Aviva Auto Insurance Reviews

My car was stolen in the middle of the night right from my driveway as I slept only a few feet away. That was July, 2014. Aviva farms out claims settlement to Cunningham & Lindsay who seem determined to prove to Aviva that they save them as much money as possible. So you get caught in bureaucratic finger-pointing. The policy offered a rental vehicle which I had to exchange after only a few days as it was like a coffin on wheels and not equivalent to the 2011 V-6 Accord that was stolen. Within several weeks, I received an offer prepared by Aviva via C&L who then pulled the plug on the rental vehicle leaving me with nothing to drive. I thoroughly analyzed the 16-page offer and phoned up all ten dealerships to check on the comparables cited. There was no car for sale that low mileage. The offer was very confusing, listing the same ten cars twice using different prices. And only two of the comparable cars shown were the proper model (V-6 NAVI) which retails for at least $2000 higher. This evaluation was unprofessional and bush-league. When I complained and said I was not accepting the offer, it took many weeks more to get a revision which obviously didn't have any further research, nor did it correct for the wrong model. All in all, I didn't receive a cheque until mid-October, three months after the car was stolen and two months after my rental was cut off. Don't go with Aviva and assume that you're going to be protected from something like theft or an accident that's a write-off.
There are two other morals to the story.
1) Don't expect the police to be very helpful. They may pat your hand and say, "There, there.", but a stolen car is either carved up in pieces or on a ship across the ocean within 48 hours. Car theft is big crime but nobody seems to be effective or they're all toothless tigers.
2) Go ahead, buy a Honda and keep it in showroom condition. After all, the third world needs more black market vehicles and Hondas and Toyotas are at the top of the list. Realize that if you take your car in for service (and mine had been just the week before), some car jockey can easily get the keys (even electronic ones) easily duplicated at a car parts store or by a partner in crime.

My car was written off early summer last year when a deer jumped out in front of my vehicle. Like many people said, they were very quick to get me a rental. However, upon settling on an amount they immediately demanded that I return the rental. This left me with very little time to make a decision about a new vehicle. No one should be rushed in this instance. Being in an accident is jarring enough. It can really derail you. Given a week I could have made a better educated decision about my replacement vehicle. I was really unimpressed with this.

Furthermore, I later found that their rates were so much higher than most other companies. I was paying $232/month. When I removed collision I was only dropped down to $211/month. Any other company I had give me a quote had me well in the $150/month range. It would be one thing if you got more for paying more but this really isn't the instance. My inexperience is what led me to go with Aviva in the first place.

No one I spoke with was ever rude. I suppose they had that going for them. Anyways, this is just a good example of 'buyer beware'. Do your research.

I am a 28 year old female who got my g2 license about 3 years ago. Because my family members are insured with Aviva, I got a multi-vehicle discount which made Aviva the cheapest option for me.

The following year, my rate increased by about 10% which they said was due to an introductory discount that you get with them in your first year.
Fine. The year after that, it went up another 13% despite having no accidents or claims. When I called to inquire, they had no explanation.

I found a better rate with Meloche Monnex which has no first year discounts so I know that this is a true base rate. My broker at Aviva tried to talk me out of it by saying that Aviva works through brokers which makes the service more personalized whereas Meloche Monnex works through the corporate office. In my experiences, I have had a much more difficult time contacting Aviva whose brokers seem to have a very lax attitude towards responding to their voicemails. I am put into contact with someone right away when I contact Meloche Monnex.

I am happy with the switch. Beware of rate increases with Aviva.