Gap car insurance advice please

Shappy

Could anyone give advice on Gap car insurance? Can you recommend a firm, I have been looking at some on the internet but you do not know how good they are until you have to claim?

Thankyou

Mazda_Driver

Hi all, this is my first post as I picked up on the Gap Insurance comments.

Strong views on this one...
I was offered it when I bought my car 18 months ago, I paid just over 7k so decided not worth it. Three months ago I got a cheque from Sheilas Wheels for just under 4K - I lost £3,000:eek:!!!! I'm sill reeling!

Anyway, I've stopped kicking myself - I could have been £3,000 better off... but I'm not. I've now got a beatiful new Mazda. Shopped around for the Gap Insurance. I nearly bought from the Axa guys - but when I checked the small print decided to go with click4gap.co.uk - they've been around a long time and we're great on the 'phone (didn't need to ask a question - just wanted to know they existed!

Whe I changed my insurance though I saw that confused.co.uk are selling "depreciation insurance" that you can buy even if you already own your car. My partner will buy a policy from confused for their Golf, as they bought it over a year ago now. Anyone else got one of these from Confused?

My advice - Gap is definately worth buying - even if it means you'll never have your car stolen :T

Jemo_2

Hi Shappy,

I have just been searching through the internet for a Gap Insurance company too. I have just purchased a second hand vauxhall corsa and was quoted about £350 at the dealership, after shopping around I found many online companies selling the same product at a fraction of the price.

The company I went with is click4gap.co.uk because they stressed they were not a broker and are based in London. I also spoke to a lady who was very helpful and efficient. I went for Return To Invoice Gap Insurance which means together with my normal insurance company they will pay back up to the price on the invoice - all for only £96! Meaning i saved myself over £250! Obviously I haven't had to make a claim yet (touch wood i wont have too!) but i was so happy with the price and service.

Hope this helps :rolleyes:

Jem

Mazda_Driver

Good point Jem - has any-one had a claim on their Gap Insurance?

AdrianHi

It needs to be the sort which is Return To Invoice (RTI) and not just covering negative equity in any loan you might have taken out.
Brand new car and regular insurance covers original invoice price in the first 12 months anyway.

I would question if it is worth it at all unless it's a new or young car that will take a big drop in value as soon as you take posession of it. The older car has lower and more consistent depreciation over time.

Mazda_Driver

Either RTI or the confused "Depreciation Insurance" seems to be the one to go for. They both "Freeze" the value of the car when you buy the policy.

Adrian makes a good point about new or young cars. But a word of warning (or should I say crying over spilt milk ) the £3,000 I lost in 18 months wasn't on a new (or nearly new car) I was staggard at how much my car had lost in value in such a short space of time.

Scary fact:eek:... Now I know this is bordering on anorak - but I looked at the whatcar depreciation calculator and a Mazda MX5 1.8 SE would be worth £8026 in 2 years time - it looses ANOTHER £2378:eek: by the time it's 4 years old. That's pretty much what happened to me (only worse because of the current climate).

So while I agree with your point Adrian, new cars do drop in value massively as soon as the car drives off the forecourt, but a gap (or depreciation insurance) policy still has a substantial benefit on older cars.

Anyone agree ?

AdrianHi

Mazda_Driver wrote: »

Either RTI or the confused "Depreciation Insurance" seems to be the one to go for. They both "Freeze" the value of the car when you buy the policy.

Adrian makes a good point about new or young cars. But a word of warning (or should I say crying over spilt milk ) the £3,000 I lost in 18 months wasn't on a new (or nearly new car) I was staggard at how much my car had lost in value in such a short space of time.

Scary fact:eek:... Now I know this is bordering on anorak - but I looked at the whatcar depreciation calculator and a Mazda MX5 1.8 SE would be worth £8026 in 2 years time - it looses ANOTHER £2378:eek: by the time it's 4 years old. That's pretty much what happened to me (only worse because of the current climate).

So while I agree with your point Adrian, new cars do drop in value massively as soon as the car drives off the forecourt, but a gap (or depreciation insurance) policy still has a substantial benefit on older cars.

Anyone agree ?

Where I am coming from is that there are two places a drop in cars value comes from.
1. The difference between purchase price and trade in price, not so relevant to RTI insurance.
2. The actual depreciation

If you draw a graph of the cars value over time to see depreciation you see a big drop in year 1 and then a fairly consistent drop (and your example of 2378 / approx £100 each month is a good one) until the car gets to around the 5 or 6 year old point.
Your loosing that money anyway unless the car is written off during an RTI insurance policy term.
If that car is written off without this kind of cover you should be able to go out and buy a similar aged car with the insurance money so your back where you started with no premium paid and not out of pocket.
It's the steep depreciation period where it might be hard to find a replacement car of the right age and specification where the RTI is useful or where you have finance on the car and need to be able to clear the pay finance if the worst happens.
I'm not saying RTI is never worth it, in the right circumstances I might buy it myself one day.

Mazda_Driver

Hi Adrian,
Sorry but you lost me a bit there.

Keeping it simple, whatever age my car is today, whether I’ve just bought it or owned it for a few years… it will have a value today. In two years time that value will have dropped.

If my car is a total loss my insurer pays me the value of the car on that day (not what it was worth two years previously).

My Gap Depreciation Insurance will pay me the difference – i.e. I won’t have lost a penny in depreciation. Now that I like

I agree, if these policies cost the earth, then I’d question whether it was worth it. But having just lost £3,000 – I feel £127 for three years peace of mind is worth it.

Anyway, that policy was from Click4Gap.co.uk. The other question was has any-one else bought a policy from confused.com (I’ve now found a couple of articles in the Times and Independent – both look positive so I think my partner will go for it!)

AdrianHi

Mazda_Driver wrote: »

I agree, if these policies cost the earth, then I’d question whether it was worth it. But having just lost £3,000 – I feel £127 for three years peace of mind is worth it.

In this scenario £127 does seem good value and you might as well do it.

Where I was coming from is that the £3000 loss was happening anyway, if you took the regular insurance pay out and bought the same age Mazda MX-5 you would be in the same position as you were before the accident, with no £127 premium.
If the same age Mazda MX-5 is very difficult to come by and you end up having to buy a new one, that's where the GAP/RTI really makes a difference.
This is often the case with BMW/Audi/Merc as most new buyers will add equipment to their own specification which is then difficult to find in the used car market later on if they had to replace the car after an accident.

CandleFan

AdrianHi wrote: »

It needs to be the sort which is Return To Invoice (RTI) and not just covering negative equity in any loan you might have taken out.
Brand new car and regular insurance covers original invoice price in the first 12 months anyway.

Not true - insurance does not always cover this for brand new cars - mine doesn't - only covers market value from the word go.

dacouch

CandleFan wrote: »

AdrianHi wrote: »

It needs to be the sort which is Return To Invoice (RTI) and not just covering negative equity in any loan you might have taken out.
Brand new car and regular insurance covers original invoice price in the first 12 months anyway.

Not true - insurance does not always cover this for brand new cars - mine doesn't - only covers market value from the word go.

Have a read of your policy, the vast vast majority will arrange a new replacement car of the same model / spec at list price if your car is written off (Generally repair costs of 60% or more of the value) within the first 12 months of ownership from brand new (Providing you are the first registered keeper). If your with the NFU its the first two years of ownership.