Getting you back to normal following a claim and doing this as quickly and efficiently as possible is at the heart of what we do.
Unfortunately, world-wide supply chain disruption due to issues such as Covid-19 and the conflict in Ukraine is impacting our ability to do this as effectively as we’d like.
While this is an industry-wide issue, we wanted to let you know how we’re minimising the impact on you.
What are the impacts across the industry?
Workforce absences due to Covid-19 have put a strain on skilled workers available to repair damaged vehicles after an incident. Also, with more technologically advanced vehicles on the road, with more sophisticated parts, appointing specialist repairers is often required.
A lack of availability and delays in being able to source materials and parts means you’re waiting longer for damaged items to be replaced or repaired. In car insurance, this has impacted the availability and duration of hire/courtesy cars while vehicles are being repaired.
What are we doing to reduce the impact?
We’ve been working closely with all our suppliers and making changes where we can. This includes:
- Increasing capacity
- We have a strong advantage owning Solus, a group of over 20 body shops across the UK. They have a team of highly skilled technicians who have updated their working patterns, operating around the clock to increase capacity and ensure repair times are kept to a minimum.
- Across our motor approved network, we’re sending work to those repairers who have the greatest capacity.
- Repair over replace
- In some circumstances we can repair rather than replace damaged items, especially when new ones are difficult to source. Not only can this be less disruptive to you, but it’s also more in line with our sustainability ambitions. While we are working towards our sustainability ambitions we acknowledge that we have relationships with businesses and existing assets that may be associated with significant emissions. More information can be found at https://www.aviva.com/sustainability/climate/
- Keeping you mobile
- We have tested other ways to keep you on the go while your vehicle’s being repaired. Depending on your policy, this can include paying for train tickets, taxis, cycle hire and alternative options in exchange for greener alternatives such as planting trees.
- Internal know-how
- We have a varied team of experts on hand to help manage claims and, more importantly, get you back up and running as soon as possible.
Is there anything you can do?
Please continue to report all incidents to us as soon as possible and provide all the information we need right from the start. By doing this, we’re able to get things moving as quickly as possible.
We also ask you to bear with us. Supply chain issues are being felt right across the insurance industry, and indeed globally, but rest assured we’re doing all we can to minimise the impact on you.