Aviva life insurance review
We've analysed the life insurance cover available with Aviva to help you decide if its policies are right for you.
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Founded more than 300 years ago, Aviva now has more than 15 million customers in the UK, making it the nation’s largest insurer.
Its life insurance is designed to give peace of mind that your family will be on firm financial ground should the worst happen.
Aviva can trace its roots back to 1696, with the establishment of the Hand in Hand Fire and Life Insurance Society. Previously operating as Norwich Union, the insurer rebranded to Aviva in 2009. Aviva is now the UK’s biggest insurer and has millions of customers in Europe, Asia and Canada too.
It offers a wide range of insurance products under the Aviva brand, including car, home and travel insurance, alongside life insurance, pensions and investments.
Aviva has three types of insurance that pay out a lump sum in the event of your death (term life insurance and over-50s life insurance) or diagnosis of a life-changing illness (critical illness insurance). For all types, the full amount of cover is only paid out once, even if you have a joint policy that covers two people.
With term life insurance you select how long you want cover to last. For example, you could choose a term that lasts until that hard-to-imagine date in the future when you finally pay off your mortgage. If, during the term, you die or are diagnosed with a terminal illness, your loved ones will get a lump sum payment.
Aviva offers three types of term life insurance.
Aviva’s critical illness plans cover you for a maximum of £1 million if you’re diagnosed with a major illness. After you’ve received one payout in full, the cover ends. For some of the comparatively less serious conditions covered, such as low-grade prostate cancer or Crohn’s disease, Aviva pays out either £20,000 or £25,000 (or a percentage of your cover) on diagnosis and full amount of cover remains intact. You can claim for these once per person covered by the policy.
Aviva offers three types of critical illness cover.
When you take out an Aviva over-50s plan you can start by choosing either the monthly amount you want to pay (between £5 and £100), or the lump sum paid on death, up to the maximum shown in the table below. As with all over-50s life insurance policies, lump sums are typically lower than for standard life insurance policies, and the lump sum may be less than the premiums you’ve paid.
Once you turn 90 or you’ve had cover for 30 years, you stop paying premiums (and perhaps put the savings towards a 100th birthday party to remember).
Aviva fared well in the 2024 Finder customer satisfaction survey, with 88% of its customers in the survey saying they’d recommend the brand to a friend. This put it in fourth place. Many respondents described the service as reliable and helpful, although some views on the prices were mixed.
One customer said: “Aviva are easily contacted if I have a query with my life insurance policy. They always deal with issues efficiently.”
Another simply commented: “Too expensive.”
On the reviews platform Trustpilot, Aviva overall gets 4 out of 5 – classed as “great” – based on more than 32,000 ratings (last updated: March, 2024).
Claims can be made by phone (0800 015 1142), using Aviva’s online form, or in writing to Aviva, Claims Assessment Team, PO Box 520, Norwich, NR1 3WG.
The person claiming will need the policy details and, depending on the claim, may also need to supply medical information (such as a doctor’s contact details) or a death certificate.
If the claim is accepted, payment will be made within five working days of Aviva’s decision.
Finder scores, in blue, are based on our expert analysis. We also show reviews from users, where we've received more than 10, with a score in yellow. We gather more reviews from customers every year in Finder's customer satisfaction survey.
To find out more, read our full methodology.
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