Aviva Life Insurance

Life Insurance+

Founded

1797

Company Type

Public Limited Company

Company Overview

Aviva was officially formed in 2000 as a result of a merger between CGU PLC and Norwich Union. It adopted the name Aviva in 2002.

With 44.5 million customers in 28 countries, Aviva has become one of Europe’s leading insurance providers as well as one of the largest insurers in the world.

In 2016, Aviva gave £11.3m to promising community projects and paid out £34.4bn to customers in benefits and claims.

Policy Documents

 Aviva Life Insurance Overview

As one of the top providers of Life Insurance in Europe, Aviva offers comprehensive cover that can be tailored to your needs.

• Aviva’s policies offer an extensive range of optional and additional benefits that extend your cover even further.
• Terminal Illness Cover is automatically included in all Life Insurance policies from Aviva.
• Couples covered by Joint Life policies can choose different levels of cover for each person to make your policy more suitable for your needs and budget.
• Aviva regularly publish and have consistently high claims payout rates. In 2016, they paid out for 98.9% of Life Insurance claims.
• Standard Aviva Life Insurance Critical Illness Cover covers 37 full payment critical illnesses as standard as well as 2 partial payment additional critical illnesses and 6 surgical treatments.
• Children are covered for up to 50% of the main benefit (to a maximum of £25,000) under Children’s Critical Illness Cover.
• Waiver of premium uses an Own Occupation definition of incapacity if you are in full-time employment when you apply.
• As well as Critical Illness Cover, Aviva cover for ‘Additional Critical Illnesses’. Additional Critical Illnesses are illnesses that entitle to you a partial payout of either £25,000 or 25% of your main benefit. Claiming for an Additional Critical Illness does not affect your ability to claim for a normal critical illness or life insurance.
• With every Life Insurance policy from Aviva that’s bought through financial advisers, you will have access to their Support Plus benefits. This provides you with access to their Second Opinion service provided by Best Doctors, a counselling and carer support service, and the Bupa Anytime HealthLine.

Aviva Life Insurance Policy Conditions

Drewberry’s Aviva Insurance Review

Key Comparison Points

• The two conditions covered under ‘Additional Critical Illness Benefit’ are less advanced cancer of the breast and less advanced cancer of the prostate, both of which are very common cancers. If you are diagnosed with one of these cancers, Aviva will pay out either £25,000 or 25% of your cover amount without it affecting your main benefit.
• Aviva covers 37 full payment critical illnesses as part of their core critical illness cover, whereas other insurers cover more as standard. However, Aviva’s core critical illness cover is usually considered a budget option. Their upgraded critical illness cover is not dissimilar in price to what other insurers offer as standard while also giving some of the most comprehensive cover for critical illnesses on the market. This makes it a worthwhile option to consider adding to your policy.
• If you take out a Joint Life Insurance policy from Aviva, it is possible to choose different levels of cover for each person. This means that as well has having different main benefits, each person can choose to their own additional benefits and upgrades from the options that Aviva provide.
• In some instances, Aviva may offer reviewable premiums rather than guaranteed. This means that you may not always know how much you will be paying for your policy some years down the line. In comparison, some other providers offer only guaranteed premiums and clearly state the increase rate of premiums in the terms when you choose increasing cover policies.

Additional and Optional Benefits

Accelerated Surgery Benefit

Included with Aviva Life and Critical Illness cover, your policy will pay out if the person covered is placed on the NHS waiting list for any of the surgical treatments outlined included on Aviva’s surgery list. The policy will end after the payment of this benefit has been made.

Additional Critical Illness Cover

If you are diagnosed with any of the conditions covered by Aviva’s Additional Critical Illness Cover, the benefit that they will pay out will not be taken away from your main benefit.

Children’s Death Benefit

Included as standard, if a child covered by your policy dies before the age of 18, Aviva will pay out £5,000 to be put towards funeral costs or bereavement counselling.

Hospital Benefit

In the instance that your child is in hospital for more than 7 consecutive nights, Aviva will pay for each night’s stay for a parent (except for the first 7 nights) up to a total of 30 overnight stays.

Upgraded Critical Illness Cover/ Additional Critical Illness Cover

For an increase in premiums, you can upgrade your cover for Critical Illnesses and Additional Critical Illness. In addition to receiving full payment for all of the conditions covered by critical illness, upgraded critical illness cover will also cover for an additional 13 full-payment conditions while upgraded Additional Critical Illness cover will include an additional 36 partial-payment conditions.

Upgraded Children’s Benefit

For an increase in premiums, you can upgrade your policy’s cover for your child. An additional 8 conditions will be added to your child’s critical illness cover and you can receive cover of up to £50,000 for 12 conditions covered under extra care cover and advanced illness. Also included is an ‘advice illness’ benefit which will pay out £10,000 if your child is diagnosed with certain advanced illnesses.

Extra Care Cover

You will be entitled to an additional £50,000 on top of your main benefit if you suffer from debilitating illnesses that have life-changing effects. This includes conditions such as dementia, Parkinson’s disease, locked-in syndrome and permanent severe heart failure.

Fracture Cover

Receive extra cover if you suffer from a fracture, dislocation, tendon rupture or ligament tear that is identified by your policy.

Global Treatment

If you or your child is diagnosed with a serious illness overseas, Aviva will pay out a maximum of £1,000,000 per year (an overall maximum of £2,000,000) to cover the cost of care and treatments. This is available as long as you are still a permanent resident in the UK. Once you reach the maximum benefit within your policy term, this benefit will end.

Support Plus

This benefit is available for free on all of Aviva’s personal protection policies. This gives you access to a second medical opinion from Best Doctors, counselling and carer support, and access to the Bupa Anytime HealthLine. Bupa’s HealthLine puts you in touch with an experienced nurse over the pone to provide guidance and support 24 hours a day for any medical or health related issues you may have.

Aviva Life Insurance FAQs

We try to find out everything there is to know about the policies we advise on to ensure that we are in the best position to match you with the most appropriate policy.

Below, we have answered a few frequently asked questions given to us by our customers about Aviva Life Insurance policies. If you need any further help, please do not hesitate to call us on 01273646484.

Samantha Haffenden-Angear
Independent Protection Expert at Drewberry

Q. Is it possible to change a Joint Life Insurance policy from Aviva into two single policies?

A. Splitting your policy will allow you to keep all of the same terms and cover without any further medical questions being asked of you.

Aviva will allow you to split a joint insurance policy if you and your partner divorce, transfer your mortgage into one name only or if you move into a new house.

Other terms that you will need to meet in order to have your joint policy split include the following:

• Both lives covered by the joint policy are under 55
• Aviva accepted your policy under standard terms
• Your joint policy has been active for more than 6 months
• You notify Aviva of the event inspiring you to split your policy within 90 days of it happening
• Both persons covered by the original joint policy agree to cancel the original policy.

Q.  What sort of conditions are covered by the Extra Care Cover option?

A. Extra care cover is designed to provide support if you experience a life changing medical issue. Instances where you will be able to claim this benefit include:

• You are completely and permanently incapacitated and unable to complete everyday tasks
• You are diagnosed with dementia, Parkinson’s disease or motor neurone disease (MND) before the age of 50
• You are diagnosed with locked in syndrome, permanent vegetative state or minimally conscious state
• You suffer from permanent severe heart failure

Q. What is the maximum cease age for Aviva Life Insurance policies?

A. The maximum cease age of Aviva Life policies will depend on the type of cover you choose. A standard life or increasing life policy has a maximum age of 91.

If you choose to add critical illness cover, however, having guaranteed premiums will reduce your policy’s maximum cease age to 76.

The different benefits that you can add to your policy each have their own cease age as well. There is a possibility that some of your benefits, such as waiver of premium, will end before your policy does and you will be left without that cover.

Need Expert Life Insurance Advice?

As you can see, there are a lot of points to consider when comparing insurers. With so many factors in play, it can be time-consuming to pull up key information across every single insurer in the market, so why not ask an adviser for help?

Why Speak to Us…

We started Drewberry because we were tired of being treated like a number and not getting the service we all deserve when it comes to things as important as protecting our health and our finances. Below are just a few reasons why it makes sense to talk to us.

• There is no fee for our service
• We are independent and impartial
  Drewberry isn’t tied to any insurance company, so we can provide completely impartial advice to make sure you get the most appropriate policy based solely on your needs.
• We’ve got bargaining power on our side
  This allows us to negotiate better premiums for you than you going direct yourself.
• You’ll speak to a dedicated expert from start to finish
  You will speak to a named expert with a direct telephone and email. No more automated machines and no more being sent from pillar to post – you’ll have someone to speak to who knows you.
• Benefit from our 5-star service
  We pride ourselves on providing a 5-star service, as can be seen from our 2335 and growing independent client reviews rating us at 4.92 / 5.
• Gain the protection of regulated advice
  You are protected. Where we provide a regulated advice service we are responsible for the policy we set-up for you. Doing it yourself or going direct to an insurer won’t provide this protection, so you won’t benefit from these securities.
• Claims support when you need it the most
  You have support should you need to make a claim. The most important thing when it comes to insurance is that claims are paid and quickly. We are here to support you during the claims process and make sure it’s as smooth and stress free as possible.

If it is all getting a little confusing and you want to talk you through your options to make sure you find the most suitable cover please don’t hesitate to get in touch.Pop us a call on 02084327333 or email help@drewberry.co.uk.

Samantha Haffenden-Angear
Independent Protection Expert at Drewberry