GAP Insurance

supersaver1000

My oh bought a vw golf and then decided to trade it in about a year later. I was really miffed because he had to pay the gap insurance again for the new car, and to my mind he was already insured. I had a look on VW's web-site and it just says that they will not refund your premium after 14 days. I wonder if I should have investigated it a bit more? Does anyone have any experience of this.

smugbear2007

i was recently a car salesman so i may be of some help.

1. check the level of coverage on the policy. ie they are available in 5k, 10k and 20k cover.ie no point being sold a 5k gap if you are buying a 30k car, but salesmen will sell them because they are easier to sell....not me though

2. always get RTI gap as finance gap is rarely better and only covers the neg eq if your car gets wrote off.

3. if i sold a policy at £299 the policy would cost the dealership approx £100, so good profit in them.

4. with every gap OFFERED or purchased you should get the fsa bumpf(fsa stands for !!!!!! shiiiiity admin btw) with key facts, demands and needs, and other rubbish you have to sign...if this is not done properly then the dealer can get proper big fines so if you have any queries over your gaps/warranty any product a dealer offers or sells then they get very scared when questioned. the fsa charge the dealer approx £600 just to INVESTIGATE the complaint.even if innocent then they still have to pay £600 if they are fsa approved....how many of you knew that i wonder???

i will answer some more of the above questions when i have had another beer and a fag

smugbear2007

watch that the gap is a return to invoice and not return to maket value at the time of purchase. ie you buy a car for 20k (with dealer profit built in) but market value can be argued at 18.5k when you bought it) so will only return the difference to the 18.5k amount....ive witnessed that before.
14 days is the norm not 28days. pointless arguing this as if they have done the fsa paperwork correct then you cant really do much.

instead of going for a cheaper gap, just chip the dealer down to £200 in the deal for 10k coverage, because the products that dealers offer tend to be better in general from my experience.

cityfan123

It's worth pointing out that the 14 day cooling off period, doesn't mean you will get ALL your money back.

If you cancel your policy after buying it, simply because you found another policy elsewhere cheaper later on, then they are entitled to charge you a cancellation fee, and a time on risk charge. IMHO this is perfectly fair, if you've been shopping around still AFTER you've made your purchase.

tomitma

I would never buy another car with out paying the extra for the GAP insurance, the last three cars we have bought have all had it, costing between 300-450, it is the best thing that you can buy.

The first car we bought with GAP was a brand new VW we only had it 6 months, when we moved house, not realising that the locals were not very friendly, they took a great dislike to our car and they very kindly petrol bombed it. Gap paid out after the extra money within weeks of our insurance claim, we ended up with the exact money we paid for the VW. Then a couple of years later, we thought the locals were getting a bit friendlier and we bought a brand new Focus Titanium, we had that car for 2 weeks before it was fire bombed. Pity really it was a beautiful car, but GAP paid out again. We have moved now and gone for a citreon, but we still have the GAP. I mean you never know who you are living next door to these days.

Yes it is well worth paying that extra for GAP.