Gap insurance - worth it?

spirit

i'm about to buy a 'new car' and have been offered gap insurance at a cost of £300. Generally speaking is it worth taking this type of insurance out?

smartie1976

To be honest I would say no.

It's just another way of the company trying to get more money out of you, upon which they probably make a commission for every 'insurance' policy they sell to you.

Whilst you can't account for being in an accident, the chances of you being in a total write off are slim.

silvercar

you can probably get it cheaper online.

Lynxette

I would say yes. Absolutely yes. 100%, every time - HOWEVER, I was offered Gap Insurance with my HP Car which was 199 with the AA.

The reason I say yes is that no matter how safe you think you are behind the wheel, you have no idea how safe everyone else is. An ex of mine refused gap insurance on a used Toyota Yaris on the grounds that he had 4 years no claims and had no reason to believe he would right off this car - 3 months later a Ford Galaxy t-bones him into the side of a house and writes the car off. The car was valued at £4,986 at the time of crash, and we were paid this, but the remaining on the loan was then about £2,000!

spirit

Does anyone know where i might find an online quote from please?

Sluggy_Green

I just searched for "Gap Insurance" in Google UK. I got an instant quote from one company for 1 year longer and a third cheaper that what the garage offered. I'm still undecided as to whether or not its a good idea. I've just broken my leg. The first ever broken bone I have ever had. It took me 60 years to do it despite riding motor cycles for 40 years and 30 years firefighting. The salesman stated the obvious when he spoke to me saying people who need it love it. Those that don't think the odds are with them. I suspect its a bit of both. "Ask yourself.....Do you feel lucky"

dikvdyke

I would agree. Yes, gap insurance could be a money saver. We've had two cars written off and if you don't take out the insurance you won't get back the money you've invested, in the event of an accident. Cars are designed to crumple in accidents and are more prone to being written off by insurance companies. Heavy repair costs and compensation costs mean higher costs for them, so they prefer to pay the market value, which could be lot less than what you paid.

misterh

I'm considering it too. This one online seems quite a good deal - 3 years for £115:

http://www.shortfallcover.co.uk/info/insurance.asp?did=1

spirit

Hi all,

i've been researching this and found www.surfandprotect.com to be a bit cheaper still. since i intend only to keep the car for 2 years max before upgrading, it would be cheaper still to cover just the 2 years i think.

spirit

I should have added that the surfand protect quote was via AXA and for 3 years of cover is £82.95

misterh

spirit wrote: »

Hi all,

i've been researching this and found www.surfandprotect.com to be a bit cheaper still. since i intend only to keep the car for 2 years max before upgrading, it would be cheaper still to cover just the 2 years i think.

This came out more expensive than the ShortFallCover I linked above (at least for the cover I looked at) but they have a price match promise with an additional £5 discount making it very attractive!