AXA Business Insurance Review: The Best Cover for You?
AXA Business Insurance Review: The Best Cover for You?
Good for
- No middle man fees
- UK call centre
- High claims payout rate
- 10% online discount
- Strong customer ratings
Bad for
- No cyber insurance
- When dealing with a direct insurer instead of a broker or comparison site, you might miss out on better deals
The guidance on this site is based on our own analysis and is meant to help you identify options and narrow down your choices. We do not advise or tell you which product to buy; undertake your own due diligence before entering into any agreement. Read our full disclosure here.
AXA is a leading business insurance provider in the UK, but are they a good option for you? Customer ratings are strong, but let's take an in-depth look at what real customers have to say. We'll also take a look at the most important factors to consider when buying business insurance, as well as checking out the types of cover on offer and the occupations they cater towards to help you decide if AXA is the best business insurance for your needs.
In This Review
- AXA Business Insurance: Overall Review
- How Much Does AXA Business Insurance Cost?
- Customer Reviews and Ratings
- How to Claim
AXA Business Insurance Overall Review
AXA holds a commanding position in the UK business insurance market and we think they are certainly a good company to consider for most small business insurance needs. They have earned solid customer ratings (an impressive 4.5 out of 5 stars from over 1,000 customers at Feefo) and serve over 645,000 small-to-medium sized businesses, sole traders and self-employed people in the UK. But they fall short in a few areas, such as the lack of a cyber insurance product.
Here's what you need to know about AXA business insurance, including data on costs and which products they offer (and which they don't).
6 reasons to buy business insurance from AXA
With so many ways to go about buying business insurance, from comparison sites to brokers to direct insurers, you might be wondering whether or not to buy from AXA. Let's start off by looking at a few perks of buying your business insurance direct from AXA:
- Not sure what types of cover you need? During the online quote process you'll be shown the cover that other businesses like yours tend to add. This can be a huge help for anyone uncertain about what types of cover they need.
- Flexible limits of cover. Because different businesses need different levels of protection.
- Avoid the middle man. AXA is the business insurance underwriter behind many products sold by brokers; going direct can save you on fees.
- UK-based call centre. In case you need guidance or advice, or have questions.
- Good claims payout reputation. AXA pays out on 99.3% of business insurance claims.
- AXA promo code business insurance. Get 10% off automatically when you buy direct from AXA online.
3 reasons not to buy business insurance direct from AXA
But not everyone will find buying direct is the best option.
- You might need a broker. Some businesses might find they can't be covered buying direct from AXA, but that a broker can help them access AXA products. This largely depends on how niche a business is, the size of the business and the risks involved.
- They don't offer cyber insurance. If you want all of your business insurance needs served by one company, and you want cyber cover, you'll need to look elsewhere.
- Price. AXA is generally very competitive on price, but for certain situations they might be beaten on price by another competitor. It's always worth comparing business insurance before buying.
Bottom Line. AXA can be a great option for small business insurance, so long as you don't want cyber insurance. Those unsure of which insurance they need can benefit from AXA's online quote system, which shows the types of cover that others in your industry tend to buy. Prices are usually competitive (helped by the 10% online discount) and the good claims payout ratio and customer ratings will give you peace of mind.
Types of cover available
AXA is well placed to offer the insurance that most small businesses need; their offerings include the most common types of business insurance and you're able to pick and choose the ones you really need, and not pay for cover you don't. Here's what AXA offers in terms of business insurance:
- Public liability insurance protects against claims made by third parties (e.g., customers or members of the public) that your business caused injury or damage.
- Employers' liability insurance protects against claims made by your employees that your business caused injury or illness. £10 million protection for legal costs and compensation due.
- Professional indemnity insurance is used if a client claims they've suffered a financial loss due to your poor professional advice or service.
- Legal expenses cover can provide access to and money to pay for professional legal support in case of contract disputes, debt collection and other issues that can be a major headache for a business. Up to £1 million cover and up to £100,000 with any one claim.
- Contents and equipment insurance protects your business's computer equipment, furniture and other trappings.
- Landlord insurance covers the owner of a rented-out building against disasters like fire, flood and theft.
- Van insurance covers vans used for personal and/or professional use, whether used to transport your own goods or if you run a courier business.
- Commercial property insurance protects your building premises if you own the property (otherwise this is your landlord's responsibility).
- Business car insurance covers your personal car if you use it for business purposes like driving to multiple places of work or to visit clients (but not for delivery driving).
Unfortunately, AXA doesn't yet offer a cyber insurance product; in our opinion this would be a good product for them to add to their repertoire in the future as we expect demand for this type of protection to increase.
Who is eligible for AXA business insurance?
AXA business insurance is open to a large array of business sizes, from sole traders and self-employed people up to small and medium-sized businesses.
How Much Does AXA Business Insurance Cost?
The cost of business insurance is highly variable, and will depend on factors like your occupation and how much cover you need. Here are starting costs for AXA business insurance, as well as information on the limits of cover available.
| Type of business insurance | Limits available | Starting prices |
|---|---|---|
| Professional indemnity insurance | Choice of cover levels (up to £5 million) | From £52/year |
| Employers’ liability insurance | £10 million | From £45/year |
| Public liability insurance | Choice of cover levels (up to £5 million) | From £61/year |
| Plant, tools and equipment | Up to the value of £2,000 | n/a |
| Legal expenses cover | Up to £1 million total and up to £100,000 per claim | From £43/year |
AXA Business Insurance Customer Service Reviews and Ratings
| AXA Business Insurance Ratings & Customer Reviews | |
|---|---|
| Trustpilot customer service rating | 4.3 out of 5 |
| Feefo | 4.5 out of 5 |
Is AXA business insurance any good? To find out, we've scoured through hundreds of online customer reviews to learn how customers rate their experience with AXA business insurance. Note: the Trustpilot ratings are based on AXA as a whole, which includes both personal and business company products. Here's what we found:
AXA Business Insurance Trustpilot
AXA insurance has earned 4.3 stars out of 5 at Trustpilot by over 21,000 customers, with just over half of customers giving AXA a 5-star "Excellent" review. While there is a relatively high proportion of negative reviews, we noticed that the majority of these related specifically to their car and, to a lesser extent, home insurance products. We didn't come across any negative ratings for their business insurance products specifically, which is good news for business owners. Here is a sample of some typical positive reviews, as well as some complaints:
"So simple to deal with the problem and the attention from the representative is to be complimented- streets in front of other competitors."
"Easy and quick to sort out my insurance. Really helpful staff. Thank you."
"Easy to change cover. No drama and information available immediately."
"Quick and easy to use web site change to my policy dealt with quickly and easily and the refund was delivered within 4 days excellent service."
"I cannot access my policy documents and have not received a reply to my previous email."
AXA Business Insurance Feefo
Perhaps more reliable is the Feefo data, since it's specific to AXA business insurance products (not the company as a whole). AXA business insurance has earned an impressive 4.5 stars out of 5 at Feefo based on around 1,000 customers in the past year, with nearly 8 out of 10 customers giving AXA business insurance 5 stars indicating a great experience.
But when something does go wrong, what problems do customers have? The most common complaints we saw had to do with the renewals process, but overall there were very few complaints. We'd say that whichever business insurance company you go with, just be on top of your renewal—in the land of insurance, it's inevitable that renewal prices sometimes increase unexpectedly. Anyway, here is a sample of what customers have to say to give you a feel for being an AXA business insurance customer:
"Straightforward and quick. Highly recommended - needed to arrange public liability insurance on the day and managed to purchase it on my phone on the way to work."
"Easy to use quote facility. I recommend AXA Business Insurance. The website and quote facility was really easy to use and a competitive price."
"Helpful review of options. Agent dealt with my queries carefully and courteously and explained the product to me."
"Simple and fit for purpose. Simple. Good value. Easy to set up."
"Proper customer service. Excellent help provided. Explained the jargon. Was extremely helpful"
"Unreliable having renewed my cover the policy was then cancelled leaving me for three months with no insurance."
"Put my liability insurance up by 60% with no reason they could justifiably explain. Nearly went through as an automated renewal but saw it just in time!"
How to Claim with AXA Business Insurance
If disaster strikes and you need to submit a claim on your AXA business insurance, first read these tips from AXA on how to claim. When you're ready to contact AXA, here are the contact details for each type of business insurance product:
| Contact information for AXA business insurance claims | ||
|---|---|---|
| Professional indemnity | 0345 600 2715 | prof.indclaims (at) axa-insurance.co.uk |
| Public liability | 0345 600 2715 | liability.claims (at) axa-insurance.co.uk |
| Employers' liability | 0345 600 2715 | liability.claims (at) axa-insurance.co.uk |
| Business equipment | 0345 600 2715 | directclaims.ins (at) axa-insurance.co.uk |
| Landlord insurance | 0345 600 2715 | directclaims (at) axa-insurance.co.uk |
| Van insurance | 0345 366 5529 | n/a |
| Shop insurance (commercial property) | 0345 600 2715 | directclaims (at) axa-insurance.co.uk |
| Shop insurance (liability) | 0345 600 2715 | liability.claims (at) axa-insurance.co.uk |
What Professions does AXA Cover?
AXA will cover a wide range of trades, professional services and other occupations, including but not limited to:
Trades insurance:
- Alarm installer insurance
- Builders’ insurance
- Carpenters’ insurance
- Glazier insurance
- Electricians’ insurance
- Kitchen and bathroom fitter insurance
- Painter & decorator insurance
- Plasterers’ insurance
- Plumbers insurance
Professional services:
- Consultant insurance
- Financial services insurance
- Management consultant insurance
- IT contractor insurance
- Software developer insurance
- Telecommunications consultant insurance
- Web designer insurance
- Training consultancy insurance
Other occupations and business:
- Artists’ insurance
- Baking insurance
- Barbers’ insurance
- Beauty salon insurance
- Café and coffee shop insurance
- Cake makers and decorators insurance
- Catering insurance
- Cleaning insurance
- Butcher and fishmonger insurance
- Clothes shop insurance
- Crafts insurance
- Dance teacher insurance
- Deli insurance
- Dog walkers’ insurance
- Florist insurance
- Landscaping and gardening insurance
- Hairdressing insurance
- Mobile hairdresser insurance
- Newsagent and cornershop insurance
- Online retailer insurance
- Personal trainers’ insurance
- Photography insurance
- Shop insurance
- Window cleaners’ insurance