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LV (sometimes referred to as LV=) has an impressively long history. Founded in 1843, it was established to help the underprivileged communities of Liverpool by selling ‘penny policies’ to fund funerals. Today, based in Bournemouth, the company delivers a variety of products, including car and home insurance, investments and retirement solutions.
Since 2010, LV has been awarded Moneyfacts Best Income Protection Provider 13 times, and in 2022 it was ranked “excellent” for trust, satisfaction, customer service, claim experience, recommendation and renewal in the GoCompare People’s Choice Awards for Life Insurance. It also was a winner in the Cover Excellence Awards 2021 and the Finder Awards 2020 for its life insurance customer satisfaction.
In 2022, LV achieved carbon negative status, and it supports global environmental projects to prevent deforestation, preserve wildlife, and improve cookstoves in Africa and other countries.
LV’s home insurance products include buildings, contents, and a combined policy offering both in one package. It also provides a broad range of optional extras, enabling customers to choose the products that suit their requirements.
The claims process is simple to follow using the online forms, and if reporting an emergency, an engineer is typically assigned within 20 minutes. If you choose to claim via phone, LV’s customer service team is helpful and polite.
Our experts compared five other leading insurance providers with LV, analysing their products, claims process and customer feedback. The conclusion is that while LV delivers a good all-round service without offering its customers a no claims discount, it doesn’t quite match the service of some other providers.
Our researchers and writers are dedicated to providing accurate and up-to-date information so you can make an informed decision when comparing and buying home insurance.
We will only endorse home insurance products after hundreds of hours of research, policy comparisons and mystery shopping, and after taking into account verified customer feedback and reviews, and the opinions of industry experts.
To write our articles, we’ve compared (and continue to compare) hundreds of insurance policies from dozens of the UK’s insurers – big and small. We focus our research on:
All of our articles are verified by industry experts, including regulatory compliance specialists, and the policy data verified by the insurance providers themselves, so you can be assured that our content is as accurate and up to date as possible.
Even after all that, we would still recommend that you don’t just take our word for it – you should compare quotes to get the best deal for you and your home. Find out more about our methodology in our article on how we cover home insurance companies.
LV offers three levels of insurance – Essentials, Home, and Home Plus, all of which deliver buildings and contents cover separately or combined. LV also has a comprehensive range of optional extras that can be added to your policy. Although any additional cover will increase your monthly or annual premium, it allows your quote to be fully personalised to suit your requirements.
| Policy | Policy type | Buildings maximum sum insured* | Contents maximum sum insured |
|---|---|---|---|
| LV Essentials | Contents | N/A | £50,000 |
| LV Essentials | Buildings | £500,000 | N/A |
| LV Essentials | Combined | £500,000 | £50,000 |
| LV Home | Contents | N/A | £100,000 |
| LV Home | Buildings | £1 million | N/A |
| LV Home | Combined | £1 million | £100,000 |
| LV Home Plus | Contents | N/A | £150,000 |
| LV Home Plus | Buildings | Unlimited | N/A |
| LV Home Plus | Combined | Unlimited | £150,000 |
LV offers broad coverage across its three policy levels as standard. Generally, the items covered are similar to those offered by other home insurance providers; however, it does provide some extra cover that is not listed as standard by most other providers.
| Policy > | LV Essentials Cover | LV Home Cover | LV Home Plus Cover | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cover type > | Buildings | Contents | Combined | Buildings | Contents | Combined | Buildings | Contents | Combined |
| Cover ↓ | |||||||||
| Loss or damage to home | £500,000 | £500,000 | £1 million | £1 million | £1 million | £1 million | |||
| Loss or damage to your contents | £50,000 | £50,000 | £100,000 | £100,000 | £150,000 | £150,000 | |||
| Public liability | £5 million | £5 million | £5 million | £5 million | £5 million | £5 million | £5 million | £5 million | £5 million |
| Employer’s liability | £10 million | £10 million | £10 million | £10 million | £10 million | £10 million | |||
| Alternative accommodation | £25,000 | £15,000 | £25,000 | £50,000 | £25,000 | £50,000 | £100,000 | £50,000 | £100,000 |
| Full accidental damage | Optional | Optional | Optional | Optional | Optional | Optional | Up to buildings limit | £150,000 | £150,000 |
| Accidental damage to underground pipes/drainage | Up to buildings limit | Up to buildings limit | Up to buildings limit | Up to buildings limit | Up to buildings limit | Up to buildings limit | |||
| Accidental damage mirrors/windows/sanitary ware | Optional | Optional | Optional | Up to buildings limit | Up to contents limit | Up to buildings limit | Up to buildings limit | Up to contents limit | Up to buildings limit |
| Trace and access to leaks | N/A | N/A | N/A | £5,000 | £5,000 | £10,000 | £10,000 | ||
| Replacement locks/keys | £750 | £750 | £750 | Up to buildings limit | Up to contents limit | Up to contents limit | Up to buildings limit | Up to contents limit | Up to contents limit |
| Home office equipment | £5,000 | £5,000 | £15,000 | £15,000 | Unlimited | Unlimited | |||
| Digital downloads | Up to contents limit | Up to contents limit | Up to contents limit | Up to contents limit | Up to contents limit | Up to contents limit | |||
| Valuables | Up to £2,000 | Up to £2,000 | Up to £2,000 | Up to £2,000 | Up to £5,000 | Up to £5,000 | |||
| Garden plants | N/A | N/A | N/A | £2,500 | £2,500 | £10,000 | £10,000 | ||
| Garden contents | N/A | N/A | N/A | £2,500 | £2,500 | £10,000 | £10,000 | ||
| Contents stolen from your outbuildings | £1,000 | £1,000 | Up to contents limit | Up to contents limit | Up to contents limit | Up to contents limit | |||
| Personal possessions away from home | Optional | Optional | Optional | Optional | Up to contents limit | Up to contents limit | |||
| Bicycles away from home | Optional | Optional | Optional | Optional | £1,000 | £1,000 | |||
| Content cover for student accommodation | £1,000 | £1,000 | £5,000 | £5,000 | £10,000 | £10,000 | |||
| Contents in nursing home | £1,000 | £1,000 | £5,000 | £5,000 | £10,000 | £10,000 | |||
| Freezer contents | £500 | £500 | £1,000 | £1,000 | Up to contents limit | Up to contents limit | |||
| Fatal injury | N/A | N/A | £5,000 | £5,000 | £5,000 | £5,000 | |||
| Money and credit cards | £250 | £250 | £500 | £500 | £1,000 | £1,000 | |||
| Visitors’ belongings | N/A | N/A | £1,000 | £1,000 | £2,000 | £2,000 |
LV lacks the broad cover options that many other home insurance providers offer. However, it should be noted that several types of cover included as standard in Home or Home Plus policies are available as optional extras for Essentials cover.
The optional extras allow customers to create tailor-made cover, but if you find yourself adding a large number of extras to your Essentials policy, it may be more cost-effective to purchase Home or Home Plus policies, which have additional cover included.
| Policy > | LV Essentials Cover | LV Home Cover | LV Home Plus Cover |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cover ↓ | |||
| Legal expenses | £100,000 | £100,000 | £100,000 |
| Home emergency (inc boiler) | £1,000 | £1,000 | £1,000 |
| Additional accidental damage | Up to amount insured | Up to amount insured | Up to amount insured (included as standard) |
| Personal belongings away from home | £2,000 | £2,000 | £5,000 |
| Bicycles away from home | £1,000 | £1,000 | £1,000 |
Whenever you take out a contract with someone, it’s wise to read the small print. For insurance purposes, this generally includes a list of exclusions, policy limits, and other important information. Our researchers have examined LV’s small print, and listed below are some details you should be aware of.
LV policies cover Great Britain, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands, while the optional extras for personal possessions and bicycles provide worldwide cover.
Exclusions are specific types of damage or loss that are not covered by buildings or contents insurance. As with any other provider, LV has a number of exclusions to consider when deciding which policy and optional extras to purchase. Things that are not covered include:
LV has voluntary excesses between £100 and £1,000. It’s important to remember that a lower excess, however tempting, will result in higher premiums.
Home insurance purchased from LV has no discount for a no claims period.
The claims process with LV home insurance can be done by filling in the online claim form or by phoning 0330 678 5000. If you have an emergency, there’s also an online notification form.
The form itself takes around 12 minutes to complete, depending on the complexity of your claim. You’ll need your policy number and to provide as much information about the incident as possible. If the police have been involved, your crime reference number is also required.
Step 1: The form begins with a warning that you’ll need to pay the voluntary excess when you make a claim, and the act of claiming could affect the price of your insurance.
Step 2: Confirm if you’re claiming for storm damage, flood damage, or something else.
Step 3: You are reminded that if claiming for storm or flood damage, you’re not covered for damage to gates or fences, and tree or branch removal is also not covered unless it has damaged the building itself.
Step 4: You’re asked if anyone in your household shows coronavirus symptoms and/or tested positive for the virus. As part of the same set of questions, you can inform LV if anyone in your household is vulnerable.
Step 5: State if your claim is urgent, and if yes, explain why.
Step 6: Input your policy number and personal information.
Step 7: Give the details of the incident you’re claiming for. There are separate sections to fill in, making the process easier. These include details of each stolen or damaged item, estimated prices, and whether you can provide photos of the damage and proof of ownership if required.
Step 8: LV will contact you by phone or email within 48 working hours, or four hours if it’s an emergency. In some cases, LV will arrange for an inspector to visit your property.
Step 1: For non-emergencies, ring 0330 678 5000.
Step 2: The recorded message gives several options, including if your call regards an emergency or if you just need to talk to someone.
Step 3: A recorded message explained there would be a long wait, but our call was put through to a call line after around 5 minutes. A person answered the phone in four rings.
Step 4: If your call is an emergency, ring 0330 678 5246.
Step 5: A recorded message informs you of the wait time – in our researchers’ case, it was typically a minute. However, our calls were generally answered by a person in less than 3 seconds.
This form is very simple to complete.
Step 1: Click the buttons that are relevant to your emergency.
Step 2: Fill in your personal details.
Step 3: You’ll receive a confirmation code either by SMS or email.
Step 4: Enter the code in the required field.
Step 5: A claim confirmation email comes through immediately with the ID number of your claim.
Step 6: If you requested an engineer for a faulty boiler, gas or water leaks, or an electrical emergency, one will be assigned within 20 minutes, and you’ll receive confirmation when they are on their way to your property.
Claim number: 0330 678 5000
Lines open:
Home emergency number: 0330 678 5246
Lines open: 24 hours a day, 365 days a year
Customer services: 0330 678 6545
Lines open:
LV’s UK-based customer service call centre is open 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm on Saturdays, and 10am to 4pm on Sundays. The phone number is hard to locate on its website, with the ‘contact us’ button taking you to a selection of reasons why you may want to get in touch. There are contact telephone numbers for changing your policy, making a claim, or if you need legal advice, but locating a number for general customer services is challenging. Click on the ‘general enquiries’ button, and you are given two choices – to leave feedback on LV’s Facebook page or to send a tweet on Twitter.
You can, however, access your LV online account and ask questions through Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant-enabled devices.
If you do ring LV’s customer services, this is what to expect:
Step 1: You’ll hear a recorded message giving you several options – car insurance, home or landlord insurance, or multi-cover.
Step 2: After pressing ‘2’ for home insurance, there’s a long recorded message, followed by an option to get a new quote or one to retrieve a quote.
Step 3: Both of the options take you through to a person, with the call being answered within two to three seconds.
The customer service personnel are polite and helpful – only one out of the 10 we contacted sounded rushed. The others were happy to take time explaining the policies to our researchers.
Trustpilot has awarded LV insurance products a 4.6, rated ‘excellent’, with 94 per cent of reviews being four and five stars and 3 per cent giving one-star reviews. This is out of more than 60,400 customer reviews.
Many reviews mention how easy it is to get quotes and make an online claim. However, several customers express surprise or displeasure at large premium price increases, although they are in the minority.
“In May 2022 we came home from holiday to 90 per cent of our home flooded due to a burst pipe in our bathroom. We were devastated. From the first phone call to LV, they were fantastic, they reassured us and were caring, they even phoned us a few days later to ask us if they were doing everything we needed. Louise, our loss adjuster, came the next day from a company called Sedgwick and was brilliant. She showed empathy and was so professional. Louise explained what would happen and how long it all could take, and she was there if ever we needed her… My friends and family have seen how we have been treated and they too have started to use LV. I couldn’t have asked for a better service. Thank you so much LV. We will continue to use you for all our insurance needs. Also, you give great quotes!”
“Let me be clear, this review relates to the company as a whole, not to the agent who just helped me renew my car insurance. I used to have home, car and travel insurance with LV. Now it’s just car and that’s because they are cheapest. Once they’d got me to move all three policies across, they whacked up my home insurance by a massive 40% one year with no reason or explanation. I pushed back and it became evident that they couldn’t or wouldn’t do anything so I voted with my feet.”
“Ended up switching cars from a multi car policy to individual LV policies (cost less for some reason). And moved house insurance to LV; the cover on the house insurance was way better than what others were offering.”
Defaqto is designed to guide consumers, financial advisors, and institutions towards making informed decisions on products and services. Its experts provide impartial ratings based on in-depth analysis of market developments, consumer reports and consultations with industry professionals.
Defaqto awards LV home insurance policies:
★★★★★ LV Home Plus cover policies
★★★★★ LV Home cover policies
★★★★ LV Essentials cover policies
Out of the six home insurance providers compared, LV has the highest Trustpilot rating, closely followed by Aviva, with Admiral featuring the lowest score of 3.3. Defaqto awards several providers and their policies five stars, including LV, Admiral, Axa, and Aviva.
Taking the two highest scorers on Trustpilot and Defaqto – LV and Aviva, both exclude damage to the garden or fences in the case of a storm. Aviva lacks any matching sets cover, while LV will cover 50 per cent of the cost of replacing any undamaged items in a set. LV also offers cover for contents whilst in a nursing home. Tracing a water leak is only included in LV’s Home and Home Plus policies, but Aviva provides this as standard across all levels of buildings insurance. Whether these factors are important depends on your own circumstances.
However, one aspect that we feel gives Aviva the edge over LV is the no claims discount, which the latter lacks completely. Not only does Aviva include this, it offers the optional extra of a protected no claims discount with its buildings and contents policies. This allows you to make up to two claims in five years without losing your discount. No claims discounts can make a significant saving on your home insurance premiums, so this could give Aviva the advantage over LV.
| Policy name | Buildings | Contents | Buildings and contents combined | Defacto score | Trustpilot score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LV Essentials | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ★★★★ | 4.6 |
| LV Home | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ★★★★★ | 4.6 |
| LV Home Plus | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ★★★★★ | 4.6 |
| Admiral Cover | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ★★★ | 3.3 |
| Admiral Gold | ✓ | ✓ | ★★★★★ | 3.3 | |
| Admiral Platinum | ✓ | ✓ | ★★★★★ | 3.3 | |
| Aviva Online | ✓ | ✓ | ★★★★★ | 4.5 | |
| Aviva Premium | ✓ | ✓ | ★★★★★ | 4.5 | |
| AXA Essentials | ✓ | ✓ | ★★★★ | 4.3 | |
| AXA Plus | ✓ | ✓ | ★★★★★ | 4.3 | |
| AXA Premier | ✓ | ✓ | ★★★★★ | 4.3 | |
| esure Buildings | ✓ | ★★★★★ | 4.1 | ||
| esure Contents | ✓ | ★★★★★ | 4.1 | ||
| More Than Primary | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ★★★ | 3.8 |
| More Than Upgraded | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ★★★ | 3.8 |
Offering three cover tiers, which include buildings, contents and a combined policy, allows LV to deliver affordable home insurance to those with a wide range of requirements. It also provides a number of optional extras, meaning that a fully tailored policy is easily achievable.
The claims process is straightforward, with many customer reviews agreeing with our researchers’ findings. We did find it hard to locate the customer service contact details on LV’s website, however, although the people we spoke to were helpful and took the time to explain the policy details clearly.
Overall, we feel that LV offers good home insurance policies, especially if you have a requirement for nursing home contents cover – and its high level of cover for home office equipment puts it firmly in place as one of our picks for the best home insurance providers – but the lack of a no claims discount across any of its three policy levels lets it down.
