Partially upheld: Service failures generally complaint against AXA Insurance UK Plc

Decision detail

Summary

Mr A complained that AXA mishandled a third party's claim arising from a minor parking incident in October 2024. Although Mr A questioned whether he caused the damage, AXA decided to settle the third party's claim in December 2024 and paid approximately £6,000 in November 2025 without informing Mr A. The ombudsman found AXA's settlement decision was fair and reasonable under the policy terms, but upheld the complaint in part due to AXA's poor communication, conflicting information, slow responses to Mr A's emails, and failure to distinguish between Mr A's claim and the third party's claim. These failings caused Mr A significant distress over 9 months, and the ombudsman directed AXA to pay £500.00 compensation for distress and inconvenience.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that AXA's decision to settle the third party's claim was fair and reasonable given the policy terms granting AXA full control of claims and the low prospect of successfully defending liability. However, AXA's service fell significantly below reasonable standards through multiple communication failures: conflicting information about claim status and NCD impact, failure to communicate the liability decision until January 2025, slow responses to Mr A's emails, failure to distinguish between Mr A's claim and the third party's claim, and failure to inform Mr A that the claim had been paid. While Mr A's evidence did not establish that AXA caused a psychological injury, the cumulative effect of these failings caused serious distress and inconvenience over a 9-month period.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website