LV= and ASDA Financial Services announce new partnership

Mutual insurance and investment group LV= today announced a new partnership with the supermarket and financial services provider, ASDA.

LV=, via its Britannia Rescue division, will provide a range of road rescue products to the customers of ASDA. The contract will begin later this month and will run for an initial period of three years. The products will be co-branded and sold in ASDA's 337 retail stores across the UK and online at asdafinance.com.

The product range will provide vehicle-based cover for both the UK and Europe including a personal option if required. Prices will start from as low as £73.92 for full UK breakdown cover.

Britannia Rescue is recognised as the UK's fourth largest road rescue provider and was acquired by LV= in May 2007. It operates an independent network of over 500 garages meaning its rescue agents reach 92% of breakdowns within one hour, one of the best performance records in the industry.

Britannia Rescue is part of LV='s general insurance operation, led by John O'Roarke, ex-chief operating officer of RBS Insurance and former managing director of Churchill Insurance.

Andrew Beard, business development director of LV= General Insurance, said: "ASDA is one of the UK's leading supermarkets with a substantial and loyal customer base. We are therefore delighted to announce this partnership. We have ambitious growth plans for our general insurance business and we believe prestigious commercial partnerships of this nature will play a key part in our future expansion.

"We have a wealth of experience in developing and marketing insurance products for some of the UK's biggest organisations and we will be working with ASDA to market and promote these road rescue products. As a financially strong mutual organisation, meaning we do not have the pressure of paying shareholder dividends, we can focus purely on providing the best products, prices and service for our partners."

Gideon Ingham, head of insurance and savings at ASDA, added: "At ASDA, we are obsessed with saving money every day for our customers, a position which is more important than ever with the current economic conditions. We challenge our suppliers to do the same to ensure we are offering competitively priced products with added value. By joining forces with Britannia Rescue we will be offering customers one of the best value road rescue products on the market."

LV= is the UK's largest friendly society with around £7 billion in funds under management at the end of 2007. LV= currently insures around 1.6 million vehicles and 475,000 homes.

LV= already works with a wide range of organisations providing both insurance and road rescue products. Current partners include Nationwide, UNISON, What Car?, Intune (Help the Aged) and csma Club.