Aviva is introducing a new car insurance brand for internet shoppers who want the comfort of contacting their insurer over the phone before they buy. The new brand, which leverages Aviva’s strong heritage in the insurance motor market, is called General Accident – a well-known and respected brand that has a strong legacy in the motor insurance market and continues to resonate with motor insurance customers today.
- New offering responds to large number of online insurance customers who seek offline reassurance
Aviva is introducing a new car insurance brand for internet shoppers who want the comfort of contacting their insurer over the phone before they buy.
The new brand, which leverages Aviva’s strong heritage in the insurance motor market, is called General Accident – a well-known and respected brand that has a strong legacy in the motor insurance market and continues to resonate with motor insurance customers today.
The launch of General Accident is a further demonstration of Aviva’s strategy to grow its business by helping customers contact us when and how they want to – direct (Aviva), online only via price comparison websites (Quotemehappy.com), and now, online and phone from a price comparison site (General Accident).
The new brand builds on the strong success of Quotemehappy.com, which has more than 300,000 customers across motor and home insurance since its launch in August 2011. General Accident will offer great value comprehensive motor insurance on comparison sites or at www.generalaccident.com, supported by a 24/7 telephone service to offer help and advice from the first quote up to 35 days from when the policy begins to help those customers who want to speak to someone in the days before and after they buy. After this, customers will manage their policies online. For those who need to make a claim, there is a dedicated 24/7 claims helpline.
This is a new route to market not currently offered by the Aviva or Quotemehappy.com brands. Of course, customers can also purchase their policy online if they wish.
Aviva found that although 75% of people now shop for car insurance on price comparison sites1, 21% of people who started buying their insurance online ended up buying it offline2.
Commenting on the launch of General Accident, Steve Treloar, retail director, Aviva, said, “We know that there is more to play for in the price comparison market, and we believe that tapping into the price-savvy, online shopper who may want an element of reassurance before they buy is a great complement to the existing models we offer.
“Given the huge success of our online-only brand, Quotmehappy.com, we felt that there was an opportunity to use another recognisable brand from the Aviva family, with a strong customer heritage, especially in the motor insurance space. General Accident fits the bill perfectly. And because it is already well-known by consumers, General Accident’s strong brand will help us keep marketing costs – and premiums – low, which we know is what online shoppers are looking for.”
The launch of General Accident builds on Aviva’s growing motor insurance business which now has around 2.5 million customers.
Cover includes courtesy car and personal accident as standard with a range of options to add on for those wanting more extensive protection, including EU comprehensive cover and replacement locks.
General Accident was a part of the former CGU and offered general insurance products from the 1880s.
The new service is available exclusively on www.confused.com and is already online at www.generalaccident.com – with further price comparison sites planned for later this year.
-ends-
If you are a journalist and would like further information, please contact: Erik Nelson, Aviva Press Office: 01603 682264 or 07989 427086; erik.nelson@aviva.co.uk
Notes to editors:
2. Consumer research conducted among nearly 877 respondents during September 2012.
History of General Accident:
- General Accident was founded in 1885.
- The General Accident brand was used for many years until the merger with Commercial Union (CU) in 1998 which formed the CGU Group. CGU merged with Norwich Union in 2000, creating what is today called Aviva.
- British painter LS Lowry joined General Accident in the Manchester claims office, where he worked as a clerk until 1910
- General Accident was granted a Royal Warrant by King George V, having insured cars of the royal household since 1908. GA remained the only insurance company ever to have held a royal warrant, since the royal family subsequently decided to limit royal warrants to goods, rather than goods and services.
About Aviva:
Aviva provides insurance, savings and investment products to 34 million customers worldwide.
We are the UK’s largest insurer with over 14 million customers and one of Europe’s leading providers of life and general insurance. We combine strong life insurance, general insurance and asset management businesses under one powerful brand. We are committed to serving our customers well in order to build a stronger, sustainable business, which makes a positive contribution to society, and for which our people are proud to work.
We are ranked as one of the UK’s top ten most valuable brands and Aviva Plc is in the top 10% of socially responsible companies globally in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index. In 2012 we invested £5.7m into our UK communities. One in three of our employees were involved in community investment activities which included giving nearly 30,000 hours.
Aviva is working in partnership with Railway Children through the Aviva Street to School programme to get children living or working on UK streets back into everyday life, especially education. Find out more at www.aviva.co.uk/street-to-school.
The Aviva media centre at www.aviva.com/media includes company information and a news release archive.
For broadcast-standard video, please visit http://www.aviva.com/media/video/.
Follow us on twitter: www.twitter.com/avivaplc