Since January 2015, AXA has published online the overall percentage of claims made which are paid, and is pleased to now display that information at the product level for Motor, Home and Travel. AXA believes that increased transparency is crucial to lifting consumer trust, and addressing the concern, held by some, that insurers seek to avoid claims. To the contrary, AXA will quickly pay a valid claim, but has a duty to its customers to ensure their premiums are not inflated by the cost of paying fraudulent claims, or claims not covered by the policy purchased.
AXA understands that there can be confusion over what protection insurance policies provide, therefore it has made it a key objective to help customers by making it clearer what they are and aren't covered for and what information they need to provide when taking out a policy.
The claims statistics for the last 12 months to the end of December 2015, published today, show that a high proportion of claims are paid. AXA paid 99.8 per cent of motor claims, at an average value of £3,090, (including the cost of claims made by 3rd parties against our policyholders).
For home insurance, 83.7 per cent of claims were paid at an average value of £3,019. The smaller proportion of claims not paid are largely related to damage caused by wear and tear, or lack of maintenance which are not covered by insurance, and claims for accidental damage (for example wine spilt onto a carpet) made by customers who did not purchase that feature for their policy. AXA informs customers about this and other situations where claims might not be paid on their home insurance web site.
88.5 per cent of travel insurance claims were paid, at an average claims value of £644. Some of the reasons travel claims may be turned down include non-disclosure of a pre-existing medical condition which led to a claim, lack of evidence for the loss, and/or the loss not being covered by the policy. This information and other examples are also provided on AXA’s web pages for travel insurance.
Additionally, AXA PPP healthcare paid over £760 million for over 360,000 of its members in the UK and approved 92 per cent of enquiries for treatment. It also paid 90 per cent of the value of all the medical bills it was sent (information based on data from 2014, 2015 data will be published shortly). Reasons claims may be turned down include the condition or treatment isn’t covered as standard, a benefit limit on the member's plan and/or the condition is pre-existing.
In addition to information on the relevant web pages for home, travel and motor insurance, AXA has introduced short on-line films to help consumers understand some aspects of health insurance, and highlighting the medical conditions customers should declare when taking out a travel insurance policy. The company has also developed a series of documents that explain the common reasons claims are turned down and the most important exclusions that customers should be aware of when taking out a policy.
These measures form part of AXA’s wider agenda to build consumer trust by improving transparency. In May 2015, AXA became the first insurer to publish the previous year’s renewal price for all its motor and home policyholders and this practice has now been extended to direct business insurance customers. AXA also publishes customer reviews of both the buying and claiming experience across all its product lines so that it is easier for consumers to make an immediate assessment of the company’s service.
I believe that introducing this level of transparency is a real watershed moment and I hope it goes a long way to reassure our customers that we are there for them when they need us most. That is our role - to protect our customers as they go about their daily lives, so that they do not need to worry about the financial consequences when things go wrong.
Although the vast majority of claims are paid, there is still work to be done in making it absolutely clear to our customers, not just what their policy covers, but also what it does not cover and we will continue to look for new ways to do that.
There is a misconception that insurers will try to avoid paying claims, but by publishing this data we are demonstrating that the opposite is true. Fundamentally it is an issue of trust and such transparency is a good step towards earning that trust.
| % of claims paid | Average claim paid (£) | |
| Motor | 99.8 | 3,090 |
| Home | 83.7 | 3,019 |
| Travel | 88.5 | 644 |
Full claims statistics and advice can be found at:
Home Insurance - Making claims clear
Motor Insurance - Making claims clear
Travel Insurance - Making claims clear
Healthcare - Making claims clear
The ABI industry statistics can be found here - https://www.abi.org.uk/News