Gap insurance - guide discussion

Y00dl

My new car has just been written off and I didn't take GAP insurance for the first year as the insurance produce information document states (under 'What is insured') "New car replacement - if you've owned your car from new, and it's written off or stolen and not recovered within 12 months of purchase, we'll replace it with a new car of the same make, model and specification".  

Not unreasonably, I took this to mean that, should the vehicle be written off in the first year, it would be replaced with a new car.  For this reason, I have not yet purchased GAP insurance.

Yet, now my claim has been processed, the company is refusing to replace the vehicle and is only paying market value because the policy document has a detail clause:  

"We will only replace your car if: 1. You or your partner own your car or are buying it under a hire purchase agreement or other type of agreement where ownership passes to you and the financing company agrees; and 2. You or your partner are the first registered keeper of your car, or you or your partner are the second registered keepers of your car, if your car has been pre registered in the name of the manufacturer or supplying dealer, providing at the time of purchase by you or your partner, the mileage of your car was less than 250 miles. Cars sold as ‘ex demonstrators’ and ‘nearly new’ do not qualify for replacement under this section."

They state the reason for refusal is that the finance company does not agree to replacement.

So this is an exclusion that contradicts the original statement that says "...we'll replace it with a new car ..." i.e. that says WILL (not MIGHT if exclusions in other documents do not apply).

I feel absolutely cheated as have now lost my car and taken a large financial hit due to what I would consider misleading information in documentation which led me to believe I was covered for replacement in the first year.  Also, I had no way of knowing the finance company would not agree to replacement at the time of purchase.

Thanks if you can offer any advice but, for anyone else pondering on whether they need GAP insurance, don't hesitate to buy it but do shop around.  

Silvertabby

Our last 3 cars each had 3 years GAP thrown in as a dealer freebie. 

Dolphincat30

I am not sure what type of GAP insurance to get? I bought a used car 4/8/2020 valued £6995. I paid £995 cash and have the rest on 0% finance over 5 years - therefore have £6000 to pay over five years. I am not sure what type of GAP to go for i.e. 'Return to Invoice', 'Vehicle Replacement' etc. - any advice please?
Many thanks

Thorperanger

On MSE recommendation I have just purchased GAP Insurance for my new (well 3,000 miles old) Kia Sportage. I wanted complete cover as it’s virtually new, Kia wanted £449, but for virtually the same terms and conditions with the MSE discounts I have paid £168.00! 

All conducted speedily and easily online, hopefully I’ll never have to use it but £168 is a bit more easier to swallow , thanks guys👍😁

exWayfarer

Main VW dealer offered GAP insurance on new car. I obtained quotes from ALA and Click4Gap. Told dealer I did not want their GAP insurance as web quotes were half their price. When I picked up the car dealer offered me GAP at a price lower than ALA and Click4Gap quotes even with MSE discounts. So worth getting the quotes. I would have accepted ALA's quote otherwise.

HanSpan

We are due to pick up a 1 yr old ex demo car on Saturday and the deal has offered GAP insurance (4yrs) plus (expensive) Tyre & wheel insurance and SMART protect body/paint insurance (3yrs).  Total amounts to just shy of £1500.

I now have various confusing quotes on screen from ala.co.uk, totallossgap.co.uk, shortfall.co.uk and motoreasy.com

Does anyone have advice to NOT use any of those?  Or that one is particularly good? 

ALA seems to have had quite a few decent reviews and look good for the GAP insurance, but have poor (or no) offerings for the rest and I think we want them all!

The next two are part of Aequitas Automotive Limited who have several companies offering slightly different options.  I've not quite got to the bottom of the combinations yet!

Motoreasy is simplest but I don't think offers such good savings.

This is making my head hurt!!  I'd like to have clear in my head the quotes we will use as I wonder if mini will offer a significant discount as the previous poster says VW did!

tasticz

HanSpan said:

We are due to pick up a 1 yr old ex demo car on Saturday and the deal has offered GAP insurance (4yrs) plus (expensive) Tyre & wheel insurance and SMART protect body/paint insurance (3yrs).  Total amounts to just shy of £1500.

I now have various confusing quotes on screen from ala.co.uk, totallossgap.co.uk, shortfall.co.uk and motoreasy.com

Does anyone have advice to NOT use any of those?  Or that one is particularly good? 

ALA seems to have had quite a few decent reviews and look good for the GAP insurance, but have poor (or no) offerings for the rest and I think we want them all!

The next two are part of Aequitas Automotive Limited who have several companies offering slightly different options.  I've not quite got to the bottom of the combinations yet!

Motoreasy is simplest but I don't think offers such good savings.

This is making my head hurt!!  I'd like to have clear in my head the quotes we will use as I wonder if mini will offer a significant discount as the previous poster says VW did!

I am also picking up my car on Saturday.


The product you are describing is offered by totallossgap.co.uk

for 26k car 5 year RTI was £289 and smart insurance with inc alloys dents and tyres 4 years £394

£800 saving compared to dealer. IMO buy 5 year gap not 4. That’s what I’ll be buying tomorrow

If you go with ALA, use MSE25 for 25% off. Thanks to whoever it was that responded with this code in my thread

just to add I’ll only buy the gap insurance not the smart. It has too many exclusions in smart

HanSpan

HanSpan said:

We are due to pick up a 1 yr old ex demo car on Saturday and the deal has offered GAP insurance (4yrs) plus (expensive) Tyre & wheel insurance and SMART protect body/paint insurance (3yrs).  Total amounts to just shy of £1500.

I now have various confusing quotes on screen from ala.co.uk, totallossgap.co.uk, shortfall.co.uk and motoreasy.com

Does anyone have advice to NOT use any of those?  Or that one is particularly good? 

ALA seems to have had quite a few decent reviews and look good for the GAP insurance, but have poor (or no) offerings for the rest and I think we want them all!

The next two are part of Aequitas Automotive Limited who have several companies offering slightly different options.  I've not quite got to the bottom of the combinations yet!

Motoreasy is simplest but I don't think offers such good savings.

This is making my head hurt!!  I'd like to have clear in my head the quotes we will use as I wonder if mini will offer a significant discount as the previous poster says VW did!

Just to let people know what we did in the end. 

Back to Insurance+ GAP with ALA at £222.  Mini actually offered £300 but I'd already taken this out by then.  The only difference was mini offered £100 refund of tax if the car was written off, otherwise both will pay out the difference between what we paid and what the comprehensive insurance pays out (not some nebulous "market value" as some others do).

Wheel + Tyre plus Smart protect £740 from Mini.  This was more expensive than the similar cover offered by totalloss but it kicked in immediately whereas the other had a 30 day period where we couldn't claim.  Also the totalloss one seemed to only cover paint scratches to 5cm whereas the mini one is 30cm for scratches and dents.  This was all far more confusing to compare as they work differently in many ways in terms of No of claims/max amount for claims etc.  The 30 day delay vs immediate was the clincher in the end as - knowing our luck we'd buckle a wheel in the first fortnight if we took the cheaper one! (we did get a discount on what they first quoted so its definitely worth doing even if you decide you want to go with the dealer)

tasticz

I purchased 5 years return to invoice insurance at totallossgap for £290 on a £26k car

technicalfault

I'm in the process of purchasing a car. I had to do it via email and phone, and will be collecting this weekend. The dealer said he needed to "look at the whole package" before offering me a deal and upsold a bunch of insurances as part of the haggling process over the base vehicle price. These got added to my finance deal, except Gap insurance.

I understand that I can decline all the insurances after I drive off with the car, as long as I do it in < 14 days.

I am a little frustrated by the approach but having read my rights, I am happy to exercise them once I have the car in my possession.

However, they are wanting me to pay Gap insurance by card on the day I collect.

Can I simply decline to pay?