Gap Insurance

[Alshine]

Hello

In the process of buying a new RAV 4 and the dealer is trying his best to get me to take out a GAP Insurance with them.

I hear its a lot cheaper online but who are the good and reliable companies?

I had a look at Car2cover.co.uk and Surfandprotect.com has anyone had any experience/info on these.

Or can anyone recommend a good company and what to look out for.

Regards

Alan

[anchorman]

I have always been cynical about GAP insurance as the amount of cars of the value of a RAV that are written off in the first three years are almost nil....

......until recently! The price of a 3 year old RAV has fallen sharply and the costs of major repairs has risen similarly - this makes major repairs less sense to insurance companies. GAP insurance is beginning to make sense as long as the premiums remain competitive. I have no idea about who does the best deal but I have always found Toyota insurance competitive (although it is underwritten by somebody else). These things are usually negotiable so try bartering with them. Either ask for it half price or better still in with the deal and tell them you are shopping around. I got 10% off my insurance right away just for asking.

[hertsnminds]

Shame their isn't a car insurance policy that does new for old like some house contents policies do.

You have to insure your car then you have to take out more insurance (GAP) to protect you from the finance company.

[cabcurtains]

Just remember GAP insurance is only a neccesity if you have a low deposit, because you will have negative equity the moment you drive off the pitch. If you have a big deposit then VRI (Vehicle Replacement Insurance) is the correct product (provided its still called this! ) .

[Parts-King]

GAP pays the difference between what you car is worth the moment it is written off and the replacement value, regardless of how much deposit you paid. It has it's place in life. You would be suprised at the number of cars written off in the first year, let alone 3 years. As always, if you think it is for you and you can afford it, haggle and negotiate the best price

Kingo

[Mereside]

I don't know if this helps but my six month old previous car was driven into head on by an uninsured driver who had a fit at the wheel. I did not have gap and had to haggle hard with my insurance company when it was written off. When I bought the Rav I got gap this time and hope never to use it. It was worth the money to put my mind at rest.

[cabcurtains]

GAP pays the difference between what you car is worth the moment it is written off and the replacement value, regardless of how much deposit you paid. It has it's place in life. You would be suprised at the number of cars written off in the first year, let alone 3 years. As always, if you think it is for you and you can afford it, haggle and negotiate the best price

Kingo

Some people still get stitched into it by being mis sold, plainly if you buy a 20k car with a 10k deposit borrowing the 10k over 5yrs, the most you owe is 12,500 (APR 10% approx), having GAP wouldn’t be required. Unless its a Citreon C5 3.0 V6 Auto in White!!!

Or your insurance company dont do market value.

[Hoovie]

GAP pays the difference between what you car is worth the moment it is written off and the replacement value, regardless of how much deposit you paid. It has it's place in life. You would be suprised at the number of cars written off in the first year, let alone 3 years. As always, if you think it is for you and you can afford it, haggle and negotiate the best price

Kingo

I was offered GAP Insurance by Toyota when I bought my RAV4 - didn't buy it as decided to weigh up the likelyhood of my car being written off (fairly remote really IMO) against cost of insurance.

Got two comments on what kingo said ...

1) if your car is written off in the first year of registration, the insurance company normally pay for a brand-new replacement, so there should be no "GAP" as such anyway

2) the way the GAP insurance was presented to me was that if the car was written off, the GAP insurance would pay for the difference between the amount your car insurance company values the car at the time of the write-off and the ORIGINAL INVOICE PRICE that you paid for the vehicle

So say you buy a new RAV4 at £20,000 and have a 3 year GAP policy and the car is written off couple of years after you bought it and is worth market value of £10,000 - your insurance will pay £10,000 and the GAP insurance will top that up to £20,000

Now is that correct? as it seems to me some unscruplious fellows will 'arrange' to have their cars stolen and burnt out/wrecked after a couple of years of driving around and then get a nice BRAND-NEW car for half price.

I asked the garage to clarify my understanding of the GAP insurance and they said it was as I described (not sure if they really knew?)

[cabcurtains]

GAP pays the difference between what you car is worth the moment it is written off and the replacement value, regardless of how much deposit you paid. It has it's place in life. You would be suprised at the number of cars written off in the first year, let alone 3 years. As always, if you think it is for you and you can afford it, haggle and negotiate the best price

Kingo

I was offered GAP Insurance by Toyota when I bought my RAV4 - didn't buy it as decided to weigh up the likelyhood of my car being written off (fairly remote really IMO) against cost of insurance.

Got two comments on what kingo said ...

1) if your car is written off in the first year of registration, the insurance company normally pay for a brand-new replacement, so there should be no "GAP" as such anyway

2) the way the GAP insurance was presented to me was that if the car was written off, the GAP insurance would pay for the difference between the amount your car insurance company values the car at the time of the write-off and the ORIGINAL INVOICE PRICE that you paid for the vehicle

So say you buy a new RAV4 at £20,000 and have a 3 year GAP policy and the car is written off couple of years after you bought it and is worth market value of £10,000 - your insurance will pay £10,000 and the GAP insurance will top that up to £20,000

Now is that correct? as it seems to me some unscruplious fellows will 'arrange' to have their cars stolen and burnt out/wrecked after a couple of years of driving around and then get a nice BRAND-NEW car for half price.

I asked the garage to clarify my understanding of the GAP insurance and they said it was as I described (not sure if they really knew?)

It all depends if the car was on finance.

[Hoovie]

So you are saying the GAP insurance is an insurance that covers the gap between the insurance company payout and the outstanding finance?

I think that was also mentioned to me and I could not see the benefit on that aspect for me (as I paid £15k for the car and financed £4k of that only)

[cabcurtains]

This is the definitive explanation:

Finance GAP Insurance

Finance GAP Insurance is the most basic GAP Insurance product. This cover pays you the

difference between any outstanding finance on your car and the total loss settlement paid to

you by your motor insurer.

RTI (Return To Invoice) GAP Insurance

RTI GAP Insurance is a more comprehensive type of GAP Insurance which pays you the

difference between the original purchase price of your car and the total loss settlement paid

to you by your motor insurer.

VRI (Vehicle Return to Invoice) GAP Insurance

VRI GAP Insurance is a type of GAP Insurance which pays you the difference between the

price of an equivalent replacement new car and the total loss settlement paid to you by your

motor insurer.

Combined RTI GAP Insurance

Combined RTI GAP Insurance is a brand new type of GAP Insurance that combines the

advantages of finance GAP insurance and return to invoice GAP insurance. This pays you

the difference between the total loss settlement paid to you by your motor insurer and either

the original purchase price of your car or the amount required to settle your finance

agreement, whichever the greater.

[Hoovie]

So in my own case, The Toyota Delaer were talking about RTI GAP Insurance

It is most important when comparing quotes that like-for-like is compared - I reckon RTI GAP will cost a lot more then Finance or VRI GAP.

Can't see the point of "Combined RTI GAP Insurance" unless you have financed more you paid for the vehicle - when does that ever happen??

[Teddylicious]

I used my car as a battering ram at a junction to encourage the movement of traffic, and if it wasn't for the GAP insurance I had it would of really hurt me financially. I can't for the life of me remember what type of cover it was, but when everything was settled I wasn't any worse off. For a one off payment it can take the stress out of having a crash, so I would recommend it. As for which companies to use, I used abraxas they were very good and settled in about 10 days. The price was haggled into my deal. B)

[cabcurtains]

So in my own case, The Toyota Delaer were talking about RTI GAP Insurance

It is most important when comparing quotes that like-for-like is compared - I reckon RTI GAP will cost a lot more then Finance or VRI GAP.

Can't see the point of "Combined RTI GAP Insurance" unless you have financed more you paid for the vehicle - when does that ever happen??

Pre Reg stuff with negative equity from the previous vehicle added or cashback on new cars, this is claimed on the paperwork to be "accessories" in order to get the advance on the vehicle - Dodgy this motor trade!!!

[rave]

As I work here in Portugal in an Insurance Company that offers GAP Insurance and Motor Warranty, I will have to recomend you guys, it is Mapfre Asistencia that recently bought ABRAXAS there in UK, of course that working here i will have to say this, but i really consider us a Serious Company. ;)

[Hoovie]

any discount for RAV4 Drivers? ;)

[rave]

That i think it could be done...but then, after that the corolla drivers, the ay-go drivers the bmw drives and so on also would claim their discount.....