Finder Life Insurance Customer Satisfaction Awards 2020

We asked customers of some of the UK’s biggest life insurance companies about their experience and whether they would recommend their insurer to a friend or family member.

You can see our winners below, plus a full table of the results and an explanation on how we came up with them.

The winners are based on both overall satisfaction scores (that is, star ratings) and recommendation scores (the percentage of customers who said they’d recommend the brand to a friend). More on this below.

Our life insurance winners

Winner, Best Life Insurance:

LV=

LV= started in 1843 as a burial society, with what was then an early version of life insurance. These days, the company offers various financial products, including two types of life insurance – term life and term life with critical illness. Customers said LV= is easy to use and provides great service.

Read our review of LV= life insurance

Highly Commended, Life Insurance:

Vitality

Vitality’s main advantage over other life insurance providers is that it offers rewards, cashback and discounts for customers who maintain an active and healthy lifestyle. There are several types of policies on offer and customers told us they love the rewards and how easy it is to set it all up.

Read our review of Vitality life insurance

Highly Commended, Life Insurance:

Phoenix Life

Our second runner-up no longer provides life insurance to new customers, but existing customers cited straightforward cover at a reasonable price, and rated the service as worthy of a high commendation.

Read our review of Phoenix Life insurance

Our 2020 life insurance customer satisfaction league table

We asked policyholders to rate their satisfaction with their insurance company, and whether they’d recommend it to a friend. We’ve shown both for each brand in the table below. Our independent survey of 750 insurance customers was carried out in December 2019.

Overall satisfaction	Customers who’d recommend	Issuer	Review
★★★★★	82%		LV= started almost two centuries ago with what was a very early incarnation of life insurance. These days, our life insurance top prize winner provides a range of insurance products through an easy to use, great service (according to customers in our survey).	View deals
★★★★★	81%		Most people will be familiar with Vitality’s bright pink branding and adorable sausage dog ambassador. The customers we surveyed said they loved the rewards Vitality offers for staying healthy and active, as well as how easy the service is to set up.	View deals
★★★★★	80%		Phoenix Life is no longer accepting new life insurance customers, but have a look at the other providers on this table for alternatives. If you want to stick with the Phoenix Group, consider SunLife, which specialises in life insurance for the over-50s.	View deals
★★★★★	77%		The largest general insurer in the UK, Aviva offers three different types of policies – term life insurance, critical illness cover and over-50s life insurance. Customers surveyed praised the high quality of the cover and the good customer service.	View deals
★★★★★	77%		Beagle Street is part of the BGL Group and has three types of life insurance policies, with a maximum age of 64. Customers reported an easy application process and good levels of service.	View deals
★★★★★	81%		Royal London has five different types of life insurance policies on offer, including one for people aged 50-80. Customers reported the company was easy to deal with and its staff were knowledgeable and helpful.	View deals
★★★★★	78%		Sunlife is part of the Phoenix Group and specialises in products for people aged 50 and over, with the maximum age for cover being 85. Customers were impressed with the good service and easy application process.	View deals
★★★★★	76%		Direct Line has several options for life insurance, including a specialist policy for customers aged 50-85. Customers in our survey praised the good levels of service and knowledgeable staff.	View deals
★★★★★	76%		Customers surveyed called the Post Office a trusted and reliable brand. One major advantage here is that, if you have children under four years of age, you can take out cover for a year for free.	View deals
★★★★★	66%		The UK’s largest supermarket is no longer accepting new life insurance customers, but you can still take out car, home and pet insurance through Tesco and enjoy what customers called good value service and helpful and efficient staff, plus earn Clubcard points through your premiums.	View deals
★★★★★	72%		Aegon offers several life insurance options, including critical illness and income protection. The company also has a range of other financial products on its site, like pension funds, ISAs and investment portfolios, plus advice on how to make the most of your money both before and after retirement.	View deals
★★★★★	70%		AIG offers multiple options for life insurance cover, including its Term Life and Life Start policies, which have an age limit of 86 on application. Customers surveyed praised the company’s good and reliable service.	View deals
★★★★★	68%		There are four policies to choose from with Legal & General, with the maximum age for application being 80. The company’s customers told us the service is easy to set up and communication is clear.	View deals
★★★★★	63%		Zurich only has two options for its life insurance, but on the plus side, it offers Love2Shop vouchers as a reward for signing up and promises to plant a tree for every policy it sells (yay the planet!).	View deals

Customer satisfaction ratings methodology

In December 2019, we ran a customer satisfaction survey on insurance providers. 750 people replied and told us their thoughts on their insurance provider in each of five categories (car, travel, pet, home and life).

The survey asked respondents how satisfied they were with their current insurance company (on a scale from one to five, and also whether they would recommend the brand to a friend or not). We turned the results into star ratings and shortlisted the top-performing brands for our awards. When there was a draw, we used the recommendation score (that is, the percentage of customers who said they would recommend the brand to a friend) as a tie-breaker.

Full details of our star ratings for this sector are on the insurance ratings methodology page.