From monkey business to horse play: Aviva reveals weird claims of 2018

Aviva has revealed some of the weird claims it has covered in the past 12 months.

The insurer replaced the mobile phone of one holidaymaker whose bag was snatched by a monkey, which then went bananas and smashed the device on the ground.

Another customer saw a horse mistake their car for one of its own and proceed to become better acquainted. The horse even managed to get its front legs onto the vehicle. Aviva went the extra furlong and arranged for the bodywork to be repaired.

Weird claims covered in the past year also included damage to the heads of wax versions of Ben Affleck and Justin Bieber, and to a shed in which a hapless burglar became trapped.

On a more serious note, Aviva went on to reveal that it accepted 991,700 claims—or 96%—from its UK customers in 2018.

Together, these claims were worth more than £3.8 billion.

The big events resulting in claims last year included the fire at the Liverpool Echo Arena car park on New Year’s Eve 2017, which saw Aviva receive 120 fire claims.

The Beast from the East resulted in around 7,000 home insurance claims due to storm, flood and freeze in the first half of the year.

Aviva also accepted around 3,000 weather-related motor claims in the first half of 2018, mainly due to the adverse weather from Beast from the East.

Last year ended with drones disrupting air traffic at Gatwick Airport. The holiday timing of this caused delays and cancellations for thousands of holidaymakers.

Andy Briggs, chief executive officer of Aviva UK Insurance, said: “In last year’s claims report we promised we would continue to improve our processes to make it even easier for our customers to claim. We have made substantial progress against this goal in the last year, launching a range of digital tools to make claiming easier for customers, from booking and tracking car repairs online to a digital tool that can settle total loss motor claims on the same day.”

“A significant milestone on this journey came with the pilot and launch of AvivaPlus. While much has been made of AvivaPlus’ renewal price guarantee and simplified policy terms, there is also an important claims element that benefits customers, such as quick claims decisions on electrical items under £2,000.”

“At Aviva, our purpose is to help customers defy uncertainty. It’s important that our customers can count on us when the worst happens. I’m proud that last year we were able to help so many of our customers when they needed us most. But, like last year, we will continue to improve the claims process for our customers so it is effortless.”

Mark Dugdale