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Model specific boards => Golf mk6 => Topic started by: p3asa on 05 November 2009, 12:33

Title: GAP insurance
Post by: p3asa on 05 November 2009, 12:33
GAP insurance, has most folk got it?
Autotrader are doing it for £129 for £10k so I'm tempted.
You reckon it is the done thing to do?

Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: keelaw on 05 November 2009, 13:09

I have it. When buying new depn in first 3 yrs is horrific. So in extreme case of car being written off this top up is defo worth it.

I have 15k cover iirc for about 190 quid which lasts 3yrs. I also went through autotrader so curious what your 129 quote covers (period and back to invoice?)

Anyway, defo required and is reasonably cheap.




Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: matchboy on 05 November 2009, 13:32
yup defo worth it, i have 20k cover.  its a must as you never know.
Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: AlanH on 05 November 2009, 13:33
Worth having. On collection day I went along with a couple of online quotes for GAP and the dealer matched them as they still get their commission for the sale!
Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: Neil gti on 05 November 2009, 17:38
Yes return to invoice Gap Insurance is a must for me,
1st new car i bought was a mk5 gti for 26k 18mnths later got wrote off in the floods, insurance co paid 18.5k for the car and gap insurance paid out another 7.5k so got a new R32 happy days, 18mths free motoring and a new R32  :laugh: :laugh:
Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: Masher on 05 November 2009, 19:21
I did the same as AlanH, took some quotes to the dealer and they dropped from 300 to 199. I noticed that some policies don't cover if the your keys are stolen, i.e. a crook nicks your keys then trashes your car so best to check.
Definitely worth having though I reckon.
Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: p3eps on 05 November 2009, 20:24
Definately worth £300 or so in my opinion.

I bought my Ed30 for £23000ish, had it for about 20 months in IMMACULATE condition with only 9000 on the clock - and some w@nkstain ran into the back of me.  Insurance company are only willing to pay back 'market value' which was £16325 - which I eventually got upped to £16855.
If I had GAP, they'd have given me a cheque for the difference straight away - instead of me fighting with the insurance company for the last 8 months!

GAP is a must for me this time!
Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: p3asa on 05 November 2009, 23:09
Thanks guys.
Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: gibby on 06 November 2009, 09:28
I've recently looked into this as we've just bought a brand new 1 series BMW :lipsrsealed: and I found the best site was this one and looked good prices https://www.directgap.co.uk/ The dealer wanted £499 ! :shocked:

Just a thought, why do people get cover for as high as 15k ? (Unless you've highly specced cars that will depreciate loads). Surely its "GAP" insurance, so if the insurance company will only give you 15k but you say owe 20k on the never never then you only need 5k of insurance to cover the difference ? Anyone got experience of how this works and what's the best amount of cover to get ?
Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: Snoopy on 06 November 2009, 12:03
^thanks for the link.  :smiley: As this is something im looking into at the moment myself.  :nerd:
Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: mags on 06 November 2009, 13:21
The stealers get it for approx £150 so I have paid that on all of my cars from VW and Audi (BMW don't budge) and with the GTi I got the return to invoice policy for free.
Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: keelaw on 07 November 2009, 01:58
I've recently looked into this as we've just bought a brand new 1 series BMW :lipsrsealed: and I found the best site was this one and looked good prices https://www.directgap.co.uk/ The dealer wanted £499 ! :shocked:

Just a thought, why do people get cover for as high as 15k ? (Unless you've highly specced cars that will depreciate loads). Surely its "GAP" insurance, so if the insurance company will only give you 15k but you say owe 20k on the never never then you only need 5k of insurance to cover the difference ? Anyone got experience of how this works and what's the best amount of cover to get ?


The "gap" I'm interested in is the "back to invoice" gap, not just the gap between insurance payout and outstandng finance.  This can easily be around £15k after 3 yrs.


Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: Neil gti on 07 November 2009, 11:37
Return to invoice Gap is deffo the one to go with, if something was to happen in say 3 years time you get all the money back to the original invoice you paid for the car and not to the current market value or finance etc, it worked for me :wink:
Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: keelaw on 07 November 2009, 11:49
Return to invoice Gap is deffo the one to go with, if something was to happen in say 3 years time you get all the money back to the original invoice you paid for the car and not to the current market value or finance etc, it worked for me :wink:


and look at your wheels now!  hubba hubba!   :laugh:
Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: Snoopy on 07 November 2009, 12:24
Return to invoice Gap is deffo the one to go with, if something was to happen in say 3 years time you get all the money back to the original invoice you paid for the car and not to the current market value or finance etc, it worked for me :wink:
May i ask who you went through and how the claim went?
Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: JonnyG on 07 November 2009, 14:23
Well worth having GAP IMHO, especially as there is no premium for having a more "nickable" car like the GTi and R32.

Most policies do NOT cover modified cars though, so be careful if you intend to mod.
Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: Neil gti on 07 November 2009, 18:24
Return to invoice Gap is deffo the one to go with, if something was to happen in say 3 years time you get all the money back to the original invoice you paid for the car and not to the current market value or finance etc, it worked for me :wink:
May i ask who you went through and how the claim went?

I cannot remember the name of the Co. but the insurance took about 6 weeks to pay out and a week later a cheque from Gap, my car was modded and ins not notified but no problems, Apr remap, reiger splitter, Reiger rear bumper, quad Milteks etc, they just collected the car and auctioned it, it is back on the road 2mnths and a bit of carpet freshner :grin:
water was half way up the windows in the floods someone paid 7k for it?
Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: Snoopy on 07 November 2009, 21:03
^ Shame you could not remember the name of the company as it would be nice to go with one that actually does what it says they will.
Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: flc1962 on 07 November 2009, 22:12
Interesting MR Bond, though what is the difference between Vehicle replacement, Return to invoice and Finance product ?.
I asked for £10000 cover and the charges are all different for the premium ?
Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: Snoopy on 07 November 2009, 22:19
Interesting MR Bond, though what is the difference between Vehicle replacement, Return to invoice and Finance product ?.
I asked for £10000 cover and the charges are all different for the premium ?
Im sure others may know better as im just currently looking at this myself and not alot of experience with it but the jist i get is.

Return to invoice: Pays the difference from what your car insurance company pays out ie trade value at the time of the write off and the GAP pays the difference between that trade value and the price you paid for your car as listed on your invoice. So say at time of the write off your car insurance company says your car is only worth £10K but you paid £15K for it. The Gap insurance pays you the difference ie £5K.

Vehicle replacment: Is same as Return to invoice except it includes extra cost of a new version of your car. So same as back to invoice but As an example say the price has gone up £500 from when you bought your car, it covers that price rise.

Finance product: pays the difference from the trade value your insurance comapny pays out and whatever outstanding finance you have on the car. So say you have £10K finance on your car left to pay when its wrote off. But the insurance company pays you only £6K you are left with £4K this is the value gap will cover.
Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: p3asa on 07 November 2009, 23:06
Would the difference in price between between what the insurance company reckon it is worth and what the trade reckon it is worth, ever be as much as £10K? I reckon £7.5k would cover it no problem, possibly even 5?
Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: keelaw on 07 November 2009, 23:35
Would the difference in price between between what the insurance company reckon it is worth and what the trade reckon it is worth, ever be as much as £10K? I reckon £7.5k would cover it no problem, possibly even 5?


agree prob not a massive difference in your example, but... for only a little extra you could get a payout back to the invoice price.  wouldn't that be much better?  iirc the difference in premium can only be a matter of 20-30 quid over 3 yrs, but the payout you get (and for the same event dont forget) could be worth thousands more.

no brainer surely?
Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: flc1962 on 07 November 2009, 23:36
Cheers snoopy makes sense I'm going to ring the gap people on Monday as the whole thing make 100% sense, another good point keelaw who wants to loose out.

One possible small point could be and please everyone check your own insurance company. My partner works for Aviva and she thinks that my car policy for the first year only on a new car may have this included, ie if the new car is a write off in the first 12 months they will replace  it with the same car. I'll also look into this and post my findings.

Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: gibby on 07 November 2009, 23:59
I think that if you wrote it off in the first year you get a replacement vehicle (but check your individual insurance), but by the look of it you need to get your gap insurance within three months of the first registration of a new vehicle (for return to invoice anyway). So you can't just take it out after the first year. That's what I seem to have found anyway.
Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: Neil gti on 08 November 2009, 09:44
^ Shame you could not remember the name of the company as it would be nice to go with one that actually does what it says they will.
Had a look through old paperwork and it was Pinnacle that i was with before, had no problems with them and they always kept you upto speed what was going on  :wink:
Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: JellyCat on 08 November 2009, 10:48
I didn't opt for it, but one of the three dealers I was discussing \ haggeling prices over for the new car offered to throw it in for free as an alternative to lowering the price of the discount further. So if you reach a stage in the negotiations when you're almost there but want just that little more off, then ask for it to be thrown in as a deal maker (it' cost them bugger all, plus they get brownie points for selling it etc so it's an easy on for them to bundle in to sweeten\close a deal). Didn't go with them as got a way better cash discount from one of the other 2 dealers.
Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: Snoopy on 08 November 2009, 11:42
^ Shame you could not remember the name of the company as it would be nice to go with one that actually does what it says they will.
Had a look through old paperwork and it was Pinnacle that i was with before, had no problems with them and they always kept you upto speed what was going on  :wink:
Thank you very much for looking that up.  :cool: Much apreciated.
Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: Snoopy on 08 November 2009, 11:49
Would the difference in price between between what the insurance company reckon it is worth and what the trade reckon it is worth, ever be as much as £10K? I reckon £7.5k would cover it no problem, possibly even 5?
If i understand your reply properly i think you may have misunderstood what i tried to explain.

As an example
Say you wrote your brand new car you just bought now off in 4 years time.

The insurance company pay you 'Trade value'. This is normally similar to the 'trade in value' in glases guide or parkers etc. This in the case of a GTI maybe only around £10K in 4 years time.

If you had 'back to invoice' and you paid £22K for your car, the gap would pay the £12K difference.

It all depends how long you may keep your car and the term you get the gap for.

EDIT: Im sorry i just reread your post i misunderstood what you ment. DOH!
Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: keelaw on 08 November 2009, 16:45

£10k in 4 years' time is a bit conservative i hope!  Looking at prices of 4 year old MkV GTIs, they're commanding a few grand more than that for a good example  :smiley:


Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: Snoopy on 08 November 2009, 17:02
I was guessing lol. :wink: and trying to keep the numbers simple :smiley:, But not a bad guess when i just checked glasses and it says 3door 2005 55 with 40K on, trade in value is £10300 in excellent condition.
Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: keelaw on 08 November 2009, 17:13

interesting... anyway, i guess it shows the potential value of gap insurance.

Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: p3asa on 08 November 2009, 23:13
Would the difference in price between between what the insurance company reckon it is worth and what the trade reckon it is worth, ever be as much as £10K? I reckon £7.5k would cover it no problem, possibly even 5?
If i understand your reply properly i think you may have misunderstood what i tried to explain.

As an example
Say you wrote your brand new car you just bought now off in 4 years time.

The insurance company pay you 'Trade value'. This is normally similar to the 'trade in value' in glases guide or parkers etc. This in the case of a GTI maybe only around £10K in 4 years time.

If you had 'back to invoice' and you paid £22K for your car, the gap would pay the £12K difference.

It all depends how long you may keep your car and the term you get the gap for.

EDIT: Im sorry i just reread your post i misunderstood what you ment. DOH!

No Snoopy I think you did read my reply right. I thought the Gap would only cover you for the difference between what the insurance company would be willing to pay and what the cost of a replacement car would be  ( the same age as the car that has just been written off / stolen ) Hence why I wondered why you would ever need £10k worth!

So what you are saying is, if I buy Return to Invoice Gap insurance and my car is written off in 3 years time, they will pay the difference between the book price of what the insurance company pay out and the price I originally paid for the car?
Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: keelaw on 08 November 2009, 23:24
So what you are saying is, if I buy Return to Invoice Gap insurance and my car is written off in 3 years time, they will pay the difference between the book price of what the insurance company pay out and the price I originally paid for the car?


Correct - hence the need for potentially more than 10k's worth!   :nerd:

Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: Neil gti on 09 November 2009, 08:30
Would the difference in price between between what the insurance company reckon it is worth and what the trade reckon it is worth, ever be as much as £10K? I reckon £7.5k would cover it no problem, possibly even 5?
If i understand your reply properly i think you may have misunderstood what i tried to explain.

As an example
Say you wrote your brand new car you just bought now off in 4 years time.

The insurance company pay you 'Trade value'. This is normally similar to the 'trade in value' in glases guide or parkers etc. This in the case of a GTI maybe only around £10K in 4 years time.

If you had 'back to invoice' and you paid £22K for your car, the gap would pay the £12K difference.

It all depends how long you may keep your car and the term you get the gap for.

EDIT: Im sorry i just reread your post i misunderstood what you ment. DOH!

No Snoopy I think you did read my reply right. I thought the Gap would only cover you for the difference between what the insurance company would be willing to pay and what the cost of a replacement car would be  ( the same age as the car that has just been written off / stolen ) Hence why I wondered why you would ever need £10k worth!

So what you are saying is, if I buy Return to Invoice Gap insurance and my car is written off in 3 years time, they will pay the difference between the book price of what the insurance company pay out and the price I originally paid for the car?

Yes return to invoice gap is the difference from what the ins Co pay(market value) and the price you paid for your car (price that is on your invoice)  :wink:
Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: flc1962 on 09 November 2009, 20:24
Decided to protect my investment a little and took out the gap
Type of cover   Return To Invoice
Term   3 Years
Claim Limit    £10,000.00
Date policy purchased   09/11/2009
Date policy starts   09/11/2009
Premium (inc IPT)   £141.00
Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: Gazdebaz on 09 November 2009, 20:27
Decided to protect my investment a little and took out the gap
Type of cover   Return To Invoice
Term   3 Years
Claim Limit    £10,000.00
Date policy purchased   09/11/2009
Date policy starts   09/11/2009
Premium (inc IPT)   £141.00
What company was that with, if you don't mind me asking?
Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: Neil gti on 09 November 2009, 20:27
Decided to protect my investment a little and took out the gap
Type of cover   Return To Invoice
Term   3 Years
Claim Limit    £10,000.00
Date policy purchased   09/11/2009
Date policy starts   09/11/2009
Premium (inc IPT)   £141.00

Wise move,
 i got mine through dealer, return to invoice 20k limit told dealer i had a quote for £150 he matched it, (Result) :lipsrsealed:
Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: flc1962 on 09 November 2009, 20:33
Decided to protect my investment a little and took out the gap
Type of cover   Return To Invoice
Term   3 Years
Claim Limit    £10,000.00
Date policy purchased   09/11/2009
Date policy starts   09/11/2009
Premium (inc IPT)   £141.00
What company was that with, if you don't mind me asking?

From the one at the start of the thread http://www.directgap.co.uk/.
I have no intention of smashing it up (just yet :evil:) kidding, so I thought this would be best for me and its the one they recommended, Good deal me thought as the last gap insurance I had was £300+. Strange the VW dealer never mentioned it ?
Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: Neil gti on 09 November 2009, 20:40
Dealers original quote was £450 until i told him i could get it for £150 (just a figure that came into my head :wink:)
And hey presto i can match that Mr.......... if you sign here, if pushed maybe of got it free, but they know you want the car anyway !!
Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: flc1962 on 09 November 2009, 20:41
Pays to shop around or just make things up  :laugh: :cool:
Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: Neil gti on 09 November 2009, 20:43
Pays to shop around or just make things up  :laugh: :cool:
Just make it up as you go along  :grin:
Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: p3asa on 09 November 2009, 22:10
http://www.ala.co.uk (http://www.ala.co.uk) are doing £10k cover for £129
Plus if you go through www.quidco.com (http://www.quidco.com) you also get another 10% back so that works out at £116

I've not looked at the T&C's closely yet.
They are also the company autotrader use for their GAP quotes.
Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: p3asa on 10 November 2009, 20:46
Had a look at their FAQ and it seems to cover everything the others do, Keys stolen, 105% of Glass’s Guide retail price, named drivers, pays the insurance excess.
Title: Re: GAP insurance
Post by: njc850 on 11 November 2009, 13:22
i think i had a good result here
surf and protect are the company, and you can buy 3years of gap, but delay the start date by a year if you want (IE sheila and her wheels will look after the 1st year with new for new cover) so I kind of have 4years gap for the price of 3 years, and just hope and pray that it gets nicked 3.75 years down the road.
15 grand limit , £230, back to replacement invoice cost.
Bob's your uncle