Ageas can trace its roots back to 1824 when its forebear was founded in Belgium. The insurer’s UK operations are run out of Eastleigh in Hampshire.
Defaqto: 5/5 stars
The Ageas car insurance policy is rated as five star by Defaqto. Its Essentials policy received a three-star rating.
Note: Not all Defaqto products with the same star ratings have the same covers and terms.
TrustPilot rating: 4.4/5 stars
TrustPilot awarded Ageas an 'excellent' rating of 4.4 stars out of five, based on 5,506 reviews.
Ageas is one of this country’s largest home and car insurers, protecting five million customers’ cars, homes and businesses.
It runs the Ageas and Rias brands, and works in partnership with various well-known names, including Age UK and Tesco.
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Ageas provides two types of car insurance, offering third party, third party fire and theft or comprehensive cover on each:
Ageas car insurance: the standard policy
Ageas Essentials car insurance: a more streamlined policy, with fewer features and benefits than the standard offering. For example, European cover is not available
Ageas does not currently offer black box insurance, which is designed to cheaper cover as a GPS telematics box is installed to track driver performance. Neither is multi-car insurance available, or short-term or temporary car insurance.
Ageas car insurance provides standard cover for third party only, third party fire and theft and comprehensive cover. Only comprehensive insurance will cover certain requirements, but the following items are provided for all policyholders.
Costs of claims resulting from injury or death caused by a road traffic accident are covered by the policy.
Damage to windows, the windscreen and sunroof are all covered. Repairs are free from an excess, replacements are subject to a £60 excess.
Personal belongings are covered up to a value of £300.
If a child car seat is fitted at the time of an accident the cost of a new one of the same or similar model and standard will be covered.
Any damage to the car and the cost of having the fuel tank drained is covered under this policy.
Ageas will reimburse any excess paid following a claim and reinstate the policyholder’s no claims bonus.
Policyholders can contact the Ageas UK claims line at any time, all year round.
Aside from the standard features of Ageas car insurance, customers can opt to buy additional extras, which include the following items.
Different levels of car insurance cover are available. The full package offers:
24/7 roadside assistance
onward transport
UK vehicle recovery
home assistance
roadside assistance in Europe
Legal expenses cover provides up to £100,000 to assist in recovering loses that are not otherwise insured for through the policy, including personal injury and compensation for damaged belongings.
If the insured’s vehicle has been written off following a no-fault accident, or it has been stolen, Ageas will provide a hire car for up to 14 days.
Excess protection cover ensures that after a claim the insured will not have to pay the first £500 of any claim if the money cannot be recovered from a third party.
The cost of replacing lost, damaged or stolen keys and locks, up to £1,500 is covered with this additional level of cover. Plus, up to £75 is available for three days to ensure the policyholder can get home.
if you have small children and appreciate the benefit of getting replacement child car seats
if you are concerned about potential losses arising from an incident involving an uninsured driver
if you are reassured to know that up losses of personal belongings up to £300 would be covered
if you want access to a 24/7 claims line
Ageas fended off a takeover bid in the late summer, which resulted in a rise in its share price. BE Group had placed Ageas in its sights, showing willingness to snap up the €3.8 billion insurer, but the jury is out as to whether it will make another approach.
The Financial Ombudsman Service received 162 car insurance complaints about Ageas, under two identities with 152 and 10. That gives Ageas just over 3% of complaints but it has about 6% market share so received a much smaller proportion of complaints than might be expected for its size. To put that in context, 67 firms had 10 or more complaints each and those totalled 4,550 complaints. Nearly 200 firms had fewer than 10 each, sharing just 479 complaints between them.
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