Not upheld: service failure, complaint handling, unfair claim requirements complaint against Aviva Insurance Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr R claimed that Aviva unfairly refused to rectify a windscreen replacement from April 2025, arguing that a wind noise issue indicated a fault with the original repair. He alleged he had reported this issue via a warranty form in June 2025 but received no response. Aviva had no records of any such report and only became aware of the wind noise issue in October 2025 when Mr R reported a new chip. The ombudsman found Mr R's evidence (screenshots lacking identifying details) insufficient to prove he had raised the issue earlier and noted that Aviva's comprehensive system records contained no such report. The ombudsman upheld Aviva's position that the wind noise issue constituted a new claim requiring a new excess and fee, and found the compensation offered (£250 plus £5.67) to be fair for the communication failures that did occur.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Mr R's screenshots did not adequately demonstrate he had raised the wind noise issue with Aviva before October 2025, as they lacked identifying information such as name, vehicle registration, reference number, or verifiable date. Aviva's comprehensive system records showed no warranty report from Mr R until October 2025, and given Mr R's demonstrated willingness to quickly report other problems, it was unlikely he would have waited six months to follow up on an ignored complaint. Therefore, the wind noise issue was a new matter requiring a new claim rather than a correction of the original repair.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website