Is Guaranteed asset protection (GAP) insurance worth it?

Five_Star · 24 Apr 2009 at 08:19

Looking at all the figures for getting a Focus ST I've been told that GAP insurance on the 11k Focus is worth taking, but like all insurance policies is it a good deal? it seems that the different finance companies and brokers push this quite hard so I'm guessing they make a lot of commission on the extra insurance as well?

I've always owned cars outright before so not come across this before. I assume I only need to use GAP insurance if the vehicle is a total loss before the end of the finance agreement?

If I don't take the insurance and the car is a write off for whatever reason in the future what kind of depreciation loss could I expect?

Five_Star · 24 Apr 2009 at 09:09

The GAP insurance both different companies are offering is that they will pay the difference between my insurance pay out and the cost of the finance agreement.

I'm making quite a few assumptions here but say the car costs 11k. With our trade in of 2k and a 1k deposit the total finance is 8k
If the car is written off next year and direct line pay out 8k for market value this would cover the finance.

So in this case what would GAP insurance pay out?

Out of interest where should I look online for comparison costs, therubble where did you look?

Five_Star · 24 Apr 2009 at 09:56

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction people

It seems from some extra reading the policy that the finance companies are offering (only Finance GAP insurance) is way over priced, and might not actually pay out if my insurer pays a reasonable market value.

I would like to hear from anybody who has taken Invoice GAP insurance out, I'm looking at about £190 for 3-4 years but would like to go with a company somebody has good words to say about rather than a stab in the dark on Google.

Five_Star · 24 Apr 2009 at 10:15

Where did you get your cover from Defcon5, finance company or a 3rd party insurer?

Five_Star · 24 Apr 2009 at 10:48

Defcon5 said:
IIRC the company wer Cardiff Pinnacle http://www.pinnacle.co.uk/ . It was arranged by the dealer at the time.

When I wrote the car off all I had to do was fill in a single page form and that was it, they paid out straight away

I'm pretty sure they are the same people, will double check tonight on the paperwork. cheers

Five_Star · 24 Apr 2009 at 13:19

a1ex2001 said:
I thought about it but to me if you had it you'd be hoping you had an accident to make it worth while as otherwise you may as well set the money on fire.

I wouldn't be getting the GAP on the off chance that I manage to binn the car myself. As my wife has proved with our old Focus it's far more likely to have some idiot drive into us, or it's stolen and written off. These are my main worry.

Five_Star · 24 Apr 2009 at 13:39

Very true what Fox has said and exactly the thoughts of my wife too. I suspected that even if we did have GAP cover in most cases any accident damage would be repaired (like in my wifes last accident which was repaired) and the cover not used. The only real situation would be if we crashed it and I could accept a loss in that case, or the car was stolen and written off.

Anyway as has been said, if in a year or two the car was gone we'd simply get something similar with the insurance money. Guess I should be putting the couple of hundred quid by not getting GAP in the bank for fuel, new tyres or dare I say a replacement turbo!