UK: Claim and fortune - unusual insurance claims and requests

Aviva’s most unusual insurance requests made by wealthy customers

As a leading insurer of some of the UK’s most lavish homes, Aviva is regularly asked to insure some luxurious and often unusual possessions.

Looking back over the last ten years, Aviva has listed its strangest claims and requests for insurance cover from its high net worth customers. Among which features an ornamental Ferrari, a 72 foot dinosaur and a pesky badger.1

Aviva has been asked to insure:

  1. A 1970s Ferrari F1 car, still in full working order but kept on a plinth in a hallway in the house.
  2. A life-size fibreglass model of a Brontosaurus.
  3. A decommissioned MIG fighter jet kept in the back garden.
  4. French holiday home let out for a week long nudist convention. 
  5. Entire garage converted to house a collection of 1950s American petrol station memorabilia.
  6. £200k collection of 1st edition James Bond novels. 
  7. Country house taken over by a film crew and turned into a haunted house. 
  8. £700k mint condition vintage Star Wars collection, most of which is still in the boxes.

Aviva insurance claims:

  • Badger ate my swimming pool: Claim for damage to the lining of a swimming pool which had been chewed and scratched by a badger. The customer sent the insurer the badger fur retrieved from the filter, as evidence.
  • Harpoon gun sparks claim:  A customer was modifying the pressure on the harpoon gun he used for scuba diving when it unexpectedly went off, launching the spear through the bedroom wall and fusing the electrical wiring.
  • CarCoon saved my car: A classic car had a lucky escape when a ladder fell on it while in the owner’s garage. Fortunately, the precious vehicle was kept in a plastic air-filled bubble called a CarCoon, which protected it from any damage.

Richard Alger, high net worth underwriter for Aviva Private Clients, said: “It doesn’t matter how much money you have, protecting the possessions you love is just as important to the rich and famous as it is to anyone else. 

“It’s fascinating to hear the more unusual requests for insurance cover as it goes to show that we all have unique tastes and interests. It can be difficult putting a value on a one-off item, like a life-size brontosaurus. However, we have more than twenty years’ high net worth insurance experience alongside a team of expert valuers.” 

Media Enquiries:

Aviva Press Office | Katy Hurren | 07800 692548 | katy.hurren@aviva.com | @Katy_Hurren

Notes to editors:

1 Aviva high net worth data 2007 to 2017 for high net worth customers 

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