Used car warranty and gap insurance- waste of time?
Discussion
I have just bought what for me is an expensive car - £7k on a Zafira for the wife. It's a 1 owner (Lex Autoleasing) 70k miles 59 reg. It comes from the garage with a 3 month warranty. Having spent (for me) such a large amount, I want this car to last a good few years, and therefore want cover in case it goes wrong. Is it worth paying out £299 for the 9 month extension from the garage, or should I go inependent? If so, who? A mate has AA warranty, which he pays monthly, but I can't find anything online about AA warranty.
Gap insurance - I understand the principal but is it worth it on a £7k car?
Gap insurance - I understand the principal but is it worth it on a £7k car?
broken biscuit said:
I can get gap insurance for 3 yrs for £64 up to £5000 payout. Was thinking in 3 yrs the Zafira will be worth maybe £3k tops, so might not be a waste of money. Then again, I have no idea in truth. I just want to protect my money
What sort of gap insurance is that? Some only pay the difference between the insurance payout and the car's value at that time, or is that back to invoice?Gap insurance was supposed be relevant when the car was bought on finance. For example, suppose a car was bought on HP for £7k and three months later is stolen. Quite possible the sum paid out by the car insurance is £5k and £6.5k is still owed to finance company. So the car insurance won't clear the debt and you are still paying for something that is gone.
If you are buying with your own money, Gap insurance is not really relevant (some folks though still buy it).
If you must have Gap insurance, do not buy it from the dealer as perhaps 50% goes straight into their pocket - plenty of policies offered on the web for a fraction of the dealer price.
If you are buying with your own money, Gap insurance is not really relevant (some folks though still buy it).
If you must have Gap insurance, do not buy it from the dealer as perhaps 50% goes straight into their pocket - plenty of policies offered on the web for a fraction of the dealer price.
Extended Warranty is not a warranty it is an insurance product and are pointless. They typically exclude everything that is expensive any way. You will pay more than it is worth. Instead get a proper engineers report on the general level of wear and tear and make sure the car is in good condition. Unless you are buying brand new and losing 30% depreciation when you pick up the car, gap insurance is little use, put the money in fully comp insurance.
Edited by Martin4x4 on Sunday 9th March 10:56
Monty Python said:
What sort of gap insurance is that? Some only pay the difference between the insurance payout and the car's value at that time, or is that back to invoice?
Why would it pay between what the insurance company pays and what the car is worth at the time?! Your insurance company gives you what it's worth at the time - that's the point of insurance!! No Gap policy does that. A Gap policy will either pay the invoice price less any dealer fit accessories or it will clear any outstanding finance, incase of negative equity. Some newer policies will actually cover whichever is the higher of the 2.
Martin4x4 said:
Extended Warranty is not a warranty it is an insurance product and are pointless. They typically exclude everything that is expensive any way. You will pay more than it is worth. Instead get a proper engineers report on the general level of wear and tear and make sure the car is in good condition.
I took out an extended warranty on my SX4. Had some suspension issues & all resolved under the warranty. Just to add some balance
(and now I think about it ditto with the TT, arb, dash binnacle, power steering pump, headlight washers)
GAP is only really worth it on brand new cars IMO. On something used its a bit unnecessary and if it got written off the insurer should be paying out enough to buy an equivalent anyway. On the extended warranty front I've only ever found the manufacturers own to be any good, try and see if you can get a quote on this - http://www.vauxhall.co.uk/owners_services/warranty...
Which company is the warranty with?
There are different levels of cover covering different components.
AA £500 limit cover has paid out for me with no hassle previously.
Auto protect covered a turbo on a 320d I owned a few years back and warranty wise pay out for my customers at the moment ok big stuff no dramas. A lot of it seems to be how you word it with the company.
On a Zafira I would want warranty cover.
There are different levels of cover covering different components.
AA £500 limit cover has paid out for me with no hassle previously.
Auto protect covered a turbo on a 320d I owned a few years back and warranty wise pay out for my customers at the moment ok big stuff no dramas. A lot of it seems to be how you word it with the company.
On a Zafira I would want warranty cover.
Jag wanted something like £800 for gap insurance when I bought the XFR.
I did explain that with less than 50% of the vehicle value on borrowed money (through a personal loan) it would have to be a positively eye-watering insurance valuation for the cover to be useful.
At the end of the day it's a risk mitigation cost; do the maths, work out what you can financially cover in a worst case scenario and that'll tell you if the lump sum is worth it.
No-brainer for those financing a high percentage of the car (if they car is proportionally a lot of money to you), but otherwise I expect not.
My two pence, at least.
I did explain that with less than 50% of the vehicle value on borrowed money (through a personal loan) it would have to be a positively eye-watering insurance valuation for the cover to be useful.
At the end of the day it's a risk mitigation cost; do the maths, work out what you can financially cover in a worst case scenario and that'll tell you if the lump sum is worth it.
No-brainer for those financing a high percentage of the car (if they car is proportionally a lot of money to you), but otherwise I expect not.
My two pence, at least.
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