GAP INSURANCE

[twintop06]

I have managed to rite off my 59 reg audi a5 cabrio. at the time of the deal I was sold gap insurance!!! this seemed like a good idea at the time as if the car was a rite off they would pay the difference between what the insurance company give me and the purchase price of the car. It now turns out that this is not worth the paper it is written on!! as I am with direct line and have fully comprehensive insurance this automatically guarantees me a brand new car as i am the first owner and the car is under 1 year old. or if the car was over 1 year old then it would replace the car with a like for like car.

The problem is direct line have given me 2 options 1) take the brand new car 2) take the cash settlement. After speaking to my gap insurance company they have told me if I take the cash they will not pay out the difference!! as a new car is being offered by my insurance.Even after explaining to the gap insurance that there is a 7 month wait for a new car and that I feel is an unacceptable period of time to be paying finance on a car I do not have. and as do not have use of another car I would be without a car for 7 months there response was you either wait and do the best you can with out a car! of accept the offer any buy another car but we will not pay you the difference .

As I bought the car for £36,500 and the insurance offer is £33,000 the difference of £3,500 will be lost as I cant wait that length of time for a car. So a lot of money to loose considering the gap insurance premium was £499. So a total of £4,000 lost.

Even if I accept the new car my car insurance company will not give me a hire car as my policy states g/tee car hire for 2 weeks only and I used this when I had the accident in Febuary

[Soovy]

Take the money, buy a replacement year old car!

OR

Get a new car ordered and wait.



Your call.

Edited by Soovy on Friday 5th March 15:05

[twintop06]

going to take the money I think!!!

People should check there motor insurance policy if they are going to buy a brand new car. if they offer the same as mine with a replacement car then they have no need to waste money on gap insurance.

[Soovy]

So the lesson here is read contracts before you sign them.

duh.

[Mr Gear]

Sounds harsh, but never buy anything you can't afford to crash. I hope you get it sorted though.

[twintop06]

I'm lucky I only owe £22,000 to the finance company.

[Diablos-666]

Sorry to hear that.

Thanks for sharing though, it is an eye opener.

[wildoliver]

I'd be taking the money paying off the finance and buying a damn nice 10k used motor to be honest while thanking my lucky stars I had been saved 20k of depreciation over the course of the loan!!

[Gareth350]

I was offered gap insurance when i purchased my car last year, after reading through, i realised i would be in a similar situation as the OP so i declined it.

The salesman was very surprised, as he put it, 90% of his customers paying over £25K for a car, take it out & after explaining to him, it wouldn't be beneficial to me, still couldn't understand why i wasn't proceeding with purchasing it!

I suppose the lesson is, read smallprint, then read again!

Hope you get sorted out!

[escargot]

So why's the GAP insurance not worth the paper it's written on?

[illmonkey]

How is the GAP worth less that the paper its written on?

[Soovy]

It's a case of the OP buying something he didn't need, surely!?

[escargot]

Soovy said:

It's a case of the OP buying something he didn't need, surely!?

Quite.

In year one at least.

[GKP]

Soovy said:

It's a case of the OP buying something he didn't need, surely!?

What? An A5 cab? They're not that bad, surely?

[West4x4]

He got offered a new car which he has to wait for or a cash settlement. the Gap insurance wont cover the difference between list price and settlement because he was offered the new car. I'd be wanting to take the new car and be after some sort of courtesy car in the wait period

[escargot]

Could PHer anniesdad sort something for him perhaps?

(Accident management company)

[A911DOM]

Soovy said:

It's a case of the OP buying something he didn't need, surely!?

This was my gut reaction - why was the OP so keen to have the gap insurance, was this a pressure sale from someone when you were feeling weak at the knees with your new P&J???

I know its a loss - but most people would probably consider 3500 in the first year of ownership a more than acceptable depreciation I'd have thought?

Anyway, sorry for your bad luck OP, have a look round on the market - from my comments above I'd assume a 'nearly new' replacement should be achievable with the insurance payout and you'll be back to the same position as you were prior to the accident.

Chin up - it could always have been worse!

[Superhoop1904]

There are two types of GAP cover:

1) RTI (Return to Invoice) - which will pay the differnce between what your insurance company will payout (at the time of write off) and your invoice price at time of purchase (less road tax),which by the sounds of it is what you had.

2) Shortfall GAP - this might of been a better option as it would of settled what you had left on the finance agreement and might of let you take advantage of the direct line cover too.

Just live and learn, GAP in the main is a good product as long as you choose the right policy.

Good Luck

Edited by Superhoop1904 on Friday 5th March 15:35

[twintop06]

your paying a premium to cover your car in the event of an accident etc to protect you investment. and in my situation i bought the car brand new I'm the first owner and the car is less than 1 year old. so under my insurance policy if the car is a rite off they will replace it with a brand new one.so in this event the gap insurance will never pay out.

[twintop06]

I took gap insurance because of the amount of money I was spending on my car and with the large deposit i was putting down wanted to protect my investment.
and however I did not realise my insurance company would offer a brand new car in the event mine was a rite off