; the optional Plus version lifts that to £120,000 and adds up to £500 each per claim towards physiotherapy. Recovery of a damaged car is met to £500, and motor legal services, if you add them, run to £100,000.

A car written off or stolen in its first 12 months is replaced with a new one where the damage comes to more than 60% of the UK list price, provided you were the first registered keeper and bought it new rather than as an ex-demonstrator. A courtesy car comes with comprehensive cover only and stays with you for the whole repair, or for up to 28 days if the car is stolen or declared a total loss. On the Aviva, Gold and Platinum tiers the loan car is a three-door hatchback, or a five-door on Platinum.

Trips into Europe are where the tiers diverge. The Signature wording allows any one trip of up to 90 days with a total across the year of six months, while the base Aviva tier allows 60 days a trip and Gold and Platinum allow 90 days. A car loaned to you while yours is off the road is covered for up to 7 days. Driving someone else's car on your own certificate is limited to policyholders aged 25 and over and gives third party cover only.

Electric and hybrid drivers get more than a footnote

Aviva treats the charging equipment as part of the car rather than as household kit, which is still not universal. Charging cables are covered in the vehicle, while in use, and while stored in a private garage. A wall box fitted in the garage is insured, and comprehensive policies extend to breakdown of a home charging point including the electrical wiring between the fuse box and the unit itself, up to £2,000 a claim.

Batteries held on a lease rather than owned outright are covered as standard. If the car is stolen or written off, Aviva settles the vehicle's value minus the battery and deals with the battery separately with the manufacturer, which avoids the settlement stalling while the two sides argue over who owns what. Run flat on charge and, on comprehensive cover, an RAC mechanic will either put in enough charge to reach a working point or move the car and up to seven passengers to a working charger or your home, whichever is nearer. Hybrids are excluded from that last one.

The regulator's own reading of why motor claims cost more

Any quote makes more sense against what the market is paying out, and the sharpest free source is the FCA's multi-firm review of motor claims costs, published in July 2025 and drawn from 12 insurers covering more than half the private motor market. Between 2019 and 2023 total claims costs rose 34%, an increase of £2.3bn. The average claim went from £2,410 to £3,293, and cost per policy from £309 to £391.

The detail explains the delays drivers notice. The average insured vehicle rose in value by 42%, from £9,319 to £13,223; the wait to get a car into a body shop more than doubled from 15 days to 31 days; and bodyshop labour rates climbed 28%, from £35 to £45 an hour. Theft claims grew 14% more frequent and 49% more expensive. Claims made against untraced and uninsured drivers cost the Motor Insurers' Bureau £452m in 2024 against £329m in 2019, roughly 2.78% of what an average driver pays.

The FCA's general insurance value measures, published on 21 July 2026 for calendar year 2025, show the other side of that. Motor premiums fell 7% across the market during 2025 while claims costs as a share of premium rose from 54% to 59%. A renewal quote that has not moved much is doing so against a market where insurers kept less of every pound.

The excesses that stack behind the headline price

Aviva's excess structure rewards using its own suppliers and charges you for going elsewhere, and the amounts are set out plainly enough that there is no excuse for being caught out. Glass repaired through the approved fitter costs a £10 excess and a replacement costs £115. Use a fitter of your own choosing and the payout is capped at £185 in total, which will not cover a modern windscreen carrying the cameras for lane assist and automatic braking, all of which need recalibrating once the glass is fitted.

The same principle applies to body repairs, where taking the car to your own garage rather than an approved one adds a specific £200 excess on top of whatever excess your schedule already carries. On third party, fire and theft the accessories limit drops from £1,000 to £100. Cancel inside the 14 day cooling-off period after cover has begun and there is a £38 charge plus insurance premium tax as well as the pro-rata deduction; cancel later and the same £38 applies.

Several headline figures are not published at all. Personal accident benefit, medical expenses and the compulsory excess itself all appear only as the amount "shown in your schedule", which means they depend on the tier and the quote and cannot be compared across insurers until you have gone through a full application. Aviva also sells motor cover under Signature, Aviva, Gold, Platinum and the separate Aviva Zero brand, so two quotes carrying the same logo are not necessarily the same contract.

What Aviva's own complaints figures show

Firms of this size have to publish their complaints data, and Aviva's is on its own website rather than buried elsewhere. For the half year from 1 July to 31 December 2025, Aviva Insurance Limited opened 49,795 general insurance complaints, a rate of 2.72 per 1,000 policies. It closed 43.5% within three working days and a further 54.2% between three days and eight weeks. The uphold rate was 52.6%, meaning slightly more than half of everyone who complained was found to have had a point. The most common subject was general administration and customer service rather than a declined claim.

A complaint that cannot be settled goes to the Financial Ombudsman Service free of charge, at Exchange Tower, London E14 9SR, and Aviva is bound by its decisions while you are not. Ombudsman figures for the first half of 2025 record 1,463 new complaints about Aviva Insurance Limited across general insurance and protection, against an overall uphold rate of 32% in the consumer's favour, down from 35% a year earlier. Aviva's motor complaints line is 0345 030 6984, with claims complaints on 0345 030 6925. Should the insurer be unable to meet its obligations, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme may cover the shortfall.

Figures were taken from each provider's own published terms on 22 August 2026. Variable rates can change at any time — confirm the current rate with the provider before applying.