Finance

Quick Notes: Aviva i-Life Online Term Plan

Posted Vinaya HS

As I’d promised in one the comments on a previous post in this series, I’m picking up the Aviva i-Life online term plan for review. In the most recent review, I was super impressed with the flexibility offered by the AEGON Religare iTerm plan. So let’s see if the Aviva i-Life plan has got what it takes to get to pole position. (One of my regular readers of this blog has purchased this plan and he was impressed by the responsiveness of the company as well as the smooth buying process.)

So here’s what I read of this online term plan —

  • The direct information on the website for the product and the downloadable product brochure available on the same website seem to differ in illustrating the specifications for the product. The brochure talks about an optional Accidental Death Benefit rider being available but the website seems to have no mention anywhere about this option. So which one’s correct? My guess would be to trust the website and that’s what I will base this review upon. But surely not a good omen to begin this review with! In a highly competitive market, an insurer cannot afford even the slightest slip-up. Compare this what I said about the AEGON Religare iTerm Plan —

That’s what I am generally liking about AEGON Religare — the portal is very well designed and everything seems to be stated up-front and in a very visible way.

Aviva i-Life product specifications as seen directly on the website (note the absence of any rider options) —

Image of Aviva i-Life Product specifications as seen directly on the website

Aviva i-Life product specifications per the downloadable brochure (note the rider options) —

Image of Aviva i-Life product specifications per the downloadable brochure

  • The maximum maturity age is 70-years which is a good thing since it extends well into traditional retirement but because the maximum policy term is 35-years you might end up without cover for a few years before traditional retirement were you to buy this policy in your very early twenties. But does anyone even buy life insurance policies at that early age? I don’t count this as a significant limitation. But again, the AEGON Religare iTerm plan is one-up because it offers a maximum policy term of 40-years.

  • Otherwise this plan is pretty simple and straightforward.

  • For our usual 30-30-1 benchmark plan (30-year old buying a 30-year plan for Rs 1 crore cover), the indicated premium is Rs 8,279 but this includes service tax. Excluding service tax, the premium works out to around Rs 7,300, the same as our incumbent.

Premium calculations for our 30-30-1 benchmark —

Image of Aviva i-Life premium calculations for our 30-30-1 benchmark

  • I think I also like this approach of telling you upfront the overall cost of buying insurance — other plans that I’ve reviewed so far give an impression of lower cost with the service tax clause put underneath usually in fine print. There’s also an additional rebate for female lives of 5% on the tabular premium rates for male lives.

So, for this particular plan, if we consider a female life, premium calculations for our 30-30-1 benchmark would be —

Image of Aviva i-Life premium calculations for our 30-30-1 female-life benchmark

Given all this, does the Aviva i-Life plan have what it takes to beat the incumbent AEGON Religare iTerm plan?

Nope. I continue to keep the AEGON Religare iTerm plan in top position, because I believe with its flexibility it’d address the term insurance needs of a much wider audience.

But, what do you think?

A quick reminder: To help you to keep up with new term plan reviews, to go back and refer to past reviews, and to share all of this content with your friends, I’ve created the following easy to remember link — http://bit.ly/termplans. So, please go ahead, bookmark and share — I see that many of you already are. Thanks!

11 thoughts on “Quick Notes: Aviva i-Life Online Term Plan”

  1. Thanks for this great series of posts. I had taken this policy last December and generally happy with the whole process. The only problem is that I had to mail them regarding the exclusions as nothing was mentioned in the policy document.

    ——————————————————————————————————
    1) It was mentioned that the policy covers death due to accident. Could you please confirm the same explicitly.
    2) Please provide the complete list of exclusions since the policy document does not have it.
    ——————————————————————————————————-
    We would like to inform you that Death due to Natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, volcanic explosions or tsunamis, Accidents such as Car, Bike, Plane, Train – or due to the negligence of either the insured or another party, Death during civil disturbances such as strikes, protests are covered in I life policy.

    Further, i life provides insurance cover outside india as well.

    Exclusion: No benefit amount will be payable if the death of the life insured has occurred directly or indirectly as a result of suicide within one year from the date of commencement of risk of policy and in case of reinstatement of the policy, from date of reinstatement.
    ———————————————————————————————————-

  2. Nice review. But I would rather recommend Aviva’s i-Life over Aegon.
    Claim settlement of Aviva India is better compared to Aegon.
    I think at only one point Aegon scores over Aviva is the premium part.

  4. @Bhaskar —

    Thanks for sharing that valuable information. It’s surprising to hear that the policy document did not have these sections. I’m also glad that you took the initiative to email the company and get the right information. Way to go! Perhaps you should take a print of this email and staple it to your policy document. :-)

    @RK —

    As mentioned in the post, AEGON publishes premiums excluding service tax whereas Aviva publishes premiums including service tax. Effectively, they work out to be the same. :-)

  6. Thanks Vinaya. Did it the moment i received the mail but don’t think email will stand legally if they in future turn around.

    Krish – While researching for a policy, found its better to take a policy where they make you undergo medical test. Else the onus lies on you – you need to fill the health related questions properly.

    I am planning to take up another plan from whoever is the winner in this series !! Thanks Vinaya.

  8. @Vinaya,

    Very good analysis, I have purchased this term plan from Aviva and had a good experience. As for Aegon i was not satisfied with their service hence did not renew their term plan, once bitten, twice shy………

  11. Hi Vinaya
    Very good and informative blog..Kudos to you..!!

    One concern which I also have regarding the comparison of the term plans from different insurers. You never seem to take the CLAIM SETTLEMENT RATIO into consideration while making a comparison of similar products from diff insurers.

    I think it is a critical metric to make an informed decision.

    Can you please share your conclusions about online term insurance plans, after taking into account the claim settlement ratios of different insurers.

    Thanks.

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