GAP Insurance

cootuk

Worse case scenario is the car gets written off within three years where the outstanding finance is greater than the insurance value of the car. How would you pay that difference?

In our case we used GAP as another negotiating tool to get a discount on the price of the car as I believe the salespeople can make more commission from selling the extras than selling the car.

Johnny_Barnes10

For a first car I'd get it, but then I wouldn't get a car on finance for a first motor anyway. Depends how much it would be, and how long you're financing for?

oscarward

I bought a car in Mar 2007 for 20k without gap insurance. In Dec 2009 a young driver wrote it off for me . The insurance company paid out market value £11.3k.

So now i have return to invoice value GAP insurance on the cars I've bought since.

BJV

Hi I think you are sort of missing the point. Gap insurance is not just for vehicles bought on finance.

The whole idea is to protect yourself against out of pocket expenses. So if in two years time your vehicle is written off you can get the purchase price back. In a way you are protecting yourself against your vehicles drop in value.

I know that I would find it difficult to replace my car. Even if I had the money sat in the bank I would rather do something else with it. You are right thought the sales executive will earn from the sale of the gap. BUT that does not mean you will get it for free. Even if they say that the price includes gap at no extra cost.

They have a legal requirement to brake the figures down so you should be able to find out exactly what you are paying. Please nothing is for free!

Freefall

Hi Guys,

I am thinking of going for GAP insurance after looking into it.

So next question: Any good reccomendations for GAP insurance?

TadleyBaggie

Q: What's worse than having to deal with an insurance company?
A: Having to deal with two insurance companies with opposite agendas.

Which is what happens when you have GAP insurance and you write your car off. I'm currently going through this process and it's very frustrating. My main insurance company made me an offer of £13,500 which I thought was very fair (car bought almost 3 years ago for £17,000, done 60K miles), however the GAP insurance company thinks it's a low valuation (which they would since they want to pay out as little as possible) and now I'm waiting for them to come an agreement.

hollie.weimeraner

Best advice is to shop around and don't accept the dealer offer of GAP as these always tend to be inflated.

I've had GAP on the last 3 cars we've bought and each time have used www.ala.co.uk. They are always substantially below the dealer prices.

Freefall

TadleyBaggie wrote: »

Q: What's worse than having to deal with an insurance company?
A: Having to deal with two insurance companies with opposite agendas.

Which is what happens when you have GAP insurance and you write your car off. I'm currently going through this process and it's very frustrating. My main insurance company made me an offer of £13,500 which I thought was very fair (car bought almost 3 years ago for £17,000, done 60K miles), however the GAP insurance company thinks it's a low valuation (which they would since they want to pay out as little as possible) and now I'm waiting for them to come an agreement.

I had already thought of that but I came up with completely opposite view. Ordinarily, when your vehicle is a write-off you are dealing with the insurance company not only are they trying to value your car to the lowest value possible but it's a David against Goliath situation. They have all the training, the staff who are experienced in handling these claims on a day-to-day basis, shaving every penny possible off the valuation.

BUT when you have GAP insurance you have an expert team "on your side" to make sure the value is fair to you as well. But here's the thing: it really doesn't matter to you when you have GAP insurance. If you can't get the two of them to agree you just complain against each of them then go to the Financial Services Ombudsman who will determine the value for both of them (whilst charging each insurer about £500 for the privilege of having a complaint lodged against them).

See:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/312662
and
http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/66/66-vehicle_valuation_disputes.html

TrickyWicky

Freefall wrote: »

OK.

Looking to buy a nearly new car from a Franchised Dealership.

About me: First Car. 23 Year old Male. Just passed driving Test

If you want some honest advice get a cheaper car. You've just passed your test that means yoiu've got your first scrapes and bumps to suffer yet and you'll not be pleased with yourself when it happens as it will significantly devalue your car.

I know a nice bit of bling will probably make you look a stud but it will also be a bit of a headache for you too. The more valuable it is the more it will cost you insurance wise and with your limited experience it simply isn't worth it. Get a wreck get a years experience under your belt then go get the nice car once you've had your scrapes etc.

We've all been there, pass the test want a nice looking car to be seen in etc but we all have stupid accidents too. I know its hard to believe.. you find yourself thinking "How the **** did they do that?" but its true, it happens. My partner managed to bash a parking ticket machine, smacked a colleagues rear bumper, driven into a drain while I've managed to hit a bollard, drive into a wall, hit a kerb and a parked car. It's why the word accident exists. You don't plan to do it and you think its stupid that anyone else manages to do it but one small silly blunder and you find yourself thinking "How will I live this one down?" :rotfl: It's only once it's happened to you a few times you realise it's easier than you realise to have a prang.

Seriously, a car from a dealership just isn't worth the aggrevation.

I almost bought one of these a year or two back:



Nice car, pimped with gadgets, jet black, tinted windows, looked mean and full of muscle (think it was 3.6L either a V6 or V8 I can't remember now).. it had the lot. I had to stop and think: Is it going to be attractive for thieves? Will it cost me a fortune to insure? Am I going to get paranoid about little scratches, knocks, dints/dents etc? At the time I only had 2 or 3 years under my belt (and a recent claim for a pretty bad prang) so I decided that it would be too risky and a liability I couldn't realistically afford to own unless it was sorn'd!

I stuck with my cheaper reliable car that I still have now. Do I regret it? - Yes I kind of do in a way as life should be for living but it would of cost me a fortune and the value of cars only ever goes down not up (unless you're a trader buying them cheap from desperate sellers). I also done my research and found they had a waterpump weakness and I'm really not keen on lifting out engines. While it was a fab car to look at it may well of been more trouble than it was worth in the long run.

If you've got mega money to spend on a car, buy something cheaper than a dealership price go somewhere else and buy an approved used car in the cheaper ranges. It should still be reliable and will cost you far less.

Freefall

TrickyWicky wrote: »

If you want some honest advice get a cheaper car. You've just passed your test that means yoiu've got your first scrapes and bumps to suffer yet and you'll not be pleased with yourself when it happens as it will significantly devalue your car.

I know a nice bit of bling will probably make you look a stud but it will also be a bit of a headache for you too. The more valuable it is the more it will cost you insurance wise and with your limited experience it simply isn't worth it. Get a wreck get a years experience under your belt then go get the nice car once you've had your scrapes etc.

We've all been there, pass the test want a nice looking car to be seen in etc but we all have stupid accidents too. I know its hard to believe.. you find yourself thinking "How the **** did they do that?" but its true, it happens. My partner managed to bash a parking ticket machine, smacked a colleagues rear bumper, driven into a drain while I've managed to hit a bollard, drive into a wall, hit a kerb and a parked car. It's why the word accident exists. You don't plan to do it and you think its stupid that anyone else manages to do it but one small silly blunder and you find yourself thinking "How will I live this one down?" :rotfl: It's only once it's happened to you a few times you realise it's easier than you realise to have a prang.

Seriously, a car from a dealership just isn't worth the aggrevation.

I almost bought one of these a year or two back:



Nice car, pimped with gadgets, jet black, tinted windows, looked mean and full of muscle (think it was 3.6L either a V6 or V8 I can't remember now).. it had the lot. I had to stop and think: Is it going to be attractive for thieves? Will it cost me a fortune to insure? Am I going to get paranoid about little scratches, knocks, dints/dents etc? At the time I only had 2 or 3 years under my belt (and a recent claim for a pretty bad prang) so I decided that it would be too risky and a liability I couldn't realistically afford to own unless it was sorn'd!

I stuck with my cheaper reliable car that I still have now. Do I regret it? - Yes I kind of do in a way as life should be for living but it would of cost me a fortune and the value of cars only ever goes down not up (unless you're a trader buying them cheap from desperate sellers). I also done my research and found they had a waterpump weakness and I'm really not keen on lifting out engines. While it was a fab car to look at it may well of been more trouble than it was worth in the long run.

If you've got mega money to spend on a car, buy something cheaper than a dealership price go somewhere else and buy an approved used car in the cheaper ranges. It should still be reliable and will cost you far less.

Haha.... I did my research; and yes, I considered going and getting a cheaper car to ensure that it wouldn't matter if I got into scrapes etc. Unfortunately, it seems that the insurers have cottoned on to this reasoning: the insurance quotes start to sky-rocket with the old bangers! The only thing I can think of is they reason that the cheaper the car the less concerned you are going to be about getting into an accident (and the more likely you are to cause someone ELSE serious damage). Add to this higher maintenance on older cars I just felt it was best to go for "nearly new" car (just after it has gone through it's big depreciation spurt).

And it was a practical choice my car... I had to tear myself away from a very nice Hyundai Sports Coupe 2.0L