Aviva makes home insurance a lot more simple

Insurance giant Aviva is launching '‹a new way of buying home insurance which promises to simplify the process following new research which shows that three quarters (76 per cent) of UK adults with home insurance feel the industry needs to do more to make it quicker, simpler and cheaper to take out the right insurance policies.

Insurance companies have been criticised in the past for asking too many impossible-to-answer questions and then not paying out when customers make a claim.

The research, which was carried out by Censuswide in December 2017, revealed that 38 per cent UK adults with home insurance say home insurance questions are as hard, if not harder, as GCSE exam questions.

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It also showed that one in three (32 per cent) have given up on an application because it took too long or they didn’t have the right information.

Aviva said it will transform its insurance-buying process by removing unnecessary underwriting questions and ending duplication for customers, making it faster and easier for customers to get accurate cover.

The firm said applicants will only need to confirm a few key pieces of information and this will cut the average time taken to get a price from 10 minutes to just three minutes for new customers who apply for a home insurance quote online directly from Aviva.

The insurer said that simplifying the process of providing accurate information will reduce the risk of a having a home insurance claim rejected.

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Aviva will provide accurate premiums using information customers have previously provided as well as other sources, such as Land Registry data, to simplify the quotation process, remove uncertainty for customers and avoid duplication.

Owen Morris, digital director at Aviva, said: "By removing unnecessary questions, we’re making it quicker and easier for homeowners in Yorkshire to get a home insurance quote, reducing any worry they may have about providing the wrong answers.

“At Aviva we’re determined to make endless, unnecessary, insurance questions a thing of the past. Insurers have a reputation for making things complicated for customers, which leads to frustration and a lack of trust but at Aviva we want to do things differently."

Mr Morris said that until now, taking out insurance has meant running a gauntlet of complex questions to achieve the peace of mind that home insurance can bring but many of these questions - such as the type of door and window locks - can be difficult to answer.

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"By removing these difficult questions, we’re not only saving customers time, we’re reducing any worry they may have about providing the right answers," he said.

“We’re now able to pinpoint the risk of each property in a different way, speeding up the home application process and killing complexity."

Aviva has pledged to further improve its home insurance offering.

“We’re not stopping at this," said Mr Morris.

"Our future aim is cut the number of questions even further and we’re continually looking at ways to innovate. We’ll be applying these principles across other Aviva product and services, including claims, so the experience of dealing with insurers no longer feels like an interrogation. Customers can instead focus on what really matters: identifying what’s important to them and ensuring this is protected.”

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