Aviva aims to shake up insurance

AVIVA is to expand its “Netflix-style” insurance-on-demand service, which allows customers to pay monthly without cancellation fees by adding separate travel cover, protection and savings.

AvivaPlus, unveiled this month, promises to give existing customers the same or better prices than new ones. Users that purchase and manage their home and car insurance policies from it can use computers or smartphones to select one of three tiers of cover.

Aviva UK managing director digital Blair Turnbull said that travel insurance will be the next product added to the platform, in the summer.

AvivaPlus is being rolled out to customers and users can pay monthly for their insurance with no interest charges. Quotes are easy to obtain and the firm claims that the claims decisions are made quickly on electrical items under £2,000.

He also predicted that other insurers will follow suit and shift their business models away from selling traditional annual policies with high renewal costs to more flexible, convenient products. “People find insurance a hassle, they want to it to be easy, flexible and for loyalty to be rewarded. The future is for insurance to be an on-demand service. Others will see this and say yes, that’s what we want to do,” he said.

Although Aviva expects people to increasingly use its app and website to conduct their business and that its artificial intelligence will be able to handle their problems, customers will always be able to speak to a human.

“We’re conscious that for the people who need it, there will always be a human element, especially when it comes to claims,” he said.

According to the insurer’s research, charging existing customers more for their cover than new ones is the most hated industry practice, with 82 per cent saying it is unfair.

The second most hated thing is taking no claims discount away when the accident is not their fault at 78 per cent. In third place at 72 per cent is charging a fee to change or cancel a policy.