A guide to onward travel

What onward travel means with your Aviva Signature car insurance and how it may support you after an accident.

Published: 05 May 2026 8 mins read

Key points

Onward travel helps you get home or to your destination if your car isn’t safe to drive after an accident.
With Aviva Signature car insurance, onward travel comes as standard under the vehicle recovery and journey continuation policy section, at no additional cost.
It can cover you and your passengers and includes up to £500 for accommodation or public transport.
Onward travel only applies in Great Britain, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. This does not cover breakdowns.

When you buy car insurance, you’re probably only thinking about what it can do to help you get your car fixed after an accident, or a replacement if it’s stolen. But there are other things your car insurance will do for you that you might not be so familiar with.

One of those things is what we in the car industry call ‘onward travel’. In plain speak, that means that your insurer will get you to your destination if your car isn’t safe to drive after an accident. This doesn’t include breakdown, which is usually an added extra or separate cover.

In this article, we’re going to explain exactly what the onward travel cover through Aviva Signature car insurance means for drivers and how it works.

What does onward travel with Aviva Signature car insurance include?

You get onward travel as standard with our comprehensive car insurance under the vehicle recovery and journey continuation policy section. This part of your cover means assistance will be provided by the side of the road if you're involved in an accident and your car isn't safe to drive.

Onward travel includes:

getting you and your passengers either home or to your destination
taking your car to an approved repair, or
paying up to £500 for overnight accommodation or public transport.

The cover only applies to driving in Great Britain, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man - not to overseas travel.

How is onward travel different to breakdown cover?

The onward travel cover that comes as standard with your Aviva Signature comprehensive car insurance only applies if your vehicle isn’t safe to drive after an accident. It doesn’t apply if your car breaks down. The difference between the two is that an accident causes damage to your vehicle through a collision, while breakdown is a mechanical or electrical failure that stops your vehicle working properly.

If you have comprehensive cover with Aviva Signature car, you can choose to add breakdown cover to your policy for an additional cost. Alternatively, you could get a separate policy with a breakdown services provider like RAC or Green Flag.

Five reasons why onward travel is a valuable part of your Aviva Signature car insurance

It comes as part of your Aviva Signature car insurance at no additional cost.
It covers you and your passengers, so you won’t be left stranded by the side of the road after an accident
You’re covered wherever you are in Great Britain, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man
If we can't get you to your destination, we'll pay up to £500 towards overnight accommodation or public transport
It means you can get help, making things less stressful

How to use onward travel

If you've had an accident and it's not safe to drive your car, you should let us know straight away either by calling us or using the MyAviva app to make a claim.

From there, we'll let you know what to expect. Once we know, we may arrange recovery of your car and help to arrange transport for you and any passengers to either get home or to your destination. Depending on the circumstances, we might offer reasonable public transport reimbursement or overnight accommodation costs. You might even be able to hop into the cab of the recovery vehicle, depending on how many passengers you have!

There are geographical restrictions, and a variety of reasonable transport options that we may offer. Onward travel is only available if you're covered for accidents on your policy, it doesn't apply if your car breaks down.

Check your policy before relying on onward travel

You only have onward travel with your Aviva Signature car insurance if you have comprehensive cover. If you have third party, fire and theft, you're not covered for onward travel.

Remember that onward travel only applies to accidents that leave your car unsafe to drive. It doesn't apply if your car breaks down.