GAP insurance on a personal loan -Total loss accident

quiffgirl_99

I recently had an accident and my car was a total write off. I have had a settlement offer which i have accepted (waiting for the cheque) but obviously it doesn't cover the remainder to pay on the loan. I was given free GAP insurance with the Alliance and Leicester loan because they knew it was for the purpose of buying a car. My mum took the loan out for the car (so the loan is in her name) and gave the car to me, the car was initially in her name but is now in mine. The conditions of the insurance state that you must have fully comp insurance to pay out which we both do. My mum is also a named driver on my insurance policy. Will the company pay out even though the car is in my name? Incidently it doesn't say anything about the car being in the loan holders name on the documents as far as I can see. Please help!

tomitma

If you were driving when you had the accident, I dont think that you are covered, the policy is in your mothers name, when she gave the car to you, the car was registered in your name, so as far as they are concerned the policy is on the car, in your mothers name, the day she gave the car to you, the policy ended. I had problems with Gap the policy was in my husbands name, but I wrote the car off, it took nearly a year to sort the mess out.

quiffgirl_99

yes i was driving, but my mum is also named on my policy.

quiffgirl_99

Sorry, I didn't explain that very well. I haven't accepted the offer, but they agreed to an interim payment while the case is under dispute. I disputed because I did not agree with the amount they deducted from the final settlement offer due to pre-accident damage, and have stated I would seek advice on the damage to see if the quote is viable. It has been noted that the case is under dispute. I have contacted Alliance and Leicester to inform them of the accident and that the car was a write-off and enquiring about the GAP insurance. The advisor did not seem to know alot about the procedure as she said it wasn't commonly asked about, but arranged for the relevant forms to be sent out. So yeah, they agreed an interim payment and I have sent the forms back, but the case is still under dispute so I haven't 'accepted' the offer as such.

quiffgirl_99

Oh and the GAP insurance was free as part of the loan becaause I'd specified it was for a car.

tomitma

The best thing you can do is phone GAP themselves, you should really have notified them oat the same time that you notified your insurance company, but to be truthful I honestly can not see them paying out, they have too many clauses in there contracts, and I think that you have broken a few of them.

quiffgirl_99

I have spoken to them already on the phone and waiting for the forms to fill in. To be honest, I only noticed I had it when looking through the paperwork to see how much I had left to pay on the loan. I also just looked through the loan paperwork and there is no information regarding the GAP insurance policy, it just states 'as the loan is for a vehicle the policy includes Guaranteed Asset Protection at no extra cost. Providing you have fully comprehensive insurance this will make up any shortfall of a claim, up to £5,000, if your vehicle is stolen or written off', apart from this it shows no terms and conditions. The car was not part of a finance agreement on this loan, I paid the full price for the car and am now paying off a personal loan which has GAP insurance.

Tiddlywinks

If I understand this correctly, it's not your loan? Your mum got the loan for a car in her name. She then transferred ownership to you. The gap insurance came with the loan which is in her name.

Yes, she may be a named driver on your insurance policy BUT the loan gap insurance is an entirely independent policy to your car insurance policy.

I would guess that the fact the car has transferred ownership would mean that the gap insurance will not pay out.

Anyway, you shouldn't even be contacting the loan company and gap insurer as your mum is liable for the loan and she is the policy holder of the gap insurance and so I am surprised that they even discussed this with you.

quiffgirl_99

They didn't, it was my mum who spoke to them. Is there anywhere online I can find terms and conditions of this? Cause I've searched high and low and can't find any.

quiffgirl_99

And I hardly see how me or my mum speaking to the loan company is relevant to the query!

tomitma

It is now obvious that you have no GAP insurance cover on that car. When we took the GAP insurance out, it was filled out firstly by the show room salesman, He gave us a copy of this, and sent the rest of the cover to GAP about 10 days later we had a letter welcoming us to GAP and our certificate, giving every detail there is of the car.

You havent done any of this, so GAP will not know your car. If you are still unhappy I would phone GAP first thing in the morning.