Aviva Insurance Review

Published: September 5, 2022
Last updated: July 12, 2024

Written by
Maya Reynolds

Edited by
Zack Fenech

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The team at WealthRocket only recommends products and services that we would use ourselves and that we believe will provide value to our readers. However, we advocate for you to continue to do your own research and make educated decisions.

To prevent the worst from happening to your stuff, Aviva Insurance Canada provides property and casualty insurance for a variety of things, both pedestrian and obscure. This includes insurance for vehicles, travel, homes, condos, and tenants, but also weirder things like horses, home-sharing, prize indemnity, RV sharing, and hole-in-one.

But is Aviva just another dime-a-dozen insurer (you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all) or is it truly worth your time and investment? Let’s dive in and find out in this Aviva Insurance review.

Aviva Insurance: Overview

Providing home, auto, business, and leisure/lifestyle insurance to 2.4 million customers, Aviva Insurance Canada has stealthily become the second-largest general insurance company in Canada and is a subsidiary of Aviva plc, the largest insurance company in the UK.

Kind of under the radar, it is a property and casualty insurance company that is probably best known in Canada as a sponsor of the annual Rogers Cup Tennis Tournament featuring some of the sport’s biggest stars in their only Canadian appearance.

In addition to Aviva General Insurance Company and Aviva Insurance Company of Canada, its products are available through five other insurance companies that it owns: Elite Insurance Company, Pilot Insurance Company, S&Y Insurance Company, Scottish & York Insurance Co. Limited, and Traders General Insurance Company. It also utilizes thousands of brokers across the country and several insurance company intermediaries.

Aviva Insurance initially made its name in Canada by selling hole-in-one insurance, which allows companies, corporations, and non-profit organizations to offer a prize of $5,000 to $50,000 for golf tournaments they’re hosting.

These days, Aviva mostly offers home and vehicle insurance online and touts that it can provide a quote in less than 15 seconds. However, it hasn’t lost its penchant for gimmicky insurance products either.

In addition to horse, ridesharing, prize indemnity, and more, it also sells Raptors and Maple Leafs insurance, home and auto insurance bundled under the name of Toronto’s two main sports teams.

Aviva

Visit Aviva

Insurance Provide Car, House, Condo, Business
Provinces Available All Provinces
Founded 2000

Aviva Insurance: How It Works

Buying an insurance policy from Aviva could not be easier as long as you have an internet connection, and if not, it’s happy to sell you a policy over the phone. In fact, what you’re buying from Aviva has a lot to do with how you can buy it.

If you’re looking for car, home, or travel insurance (that last one actually comes from RBC Insurance after its acquisition by Aviva in 2016), you’ll be able to get a quote online after identifying yourself and providing a few basic details through an online form.

But if you’re looking for something a little more obscure, instead of clicking “Get a Quote,” click “Find a Broker.” This is where you’ll be instructed to punch in your postal code before being presented with a list of Aviva-affiliated insurance brokers near you. On the phone, once you give them the information they need to provide a policy with the appropriate level of coverage, you’re off to the races.

Once you have coverage, you’ll be paying a monthly or, in some instances, annual premium. In the case of travel insurance, however, you’ll just buy a policy outright for the length of the trip you’re taking.

Similar to buying a policy, home and car insurance claims can be submitted by identifying yourself and providing the details of your policy and the incident in an online form. An Aviva agent will then call you to confirm the details and go through the next steps, while other policies are handled through a list of phone numbers that you’ll find when you click “Make a Claim.”

Once you dial the number that corresponds to your Aviva-affiliated insurance provider, the agent or broker will walk you through what to do next. Filing a claim can also be done directly through an independent broker, and if you’re an RBC Insurance customer, you can also make a claim by calling Aviva.

Aviva Insurance: Types of Coverage

Sure, Aviva has the recreational and lifestyle-related insurance market covered, but there are three main types that most Canadians are primarily going to buy:

Home

The basic comprehensive home insurance policy from Aviva covers fire, explosion, theft, vandalism, damage from falling objects, lightning, hail, windstorm damage, and certain types of water damage. You can also extend coverage beyond your home to outside structures such as sheds and gazebos as well as other factors like personal liability, living expenses, and your belongings.

As for policies, they usually include comprehensive insurance that covers everything above, $1 million in personal liability, and optional coverage that costs extra like sewer backup, identity theft, and damaged service line and/or overland water.

The most expensive policies give you comprehensive insurance, all optional coverages, and $2 million in personal liability.

Car

Standard car and auto insurance from Aviva covers injury, death, and property damage as well as healthcare costs and loss of income.

There are also several extra coverages that you can buy for specific needs such as:

Ridesharing
Temporary vehicle replacement
Collision protection,which protects your car during an accident
Comprehensive coverage, which protects against damage not caused by a collision like vandalism, theft, falling objects, etc.
Disappearing deductible,which reduces your deductible every year that you don’t make a claim
Accident forgiveness,which stops your insurance from going up after your first accident, and
Conviction protection, which stops your insurance going up if you get convicted for a minor infraction like a speeding ticket

Travel

Travel insurance is administered by Aviva but sold by RBC Insurance thanks to Aviva’s ownership of the company.

The most coverage you can get includes unlimited insurance for medical emergencies, trip cancellation and interruptions, baggage loss, damage and delays, and flight and travel accidents.

You can also opt just for the travel medical insurance which fills in the coverage that provincial medical insurance leaves behind. With unlimited coverage for emergency medical expenses, you can get 24-hour worldwide emergency travel assistance and emergency dental treatment.

Alternatively, you can just get trip cancellation and interruption insurance which reimburses your trip expenses if you have to come home early, get sick, are unable to take your trip, or delay your return home.

Aviva Insurance: Pricing, Fees, and Policies

Aviva is known for offering countless discounts for its home and auto insurance. Right off the bat, you get 15% off for bundling home and auto insurance together, but separate discounts can be had depending on several individual factors.

For car insurance, you get discounts for having winter tires, no serious or minor driving infractions on your record, automatic emergency breaks, and more. Each circumstance can conveniently knock a few dollars off your monthly premium.

Specific pricing

After answering questions regarding the make and model of your car and your driving record, you can get an insurance quote for your monthly premium.

A single-driver policy with a $1 million personal vehicle liability limit, $50,000 in liability to vehicles that aren’t your own, $500 collision and $500 comprehensive deductible, and $1,000 in loss-of-use coverage would set you back around $130 per month.

The applied discounts would take a few dollars off of that, ultimately coming to around $127.84 per month ($1,534 per year).

Similarly, with home insurance, discounts are applied if you’ve never made a claim, your home is newer, you live in a newer condo building, or you buy your insurance online.

A policy with those discounts on a condo that includes a $1 million personal liability limit, $1,000 deductible, $35,000 in personal property coverage, $17,500 in additional living expenses, $5,000 involuntary medical coverage related to the incident with your home, and $1,000 involuntary property damage coverage would cost $277.56 per month ($3,331 per year).

Extra coverage

You also have the option to select additional coverage at an extra cost, such as coverage for bylaw-related building and repair requirements, sewer backup ($20,000), overland water, jewelry, personal property claim protection (protects your no-claim discount after your first claim), identity theft, and condominium corporation deductible ($25,000).

You can call Aviva to add a disappearing deductible for an extra $50, which would give you 20% off of your premium every year that you are claims-free.

Aviva Insurance Pros & Cons

Pros

Bundling and other premium discounts
Online quotes available for home, vehicle, and travel insurance
International reach
Large broker network
Lots of policy customization and optional add-ons
Many esoteric lifestyle/leisure insurance policies

Cons

Questionable customer service
High renewal premiums
Claims can be mired in bureaucracy

Our Final Thoughts

Aviva gives you many types of insurance with lots of optional and obscure coverages. It also makes it very convenient to get a quote and buy car, home, and travel insurance either online or by phone.

There are many policy discounts that can shave off some dollars here and there. However, read Aviva Insurance reviews from customers and you’ll see that its claims process can be confusing and it can provide less than desirable communication under what are always very difficult circumstances.

If you have read some of the customer comments as well as this Aviva Insurance review, you should now be sure on whether or not this insurance company is suitable for you.

Maya Reynolds

Maya is the former content strategist at WealthRocket, where she focused on article ideation, editing, and writing.

Frequently Asked Questions

What types of insurance does Aviva offer?

Where is Aviva Insurance available?

Who underwrites Aviva Insurance?

What types of insurance does Aviva offer?

Aviva is best known for offering vehicle and home insurance. This includes condo, tenant, and house on the home insurance side and RV, auto, boat, motorcycle, ATV, snowmobile, and collector’s car on the vehicle side. Aviva offers many specialty policies, including equine/horse, ridesharing, home-sharing, hole-in-one, prize indemnity, and RV sharing. Lastly, it also offers employee group plans for businesses. Its travel insurance is administered by Aviva but sold by RBC Insurance thanks to Aviva buying the division in 2016.

Where is Aviva Insurance available?

Who underwrites Aviva Insurance?

Aviva Insurance underwrites its own insurance policies, either directly or through the subsidiaries that it owns. Insurance policies are underwritten by specific subsidiaries depending on the province that the policy originates. The terms of use on the Aviva website explain it this way: “In Ontario, insurance products are underwritten by S&Y Insurance Company. In Newfoundland and Labrador, insurance products are underwritten by Aviva Insurance Company of Canada and S&Y Insurance Company. In all other provinces and territories, insurance products are underwritten by Aviva Insurance Company of Canada and Traders General Insurance Company.”