GAP insurers suspend sales
Discussion
spookly said:
Some seem to be missing the point here. Nobody is suggesting that GAP insurance isn't a good idea,
Aren't they?Panamax said:
Cars depreciate. It's as simple as that. Trying to insure depreciation is a nonsense concept that people simply don't understand but it all sounds lovely when described by the salesman in the shiny showroom.
Fastdruid said:
Mine didn't pay out when my bike was written off as I'd missed it had to be insured fully comp and was instead only insured TPFT. Still to this day no idea why that makes any difference (apart from the obvious of they wouldn't pay anything if it was your fault) but there you go.
How can you expect the gap insurer to pay the difference between your insurer's payout and what you owe on the bike when, apart from a fire or theft claim, your insurer won't be paying out anything at all? TwigtheWonderkid said:
Fastdruid said:
Mine didn't pay out when my bike was written off as I'd missed it had to be insured fully comp and was instead only insured TPFT. Still to this day no idea why that makes any difference (apart from the obvious of they wouldn't pay anything if it was your fault) but there you go.
How can you expect the gap insurer to pay the difference between your insurer's payout and what you owe on the bike when, apart from a fire or theft claim, your insurer won't be paying out anything at all? I was not expecting a payout otherwise.
EDIT: I should add here that I was relatively young at the time, first new bike and IMO really was missold it. Again one of those that took reading though the fine print afterwards to realise it was an utter waste of money.
Edited by Fastdruid on Friday 17th May 10:24
Fastdruid said:
TwigtheWonderkid said:
Fastdruid said:
Mine didn't pay out when my bike was written off as I'd missed it had to be insured fully comp and was instead only insured TPFT. Still to this day no idea why that makes any difference (apart from the obvious of they wouldn't pay anything if it was your fault) but there you go.
How can you expect the gap insurer to pay the difference between your insurer's payout and what you owe on the bike when, apart from a fire or theft claim, your insurer won't be paying out anything at all? I was not expecting a payout otherwise.
I don't get it. You want gap insurance, because you're worried about the shortfall between your insurers theft payout and what you owe, but you aren't worried about binning the bike on a patch of oil and having no bike and absolutely no payout at all? Makes zero sense.
TwigtheWonderkid said:
Fastdruid said:
TwigtheWonderkid said:
Fastdruid said:
Mine didn't pay out when my bike was written off as I'd missed it had to be insured fully comp and was instead only insured TPFT. Still to this day no idea why that makes any difference (apart from the obvious of they wouldn't pay anything if it was your fault) but there you go.
How can you expect the gap insurer to pay the difference between your insurer's payout and what you owe on the bike when, apart from a fire or theft claim, your insurer won't be paying out anything at all? I was not expecting a payout otherwise.
You have significant insurance expertise. I did not and was blinded by the idea of shiny new bike and a pushy salesman.
Being honest even now I don't get why it's an issue, a payout is a payout, I don't care if it comes from MY insurer or the TP insurer, they're not the same insurer as the GAP insurer so why does it matter?
If it was part of MY policy with my normal insurance sure but it was a totally separate policy.
TwigtheWonderkid said:
I don't get it. You want gap insurance, because you're worried about the shortfall between your insurers theft payout and what you owe, but you aren't worried about binning the bike on a patch of oil and having no bike and absolutely no payout at all? Makes zero sense.
Because I was young, stupid and not going to crash because I was so awesome! (and I couldn't afford fully comp).
Fastdruid said:
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Being honest even now I don't get why it's an issue,
One of the issues for GAP insurers is potential fraud. Someone buying the cover knowing in advance they are going to write off their car so as to get a lot more back than the vehicle is actually worth. Fraud isn't a big issue in reality, but the claims that get investigated the hardest are theft discovered burnt out claims. Because that's the most common method for GAP cover fraudsters. No evidence left behind, and no risk of injuring yourself in an accident. No risk of not doing quite enough damage to be a write off. Being honest even now I don't get why it's an issue,
Someone buying GAP insurance but only buying TPF&T cover is a huge red flag for fraud. They seem not to actually be that worried about genuine financial loss, but just want to make a claim on their insurance and their GAP insurance for the smallest possible initial layout.
That's why it's an issue.
sturge7878 said:
TwigtheWonderkid said:
Forester1965 said:
sturge7878 said:
GAP insurance was always a massive scam just like PCP finance. Crackdown long overdue.
In 2018 my car was stolen. It was 18 months old. The original list price was £67k and when it was stolen my insurer offered £43k. The PCP finance had a balance of £52k.
When I got the car, I spent £179 on a 3yr gap policy to cover the car up to new invoice replacement value.
For £179 I walked away with £15k in my back pocket from the gap insurer having paid the £9k negative equity to the finance company.
I'm not sure how that fits the definition of scam, unless it was the gap insurer you're suggesting scammed itself?
"Gap insurance is a waste of time for me, therefore it's a waste of time full stop, therefore anyone who buys it is being scammed".
It's just a lack of understanding and empathy. They cannot fathom the concept that other people may have different needs and priorities to them.
I had to make a gap claim on a leased car that was broken into and severely damaged on my driveway to the point it had to be written off. T
he policy had been purchased through an online broker rather than a dealer, I'd paid the extra for deposit protection but the underwriter did everything possible to avoid paying back my deposit, claiming that the upfront payment on a lease is an advance rental and doesn't meet the terms of a deposit!
Fortunately the ombudsman was on my side and all was resolved, but its made me wary of these policies going forward
he policy had been purchased through an online broker rather than a dealer, I'd paid the extra for deposit protection but the underwriter did everything possible to avoid paying back my deposit, claiming that the upfront payment on a lease is an advance rental and doesn't meet the terms of a deposit!
Fortunately the ombudsman was on my side and all was resolved, but its made me wary of these policies going forward
TwigtheWonderkid said:
An accident that's not your fault is a payout from the tp insurer, not yours. Surely we all understand gap covers the difference between YOUR insurer's payout and the amount owed. Not some random insurer's payout.
I don't agree with the process many follow of going direct to the third party insurer, but I'd never thought about GAP insurance not working if you did that.Some third party insurers make an effort to deal with claims directly - if what you say is right, then that's something people with GAP need to be aware of. Especially these days, as cars that seem repairable can be written off unexpectedly.
I always thought GAP cover was ok on brand new cars, crash it in the first few years and not be out of pocket assuming there's no issue getting that money. Seems like perhaps there can be.
I do recall being very cynical about them on used vehicles. A girl I worked with back in 2003 bought a Skoda Fabia used and paid for the GAP cover on it. Someone rear ended up within a week of buying it, so she claimed on her insurance with the assumption that the GAP cover would top her up to what she paid for the car if any issues. They refused saying she had overpaid on the car and it wasn't worth what she paid, therefore she lost money regardless.
I do recall being very cynical about them on used vehicles. A girl I worked with back in 2003 bought a Skoda Fabia used and paid for the GAP cover on it. Someone rear ended up within a week of buying it, so she claimed on her insurance with the assumption that the GAP cover would top her up to what she paid for the car if any issues. They refused saying she had overpaid on the car and it wasn't worth what she paid, therefore she lost money regardless.
sturge7878 said:
Yep total scam. Well apart from the one lottery winner above.. 
I'm not sure if you're being serious or sarcastic so I'll go with serious and agree. The beautiful irony with your choice of words is that statistically you should expect to win ten times more for every pound 'invested' in the national lottery than you will for every pound spent buying GAP insurance! 
Bam89 said:
I had to make a gap claim on a leased car that was broken into and severely damaged on my driveway to the point it had to be written off. T
he policy had been purchased through an online broker rather than a dealer, I'd paid the extra for deposit protection but the underwriter did everything possible to avoid paying back my deposit, claiming that the upfront payment on a lease is an advance rental and doesn't meet the terms of a deposit!
Fortunately the ombudsman was on my side and all was resolved, but its made me wary of these policies going forward
They were correct that the initial payment is an initial payment, not a deposit. However on a specific lease GAP product I would have expected that to be covered, and so did the ombudsman obviously.he policy had been purchased through an online broker rather than a dealer, I'd paid the extra for deposit protection but the underwriter did everything possible to avoid paying back my deposit, claiming that the upfront payment on a lease is an advance rental and doesn't meet the terms of a deposit!
Fortunately the ombudsman was on my side and all was resolved, but its made me wary of these policies going forward
Did you purchase specific lease (PCH) gap insurance?
Alex_225 said:
I always thought GAP cover was ok on brand new cars, crash it in the first few years and not be out of pocket assuming there's no issue getting that money. Seems like perhaps there can be.
I do recall being very cynical about them on used vehicles. A girl I worked with back in 2003 bought a Skoda Fabia used and paid for the GAP cover on it. Someone rear ended up within a week of buying it, so she claimed on her insurance with the assumption that the GAP cover would top her up to what she paid for the car if any issues. They refused saying she had overpaid on the car and it wasn't worth what she paid, therefore she lost money regardless.
There are (or were I do recall being very cynical about them on used vehicles. A girl I worked with back in 2003 bought a Skoda Fabia used and paid for the GAP cover on it. Someone rear ended up within a week of buying it, so she claimed on her insurance with the assumption that the GAP cover would top her up to what she paid for the car if any issues. They refused saying she had overpaid on the car and it wasn't worth what she paid, therefore she lost money regardless.
) several kinds of GAP cover. Sounds like she had Vehicle Replacement Gap, so they thought she could replace the vehicle for less than she paid. It should have been easy to show whether that's true or not.I took Return to Invoice GAP for wife's nearly-new Karoq, which we bought at peak Covid prices and I know I overpaid based on what it "should" have been, but they were the same price everywhere. I hope not to test it, but don't see any reason why I wouldn't get the invoice value back, which if it got written off at the moment could well be £10K and that figure will only get bigger as the car decreases in value. The GAP policy limit is the value of the car, so if was worth a fiver at 3yrs, they should still give me back what I paid.
otolith said:
So they will still have a two year old car and still be in negative equity?
Car written off at 2 years old and Insurance pays difference between what Insurer pays and value of said 2 year old car bearing in mind that to replace with brand new car will still be more expensive. But yes technically you are right in that it’s betterment except they don’t have a car.
However the price for GAP ( if bought sensibly and perhaps not from a Dealer ) can still provide peace of mind to a large extent for relatively little money.
otolith said:
alscar said:
Except the majority of GAP purchasers wanted to “ only “ end up in the same financial position as they were prior to loss.
So they will still have a two year old car and still be in negative equity?Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff