GAP insurance..where?
- Thread starter Jono
- Start date
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
a-la's aim is to bring the colourful and beautiful into the home.
a-la makes bespoke items that are made to fit perfectly into any home
Are you sure?
Ah, http://www.ala.co.uk/?
Thanks for the reply
a-la makes bespoke items that are made to fit perfectly into any home
Are you sure?
Ah, http://www.ala.co.uk/?
Thanks for the reply
Cant help with wheres the best place to buy from but my dad bought a car from available car a few years back.
Two years later the car got wrote off in a fault accident. My dad had forgotten he'd bought gap insurance...went to available car to buy another car, decided on another Mondeo and got given the GAP sales talk. Which got my dad thinking, i think i had that on my last car...."but you havent claimed dad!"..."oh i didnt realise...". Available car salesmen makes some phone calls, hey presto he gets a cheque for £4k in the post a week later!
Two years later the car got wrote off in a fault accident. My dad had forgotten he'd bought gap insurance...went to available car to buy another car, decided on another Mondeo and got given the GAP sales talk. Which got my dad thinking, i think i had that on my last car...."but you havent claimed dad!"..."oh i didnt realise...". Available car salesmen makes some phone calls, hey presto he gets a cheque for £4k in the post a week later!
So anyone else used ala or anywhere else, surfandprotect.com for example? The latter seem quite a bit more expensive than ala, but are underwritten by Ageas (previously AXA/Norwich Union)... Ala are underwritten by.... well I'm not sure. But they are in association with auto trader,
http://www.ala.co.uk/gap-insurance-price-comparison.php and seem to have been going for a few years... so that's good?
Quoted me about £160 whereas S&P were £230
http://www.ala.co.uk/gap-insurance-price-comparison.php and seem to have been going for a few years... so that's good?
Quoted me about £160 whereas S&P were £230
New car being delivered in Jan and had turned down dealers offer of gap insurance intending to arrange it myself, but....
How do you know how much 'gap' to cover? i.e how decide on a gap claim limit as I don't suppose you know at any point how much your insurance will pay out. Or have I missed something?
How do you know how much 'gap' to cover? i.e how decide on a gap claim limit as I don't suppose you know at any point how much your insurance will pay out. Or have I missed something?
From what I understand (I just bought a new car), it makes up the defecit from the market value of the vehicle at the time, to the amount you've paid on the vehicle over your finance plan. So, if the depreciation on the vehicle is higher than your payment plan, it bridges this gap.
I've said it in motors before, and I'll say it again (as people always call you up on any mistake!), correct me if I'm wrong.
You can't know for sure what your insurance will pay out, but I understand they will pay 'market value', so if you do your research, probably a tad less than what the same vehicle is selling for privately? That would be my guess.
I've said it in motors before, and I'll say it again (as people always call you up on any mistake!), correct me if I'm wrong.
You can't know for sure what your insurance will pay out, but I understand they will pay 'market value', so if you do your research, probably a tad less than what the same vehicle is selling for privately? That would be my guess.
It entirely depends on what product you've chosen as to what it does.
Some GAP insurance will bridge the gap between the payout from your insurer and the amount you owe on finance. So if you are a complete donut and you finance a car 100% which you crash a year later owing £15k on a car worth just £11k, the GAP insurance will pay the extra £4k to clear the finance. This is idiot-gap insurance because it's for people foolish enough to buy a car using so much finance that they enter negative equity. This is a completely stupid thing to do anyway, best thing to do here is to buy smart in the first place not insure yourself against your own financial stupidity
You can also get Return to Invoice GAP, which pays you the difference between what the payout from the insurer is, and what you paid for your car originally. This is a far better, far more useful product that can be of real benefit even if you don't fail at buying cars. Effectively it means if you always buy 2 year old Audi's and you write it off 2 years later, you can go and buy another 2 year old Audi instead of having to buy a 4 year old one with the insurers payout.
Why would 'market value' be less than the vehicle costs to buy on the market? Market value is exactly that - the value of the vehicle on the market. So if Car B costs £11k to buy privately and you buy cars privately, your insurer should in theory pay £11k.
I'm skeptical as to whether the insurer's 'market value' is the same as your percieved actual market value. Not much difference, but I suppose it depends also on the insurer.
Return to Invoice GAP will probably be quite expensive then.
Negative equity in this context is where the car is worth less than the amount you still owe on finance then? That will depend on the rate of depreciation. I can imagine people might take that kind of gap insurance out (you refer to as idiot-gap) if they are financing a car over a longer than usual period of time. I.e. they want an expensive car, but for a small monthly cost and with little or no deposit.
Return to Invoice GAP will probably be quite expensive then.
Negative equity in this context is where the car is worth less than the amount you still owe on finance then? That will depend on the rate of depreciation. I can imagine people might take that kind of gap insurance out (you refer to as idiot-gap) if they are financing a car over a longer than usual period of time. I.e. they want an expensive car, but for a small monthly cost and with little or no deposit.
Market value is market value. If you accept less than market value because its your insurers first offer then more fool you. You are entitled to an amount which can replace the vehicle with another of the same age, condition and mileage. If they cost £x, you should get £x.
And the percentage financed. Take out 100% finance and you are in negative equity the second you turn the key. IMHO if you cant even find a deposit then an expensive car is unaffordable..
[TW]Fox;20690014 said:It entirely depends on what product you've chosen as to what it does.
Some GAP insurance will bridge the gap between the payout from your insurer and the amount you owe on finance. So if you are a complete donut and you finance a car 100% which you crash a year later owing £15k on a car worth just £11k, the GAP insurance will pay the extra £4k to clear the finance. This is idiot-gap insurance because it's for people foolish enough to buy a car using so much finance that they enter negative equity. This is a completely stupid thing to do anyway, best thing to do here is to buy smart in the first place not insure yourself against your own financial stupidity
You can also get Return to Invoice GAP, which pays you the difference between what the payout from the insurer is, and what you paid for your car originally. This is a far better, far more useful product that can be of real benefit even if you don't fail at buying cars. Effectively it means if you always buy 2 year old Audi's and you write it off 2 years later, you can go and buy another 2 year old Audi instead of having to buy a 4 year old one with the insurers payout.
Why would you ever choose the first option - surely the second will always work out best?
I used this firm for GAP on my Octy vRS when I bought it in March last year.
Car wasn't on finance, however in the situation of total loss I really wanted to be able to get another new car.
So I took out a 3 year policy at "back to invoice".
As to how good they are...well one year in and I've had no need to contact them yet, so really cannot comment.
Car wasn't on finance, however in the situation of total loss I really wanted to be able to get another new car.
So I took out a 3 year policy at "back to invoice".
As to how good they are...well one year in and I've had no need to contact them yet, so really cannot comment.
Soldato
- Joined
- 22 Oct 2004
- Posts
- 9,086
- Location
- Berkland
Hmm, interesting. I had no idea about GAP return to invoice and thus when I bought my new motor on Friday, when the BMW dealer was asking if I wanted it, I said no.
Having said that, his boss has phoned me up asking if I want to take it out at the discounted price of £298 for a '3 years return to invoice'.
Not sure if I should take it out or not... :/
Im guessing that is a one off payment for the 3 years coverage?
Having said that, his boss has phoned me up asking if I want to take it out at the discounted price of £298 for a '3 years return to invoice'.
Not sure if I should take it out or not... :/
Im guessing that is a one off payment for the 3 years coverage?
Firstly, I used Click4Gap. I would thoroughly recommend you stay away from them. They've been nothing but a massive pain to deal with, resulting in me getting the FSA involved. Car stolen in January, and it's still not sorted fully. It's sorted enough for me to be financially fine, I just feel misled and mis-sold by them, hence the FSA involvement. I've nothing to lose by following through so to speak.
To be fair, it's not the insurer (Red Sands I think) that's been a pain, it's been dealing with their middle man company Direct Group.
Also, be wary on Return to Invoice GAP wording, make sure it is return to invoice, and not 'return to our perceived market value when you bought the car'.
Click4GAP for example redefine the word 'invoice' from:
What was on your invoice when you bought the car
to
What we believe the car was worth when you bough the car
So in my opinion it simply isn't Return to Invoice. Massively misleading. Still, I guess that's why they're cheap.
Personally, I would never be without GAP insurance on a decent car - for the cost of it, it's mostly a no-brainer. Just make sure you get a good provider, and not an utterly rubbish cowboy provider like I had
To be fair, it's not the insurer (Red Sands I think) that's been a pain, it's been dealing with their middle man company Direct Group.
Also, be wary on Return to Invoice GAP wording, make sure it is return to invoice, and not 'return to our perceived market value when you bought the car'.
Click4GAP for example redefine the word 'invoice' from:
What was on your invoice when you bought the car
to
What we believe the car was worth when you bough the car
So in my opinion it simply isn't Return to Invoice. Massively misleading. Still, I guess that's why they're cheap.
Personally, I would never be without GAP insurance on a decent car - for the cost of it, it's mostly a no-brainer. Just make sure you get a good provider, and not an utterly rubbish cowboy provider like I had