Aviva Insurance Limited · DRN-6232881

The complaint Mr H complains that Aviva Insurance Limited (“Aviva”) has given him unclear information and unfairly cancelled his insurance policy. Any reference to Mr H or Aviva includes respective agents or representatives. What happened The history of this complaint is well known between the parties, so I’ll summarise events. • Mr H held his motor insurance with Aviva. And on 30 September 2025 he received a renewal notification from Aviva saying the policy would auto-renew on 28 October 2025 with a payment being taken at that time. • On 28 October 2025 Aviva renewed the policy and attempted to take the payment but this failed. • Aviva reached out to Mr H to tell him the payment wasn’t successful and that the policy would be cancelled on 10 November 2025 if payment wasn’t made. • On 7 November 2025 Mr H spoke to Aviva using its live chat service. Mr H described setting up a new policy with a different insurer from 11 November 2025 onwards, wanting to turn off the renewal of his policy and discussed cancellation. Aviva assured him the cancellation would not impact future insurance applications. • On 11 November 2025 the policy was cancelled, and this was communicated to Mr H. He raised a complaint with Aviva using its live chat again, saying he was unhappy it appeared Aviva cancelled the policy instead of him. • Aviva issued a final response saying that because Mr H had failed to make the renewal payment it had correctly cancelled the policy. But it apologised for its agent saying this would cause him no issues in the future. • The complaint came to the Financial Ombudsman Service and our investigator upheld it, saying the live chat demonstrated Mr H wanted to cancel the policy prior to the deadline of 10 November 2025. Aviva’s agent had mistakenly assured him there would be no issues in the future, but they should’ve clarified matters and provided clearer information about the next steps – and this led to the cancellation being insurer led rather than consumer led. So, she told Aviva to amend the cancellation record so that it provided it was consumer led rather than business led. • Mr H agreed and said he was happy to pay for the days of cover he was on risk for. • Aviva disagreed, saying to cancel the policy Mr H would’ve been required to give a clear request, and he would need to make payment for the period of cover in place – which he hadn’t done. And while it agreed the live chat could’ve been clearer, this hadn’t been impactful on the cancellation, and the steps Mr H had taken. So, the complaint has been passed to me for an Ombudsman’s final decision.

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What I’ve decided – and why I’ve considered all the available evidence and arguments to decide what’s fair and reasonable in the circumstances of this complaint. Having done so, I’m upholding this complaint. The crux of this complaint is about the information Aviva gave to Mr H prior to its cancellation of his policy. I’ve reviewed this live chat carefully and this is what my decision will focus on. I will note here Aviva has said it fully accepts the agent in question should have given clearer information regarding the implications of non-payment and the effect this may have on future insurance applications. So, we're in agreement a mistake has occurred. But Aviva has denied that this mistake was impactful to the extent that it has materially changed the course of events regarding the cancellation. I’ll explain why I disagree, and I’ll highlight the live chat to illustrate my reasons. Within the chat, Mr H first explains he was getting in touch to “turn off” the renewal of his policy. And he said he had cover with a new insurer in place from 11 November 2025 onwards. This suggests to me that Mr H understood the cover was coming to an end on 10 November 2025 as he’d arranged the cover for after the deadline previously given to him. When the agent told him the policy would expire on 11 November 2025 if no payment is made he said: “Yes I would like to cancel the policy’s autorenewal and allow it to expire on November 11th 2025” It appears to me Mr H was most likely confused during this conversation, as the policy had already renewed and Aviva was seeking payment for the cover that had continued. And I think there was more here the agent could’ve done to clarify this point with him. At the end of the chat Mr H said: “to confirm, will there be any issues getting insurance in the future after the account expires? I assume the policy isn’t ‘cancelled” This satisfies me Mr H understood the impact an insurer-led cancellation may have on a policyholder and that he was seeking to avoid this. The agent said there will be no issues. I don’t think this is the correct answer as having to declare an insurer led cancellation will often have a significant impact on a consumer’s ability to obtain insurance or the price they pay for cover. And I think the agent should’ve told Mr H this given his specific concern. Furthermore, I think they should’ve highlighted the steps he’d need to take to avoid this (pay his remaining premiums owed and request the cancellation of cover himself). But this didn’t happen. And based on Aviva’s response, I think it was fair for Mr H to be under the impression the policy wouldn’t be classed as an insurer led cancellation. Also, I think from a perspective of foreseeable harm, Aviva’s agent left Mr H on a path that was going to lead to Aviva’s cancellation of his policy (which he’d been clear he didn’t want) – and a simple intervention here and clearer information would’ve most likely avoided this. I think Mr H’s complaint being made so soon after the policy was cancelled further supports

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that his decision would’ve been altered by clearer information from the agent during this first live chat. And his commentary of 11 November 2025 within the follow up live chat is reflective of the steps he would’ve most likely taken – he said he would’ve paid the outstanding balance and stayed with Aviva if necessary. I recognise Aviva has said it requires a clear request of cancellation from a policyholder, and that a payment has to be made. And I think this is right – but in this case I believe the evidence supports that the incorrect information and mistakes made within the live chat led to these steps not taking place. For all these reasons I’m satisfied if Aviva had given clearer information during this chat, Mr H would’ve most likely, on balance, taken steps to pay the outstanding premiums for the days on cover and cancel the policy himself. For these reasons I’m directing Aviva to amend any internal and external cancellation records to customer-led upon payment of the days on risk being made by Mr H. My final decision For all of the above reasons, I’m upholding this complaint and direct Aviva Insurance Limited to amend any internal and external records of cancellation to customer-led instead of insurer-led. Aviva will only need to take these steps once the payment of the outstanding premiums has been made if it hasn’t already. I also direct Aviva to provide a letter to Mr H to this effect that he can give to other insurers if necessary. Under the rules of the Financial Ombudsman Service, I’m required to ask Mr H to accept or reject my decision before 16 April 2026. Jack Baldry Ombudsman

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