GAP Insurance........ Discuss

[Chris956]

Peoples view on GAP Insurance seems to differ wildly as does the prices. Do you use it or not bother ????

Is it worth ????

[Mookistar]

Father in law had it and had to use it. Made an insurance claim a lot lot easier

[lawsy]

On some cars I've had it, but on others not

It gave me piece of mind with car keys at night, I wasn't arsed if the car went walkies as I would just get another for full purchase price

Imagine 60k gap insurance on a GTR, car is nearly 2 years old but now worth 45k. But If it goes missing you get 60 k back.

[Aerodramatics]

I bought Marshall's GAP product from new for that "oh rollox!" moment... happy not to claim and accept the risk never happened and pay the premium, but also happy for the peace of mind and protection the insurance offers in the event of loss, whether caused by one's own error or another's.

[Chris956]

I took GAP on the GTR because it was only £180 quid Return to Invoice so seemed a no brainer but on my next one I have been quoted 3 times that amount ?

Also - do all policies cover if you have a mishap whilst on track and your regular insurance impose a greater XS ???

[Aerodramatics]

I'd assumed road use only and I think I paid £500, so your £180 was proper bargain! Also not sure if mods invalidate or not or whether gap loss is general.

I'd suppose if main insurance pays out and there is a gap, then the gap is activated as the gap loss is insured. But I'm too simple minded.

[Chris956]

I was told that the GAP activates if the Normal insurance activates which in my case covers on track driving - not sure thats 100% though without trawling through the small print.
Just doing some online comparisons and they are may lower than I was quoted.

[donski D]

I'm a simpleton and understood that it was a return to invoice gap top up.

Never really thought about the impact of mod's??

But for £146 thought it seemed like a decent deal.

[ROG350Z]

I got stung by not having GAP when younger but have Back to Invoice now so insure the car for what it is 'worth' so about £50K to make sure in year two and the GAP takes me back to invoice in the event of total loss and the shortfall. I think it was £290 ish for three years and a maximum of £20K GAP (less GAP obviously gives you lower premium) but I wanted the peace of mind in the event of big drops in values with financial meltdown.

[christer]

Originally Posted by Chris956

Peoples view on GAP Insurance seems to differ wildly as does the prices. Do you use it or not bother ????

Is it worth ????

This is really a subjective discussion that will vary from person to person and what their risk management objectives are.

Personally I have not used it because if I buy a car at £x and drive it for 15k miles and 2 years and it gets totalled, I would expect my insurance to pay for a similar vehicle, not bring me back to where I was 2 years ago. However, if you do want that and feel the premium in the case of a total loss is worth it just go for it. I say that without having read any fine print or having any knoweldge of GAP products - i.e. assuming that GAP just does it what it say on the tin.....

[CT17]

Originally Posted by Chris956

Peoples view on GAP Insurance seems to differ wildly as does the prices. Do you use it or not bother ????

Is it worth ????

It varies wildly in price because dealers sell it and charge too much. (IMO)
They buy it in at less than half what you pay. So NEVER buy it with a new car, just buy it afterwards from an insurance company.

It's like that paint protection stuff... very high profit margin.

[big_jim]

Try ala.com
I had it and needed it. Well worth getting, but dont pay the dealer for it.

[Chris956]

I hear you guys loud and clear !

Just for comparison , dealer quote £753 for 3 years with £25k max benefit . Same policy but with AMS = £200

Maybe that why there is so much ambiguity as some people only get to hear the dealer prices which at £753 I`d not bother either.

[Mookistar]

in my father in laws case, the insurance company simply wouldn't pay market value. The totalled car was a fully loaded Qashai, of which we couldn't find a matched spec online. We sent print outs from autotrader etc to prove the value, but they wouldn't even agree on the glasses value, let alone real world price.

as it stood, glasses was 2k below real world retail and it took hours of calls to get them to pay glasses. Then GAP kicked it and paid the difference between glasses and original invoice value ( was a used car btw)

was a proper night mare, but for a £300 policy, my father in law got £2500 back

mook

[Chris956]

Originally Posted by Mookistar

in my father in laws case, the insurance company simply wouldn't pay market value. The totalled car was a fully loaded Qashai, of which we couldn't find a matched spec online. We sent print outs from autotrader etc to prove the value, but they wouldn't even agree on the glasses value, let alone real world price.

as it stood, glasses was 2k below real world retail and it took hours of calls to get them to pay glasses. Then GAP kicked it and paid the difference between glasses and original invoice value ( was a used car btw)

was a proper night mare, but for a £300 policy, my father in law got £2500 back

mook

Watchya Mook - ta for the work by the way

I spose you have to ask yourself at what point does it become too expensive to have. £200 seems ok when you are already paying a lump for the car in the 1st place , but change that figure to £750 and the answer changes.

Insurance companies are always going to try and wriggle. If your father in law knew he had gap why did he bother to get the best price out of them as surley the gap would make up the difference anyway or did the insurance company know he had gap and were therefore trying to get away with paying less and passing the cost onto gap ???