AXA: home, car and travel insurance explained

AXA is one of the insurance names you see on the high street, on comparison sites and in adverts, and it sells cover for homes, cars, vans and travel. Its home insurance comes in tiers, with buildings cover of £500,000 and contents cover of £50,000 on AXA Home Insurance, and unlimited buildings cover on AXA Premier Home Insurance¹. Car insurance includes 90 days cover in Europe and a 24/7 emergency helpline².

The practical questions people arrive with are usually about a claim, a renewal price or a complaint. AXA Insurance UK Plc received 5.17 complaints for every 1,000 policies in force in the six months to 30 June 2026, and 59.2% of the complaints it decided in that period were upheld³. If a complaint is not resolved, the Financial Ombudsman Service can look at it, and it is free to consumers⁴.

This page covers what AXA sells, how its prices are built, what happens when you claim, and how far the protection goes if something goes wrong.

What AXA insures: home, car and travel cover

AXA's main consumer lines are home, car, van and travel insurance, alongside landlord cover it provides through Santander. Each sits under the insurance guide if you want the wider picture of how these products work.

Home insurance comes in tiers. AXA Home Insurance offers buildings cover of £500,000 and contents cover of £50,000, while AXA Premier Home Insurance gives unlimited buildings cover¹. Accidental damage for buildings is included as standard on the Premier tier, and accidental damage for contents is optional¹. Home emergency cover can be added to AXA Plus Home Insurance and AXA Home Insurance, and is included as standard with AXA Premier Home Insurance⁷. New build homes are covered, with guaranteed repairs included¹.

Car insurance includes 90 days cover in Europe, a 24/7 emergency helpline and a 24-hour rescue line². Repairs carried out by AXA's approved repairers carry a lifetime guarantee for as long as you own the car². Personal injury and rehabilitation cover runs to up to £100,000 if you are injured in your vehicle².

Travel cover is sold under the ABTA Travel Insurance brand, underwritten by Inter Partner Assistance S.A., part of the AXA Group, and includes cancellation cover⁸. If you are comparing travel policies, the protection guide explains how cancellation and medical cover fit together.

AXA also sells landlord insurance through Santander, which introduces the products and receives a payment from AXA when a policy is taken out⁶.

Flood cover comes as standard on AXA home insurance

Flood cover is a standard feature of home insurance, and it is usually included as standard with buildings insurance and widely available even for homes in high risk areas⁹. AXA's buildings policies sit inside that market norm rather than outside it.

The detail that catches people out is what counts as flooding. Home insurers will usually cover groundwater flooding if it built up rapidly, but not where it rose gradually, and some policies exclude groundwater flooding altogether⁹. Escape of water from a burst pipe is a separate peril and is normally covered under buildings insurance; a standard policy from another insurer lists burst pipes as included under buildings¹¹.

Flood Re is the re-insurance scheme behind much of this. Insurers pay into it through an industry levy, and where an insurer considers a customer particularly high risk, the flood part of the cover can be ceded to Flood Re⁹. That is why cover remains available in areas that would otherwise be hard to insure.

Where AXA storm and flood cover has limits

Storm and flood claims behave differently from other claims in two ways that matter to a household budget.

First, the claim may be treated as at-fault. Insurers often treat storm or flood damage as an at-fault claim, because there is no third party to recover the costs from, and that can affect the renewal premium¹³. Second, storm damage cover commonly excludes fences, gates and hedges, and fixed items in the open such as outdoor hot tubs¹¹.

AXA's own buildings cover includes up to £2 million property owners liability cover and cover for alternative accommodation while a home cannot be lived in⁷. AXA says accidental damage makes up over one in three of its home insurance claims⁷.

If a claim is declined or paid at less than expected, the Financial Ombudsman Service can look at whether the insurer handled it fairly, and it may ask the insurer to pay compensation for distress or inconvenience¹⁴. Underinsurance, where the sum insured is set below the real rebuild cost, is a common source of disputes the ombudsman sees¹⁵.

No claims discount protection on AXA car insurance

A no claims discount builds up for each year without an accident, and AXA's protected no claims discount runs up to a 20 year limit¹⁶. An accident that is not your fault does not affect the protection¹⁶.

Protection is bought with an additional premium. In return, you can make a claim without it affecting the discount at renewal, but if you make a second claim within the same period of insurance the discount is no longer protected and will be reduced at renewal¹⁶. AXA states plainly that protection does not mean the premium will not rise at renewal, and an increase can still follow a claim¹⁶.

A windscreen claim does not affect the no claims discount at renewal¹⁶. Discount earned as a named driver on someone else's policy is not recognised¹⁶. If you cannot produce proof of your no claims discount, AXA will remove the discount and charge an additional premium¹⁶. Acceptable proof is a letter or your most recent renewal schedule on the other insurer's headed paper, showing the policy was in the same name, the vehicle registration, the date the policy ended and the years of discount available to transfer¹⁶.

Mirror no claims discount is available in limited circumstances: the van has not been insured by you before, you are currently earning a discount on another car or van you own, and the new policy is in your own name rather than a partnership or limited company¹⁶.

How AXA sets the price of a policy

Insurers consider a variety of factors when calculating a premium, and it can vary depending on the insurer, the individual circumstances of the policyholder and the particular risks being covered¹⁷. That is why two households with similar homes can be quoted very different figures.

For home insurance, the rebuild cost of the property, its flood and subsidence history, the contents sum insured and the tier chosen all feed in. AXA publishes its own starting prices on its site, and those figures change, so the current ones are the ones to check there⁷. For car insurance, the vehicle, where it is kept, who drives it, claims history and the level of no claims discount protection all move the number.

Personal accident style policies work differently again: they pay a fixed amount of money for specific injuries, depending on the level of cover, rather than reimbursing a loss¹⁹.

Where your premium goes: claims, expenses and profit

A premium is not a single pot. Part of it pays claims, part covers the insurer's own costs, part goes to reinsurance and levies, and part is margin. Both figures come from the same year and neither has been ruled on, so treat the ranges as indicative rather than exact.

What is not in dispute is that the claims side is real and large. AXA says accidental damage makes up over one in three of its home insurance claims⁷. Flood claims are pooled through Flood Re, which insurers pay into through an industry levy⁹.

For a consumer, the practical point is that the cheapest quote is not automatically the best value. A policy that excludes groundwater flooding, or that pays a reduced sum because the rebuild cost was set too low, costs more at claim time than the premium saved. The ombudsman sees underinsurance disputes regularly¹⁵.

Making a claim with AXA

Car claims can be registered online 24/7, and the status of a claim can be tracked in your online account²⁰. For breakdown reporting, have your name, home postcode, policy number, vehicle registration number, make, model and colour, current location and the suspected problem to hand²⁰. AXA's claims process asks whether more than three other vehicles were involved, which routes the claim differently²⁰.

Home claims run through a 24/7 home insurance claims line, and repairs through the approved network are guaranteed for three years⁷. AXA's car repairs through approved repairers carry a lifetime guarantee for as long as you own the car².

If a claim is declined, the insurer should explain the reasons clearly and fairly and set out further options, such as travel insurance or packaged bank account cover²¹. For travel claims, cancellation is likely to be covered where a medical professional deems you unfit to travel, or an unexpected medical emergency stops you travelling, but deciding you no longer want to go is not covered²².

AXA's complaints record and how to complain

AXA publishes its complaints data twice a year. For the six month period ending 30 June 2026, AXA Insurance UK plc opened 18,717 complaints and closed 18,093, which is 5.17 complaints for every 1,000 policies in force³. The main cause of complaints opened was other general admin or customer service³. Of the complaints decided, 59.2% were upheld, 30.7% were closed within three days and 61.7% were closed after three days but within eight weeks³.

AXA PPP healthcare limited, a separate entity, opened 21,487 complaints and closed 20,483 in the same period, measured at 13.45 complaints per 1,000 policies by lives insured³.

If you are unhappy, complain to AXA first. If you are not satisfied with the response, you can take the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service²³. The ombudsman handles complaints about an insurance company or claim, and it can tell the insurer to put things right and may pay compensation for distress or inconvenience⁴. It is free and easy to use²⁵. Before complaining about a firm, you can check it is regulated using the FCA's Firm Checker²⁶.

For travel insurance sold through ABTA, ABTA also takes complaints registered online and will look into the issue²⁷. If your complaint is about a claims management company rather than the insurer, the Financial Conduct Authority takes those complaints²⁸.

If AXA fails: FSCS protection for policyholders

AXA Insurance UK Plc is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority, with FCA reference number 202312 and status Authorised⁵. It appears on the Bank of England's PRA list of insurers incorporated in the UK authorised to carry out contracts of insurance²⁹. The company was incorporated on 27 October 1903 and is registered in England and Wales, number 78950³⁰.

That authorisation is what puts the Financial Services Compensation Scheme behind the policies. The FSCS covers a range of financial products if a UK-authorised financial firm fails, including deposits, insurance, investments, pensions and mortgage advice³¹. It can pay compensation if your financial services provider fails and cannot pay back your money itself³². For insurance, the scheme covers policies from authorised insurers, and you can check a provider's status by searching the FCA register using its firm reference number³³.

Where the protection stops matters as much as where it starts. Credit insurance is not eligible for FSCS protection³³. The scheme cannot protect you if an e-money firm or payment services firm fails³⁵. For deposits, protection is up to £85,000 per depositor per firm, and it applies to eligible deposits with PRA-authorised deposit takers³⁶. AXA Insurance UK Plc holds permissions including entering into regulated credit agreements as lender and accepting deposits, so the deposit limit is the relevant one for any savings style balance rather than an insurance policy⁵.

If you are unsure whether a product is covered, the FSCS has a checker, and it also explains what to do when a firm cannot be found on its list³⁸.