RTI gap insurance

[Lee540]

Hi

Bought a new car that I am collecting on Tuesday after it has been registered, the dealer is telling me that I have to buy their RTI Gap insurance policy, when I googled I found loads of companies offering RTI policies for considerably less.

For the first year I would get a replacement car in the event of a total loss, so ideally I could just purchase a policy in a years time.

Anyone know anything about third party policies? Seems like the beginnings of the whole PPI saga!

Cheers

Lee

[DanB7290]

You don't *HAVE* to buy it from the dealer, but depending on which dealer and which product it is, there could be significant differences. Check the small print; some GAP policies will only cover the difference between insurance company payout and any outstanding finance on the car, others will be RTI and top up the difference to the net selling price of the car. It pays to make sure that the cheaper online ones are the latter

[dacouch]

If you buy cover through the Dealer you will pay upwards of twice the going rate, the dealer cover also tends not to be the best cover.

Shop around, you'll save about 60%.

ALA offer a good product

[ging84]

you can't buy RTI gap insurance a year after you've bought a car
you would clearly be insuring the car for more that it's value

[TwigtheWonderkid]

ging84 said:

you can't buy RTI gap insurance a year after you've bought a car
you would clearly be insuring the car for more that it's value

Yes you can. The whole point of RTI gap cover is to insurer the car for more than it's worth, so your comment makes no sense. No different from buying new for old house contents insurance, which you don't have to do when the contents are brand new. You can buy it at any time.

ALA will not sell you RTI cover if you bought more the car more than 6 months previously, because that's their particular stance, but others will. Shop around.

[Butter Face]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

ging84 said:

you can't buy RTI gap insurance a year after you've bought a car
you would clearly be insuring the car for more that it's value

Yes you can. The whole point of RTI gap cover is to insurer the car for more than it's worth, so your comment makes no sense. No different from buying new for old house contents insurance, which you don't have to do when the contents are brand new. You can buy it at any time.

ALA will not sell you RTI cover if you bought more the car more than 6 months previously, because that's their particular stance, but others will. Shop around.

Others will allow you to postpone activation for 12 months (ours does).

As with all insurance, check the cover limits, exclusions and claim procedure etc. It's all well and good going for the cheapest, until you need it and it's worthless!

[shake n bake]

If you've been told you have to buy gap then the dealership is in for a massive hiding as this clearly isn't giving you the option to buy it or not as the fca state. It's your decision if you want it, and you have every right to contact the fca if you have been told you have to have it.

[ging84]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Yes you can. The whole point of RTI gap cover is to insurer the car for more than it's worth, so your comment makes no sense. No different from buying new for old house contents insurance, which you don't have to do when the contents are brand new. You can buy it at any time.

ALA will not sell you RTI cover if you bought more the car more than 6 months previously, because that's their particular stance, but others will. Shop around.

I bet you can't find a single company offering RTI on a vehicle bought more than 6 months ago

[Lee540]

Sorted now. I have my existing GAP transferred to new car and arranged for a new policy to start when that expires later in the year, going with ALA.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

ging84 said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Yes you can. The whole point of RTI gap cover is to insurer the car for more than it's worth, so your comment makes no sense. No different from buying new for old house contents insurance, which you don't have to do when the contents are brand new. You can buy it at any time.

ALA will not sell you RTI cover if you bought more the car more than 6 months previously, because that's their particular stance, but others will. Shop around.

I bet you can't find a single company offering RTI on a vehicle bought more than 6 months ago

There are plenty where you commit to the policy now, but cover doesn't actually start until the car is a year old, and your comp insurance no longer gives new car replacement. On the ALA website, FAQs, they explain that why they won't sell cover on cars over 6 months old, even though they admit many of their competitors do.

According to you, you can't buy at a year old because you are insuring for more than the car is worth. But that's also the case at 6 months.

[Sheepshanks]

Lee540 said:

Bought a new car that I am collecting on Tuesday after it has been registered, the dealer is telling me that I have to buy their RTI Gap insurance policy, when I googled I found loads of companies offering RTI policies for considerably less.

This is why there's a move to take insurance products away from car dealers.

[ging84]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

According to you, you can't buy at a year old because you are insuring for more than the car is worth. But that's also the case at 6 months.

RTI is protection for a new purchase, it is meant to be taken out when you make the purchase, you can shop around, so they give you some leeway, 6 months is the absolute maximum and that is a fairly generous time scale some it is only 3 months, i suspect anyone taking out cover close to 6 months after the purchase, and then has a claim would have their claim looked at a lot more carefully than one which was taken out on or before the day of purchase.
If they put no limits on it, it would be highly open to abuse, on a newly purchased car people who take out this insurance will be taking it out because they want to protect their car, very few will be taking it out with the intention of deliberately writing it off in 2 years time, but if they started to offer this sort of cover to people with a car they bought a year or 2 ago, currently worth a fraction of what they paid for it, isn't a new car any more, there's possibly a new model just come out or due out soon, you can grantee they would be looking at a higher proportion of deliberate claims.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

ging84 said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

According to you, you can't buy at a year old because you are insuring for more than the car is worth. But that's also the case at 6 months.

RTI is protection for a new purchase, it is meant to be taken out when you make the purchase, you can shop around, so they give you some leeway, 6 months is the absolute maximum and that is a fairly generous time scale some it is only 3 months, i suspect anyone taking out cover close to 6 months after the purchase, and then has a claim would have their claim looked at a lot more carefully than one which was taken out on or before the day of purchase.
If they put no limits on it, it would be highly open to abuse, on a newly purchased car people who take out this insurance will be taking it out because they want to protect their car, very few will be taking it out with the intention of deliberately writing it off in 2 years time, but if they started to offer this sort of cover to people with a car they bought a year or 2 ago, currently worth a fraction of what they paid for it, isn't a new car any more, there's possibly a new model just come out or due out soon, you can grantee they would be looking at a higher proportion of deliberate claims.

I agree with all of that, but it's quite reasonable not to want to pay for RTI cover in year 1 if you have a motor insurance policy that gives you replacement car in the first year. So some companies are happy to provide cover from the start of year 2.