GAP insurance claim

ParksidePeter

I had vehicle replacement GAP insurance on my car that has been written off.
The insurance company has determined its market value according to Autotrader and a settlement has been agreed; revised upwards slightly on appeal. The insurance loss adjuster told me that they never settle at the retail value, always the market price.
The GAP insurer has valued the car at the retail price calculated from Glass's guide and has told me that it will deduct the difference, about £700, from the settlement.
If what the insurance company has told me is right, that they always use the market value, then the GAP insurer must know that and their insistance on referring to the retail price is a device to avoid paying the full claim and must mean that no GAP claim is ever met in full.
Any thoughts?

rs65

I'm sure it should be retail value your insurers settle on.

Were your GAP insurers aware of the insurer settlement before you agreed to it?

ParksidePeter

Yes. It was their input that caused me to go back and get the offer revised, when I was told about the insurance policy regarding market value.

luci

Who was the Gap insurance company as I am considering getting this and it sounds like one to avoid?

ParksidePeter

luci wrote: »

Who was the Gap insurance company as I am considering getting this and it sounds like one to avoid?

Car Care Plan

luci

Thanks. I hadn't heard of that one.

InsideInsurance

Some GAP providers pay the difference between your settlement and the outstanding finance where as others pay the difference between their valuation of the vehicle and the outstanding finance. Needless to say those in the second camp tend to be much more generous with their valuations than motor insurers!

You need to read the terms of your Gap policy, if it does state they use their own valuation rather than the settlement and it doesnt give a method of calculation for the valuation then you basically need to argue down their valuation (basically the inverse of what you did with your insurers) via a complaint.

BJV

Hi I know quiet a bit about gap insurance.

In brief there are three types of insurance finance protects outstanding finance. A form of return to invoice that protects the invoice price and replacement which protects the replacement cost as yours was.

Your gap insurance is supposed to pay the difference and having any form of a shortfall is unacceptable. After all that is why you bought gap insurance isn't it to make sure that you had no financial problems should your car be written off.

Just been reading the thread and want to make sure I understand it. Your insurance company ( motor insurance) have offered you a price which your gap insurance company where aware of and said all ok. Now your gap insurance company are offering you a valuation £700 less.

Seams strange to me as insurance companies are very heavily regulated and are supposed to act in a "treating customers Fairly " http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/doing/regulated/tcf/ way at all times. This is supposed to stop all of this kind of messing around. In that they are supposed to be up front and explain everything every step of the way.

In 99.9999999% of cases your insurance company will use the same guides as your gap insurance company and will have to justify where they get their prices from. As I said gap insurance is made to cover the depreciation not the amount that your own insurance company is trying to under pay.

I would go back to them both and as InsideInsurance said check on your policy terms where are they getting their valuations from and ask them to justify them. After all it is your money and you have a right to know how it is being calculated and if ness haggle them up.

Just a thought are you sure that the under payment is the valuation of the car and not warranties or paint protections as until very recently most gap insurance companies did not cover these items.

Promise not all gap insurance companies are like this!

ParksidePeter

There are different policies available from the same providers. Mine was for a replacement car. I was never given the policy#, all I have is a notice that the car was registered for GAP, and they don't put them on their website so they work by a set of rules that only they know.
In my case, on one day last week Autotrader had a car similar to mine, but with 12,000 less miles, on offer at £7,400 and that it what the insurance company is going to pay me. Glass's Guide gives the retail value for mine, with its high mileage, at just over £8,100. So in this instance Glass does not reflect the market. The GAP people must know this and take advantage of it.
# the policy was included in a package of extras supplied with the car when I bought it so I don't know if that is typical

BJV

ParksidePeter wrote: »

There are different policies available from the same providers. Mine was for a replacement car. I was never given the policy#, all I have is a notice that the car was registered for GAP, and they don't put them on their website so they work by a set of rules that only they know.

Did you but the policy from your dealership as they are legally bound to make sure that your are given the documentation.:A

BJV

Car Care are a very large supplier but just like any supplier they will have worked out terms and conditions with the garage or manufacture. You need to get a copy of the documents you could always ask the dealership where you purcahsed it from. As there terms and conditions could be different from the generic forms.

And No this is not normal you should have been given a full list of documentation so that you could read it and make your own informed choices. After all how do you know if the policy or other extras are any good or suitable for you if you can not check the terms and conditions?