Gap Insurance & and Service Insurance

[drmyers]

Hello

Well, its Thursday evening, I pick up my Roc tomorrow so fairly excited however my mood was broken today by the Finance Manager trying to sell the following:

- GAP Insurance
- Some form of Servicing insurance

Now I understand what GAP insurance is, but I dont understand why my dealer wants to charge £400 for 3 years when a seperate broker charges between £100 - £150 for the same amount of time. Any Ideas ?

On the subject of servicing insurance, (Which I have yet to get a quote for) is it worth it???? I know its a late question but any advice would be really appreciative.

Thanks
Regards

[Candy Monster]

Make sure you buy gap, you should be able to haggle the dealer down to £200 ish - get the purchase price type policy. I was about 6 grand better off for buying purchase price protection on my last car. £400 is taking advantage of people who don't know much about it.

Didn't bother with service insurance myself.

[maisbitt]

GAP insurance shouldn't be needed on the Scirocco. It has such good residual values, it shouldn't be worth less than you owe on it after year 1 unless you go for a loan of more than 5 years (and hopefully your insurance company would replace new for old on a write-off in the first year).

GAP insurance is more suited to cars with horrendous depreciation which will make the car worth less than you owe on it for a large proportion of the time you'll have a loan against it.

Up to you if you want that extra reassurance of GAP, but for me, getting insurance to cover the main insurance policy is just wrong. If you do feel inclined though, you'll need to shop around to avoid being ripped off with the dealer's own policy.

[Recce]

As the 'roc will be the first brand new car I've ever bought, I was wondering about GAP insurance too. I learnt a lot from this thread.

http://www.sciroccocentral.co.uk/forum/ ... 453#p20453

[maisbitt]

Recce - that thread you posted contains a lot of details, from both sides of the coin - non believer (me) vs GAP insurance salesperson. I'm sure it contains all the info anyone could possibly want to know about GAP.

So did you go with the GAP or not?

[Candy Monster]

Having used it, I wouldn't buy a new car without it. You want the invoice price type cover which gives you what you originally paid for your car if it is written off in the first 3 years. If you get it for a couple of hundred quid it's a no brainer. My previous motor was a mini so not exactly a highly depreciating car, though I get the point if you only go for the level of cover that protects against your payout being less than the finance owed.

[slicedbread]

Having used it, I wouldn't buy a new car without it. You want the invoice price type cover which gives you what you originally paid for your car if it is written off in the first 3 years. If you get it for a couple of hundred quid it's a no brainer. My previous motor was a mini so not exactly a highly depreciating car, though I get the point if you only go for the level of cover that protects against your payout being less than the finance owed.

What happened that you needed to use it? Can you share any figures on how it kicked it and how much your insurance was covering etc? Thanks.

[maisbitt]

I think on a low-depreciating car and assuming that your insurance will replace within the 1st year, not buying GAP and saving £200 in the process is the no-brainer here.

However, if you get invoice cover and rely on your car getting torched or stolen when the car is around 2.5 years old then that's also a no-brainer.

You need to remember what your main insurance is really for - to put you back in the same situation after an incident, without leaving you seriously out of pocket. No-one should accept a crappy settlement from their main insurer that won't cover a replacement of similar age/mileage/condition. The GAP won't automatically just pay out, they'll fight your main insurer for the highest possible settlement, to minimise their own outlay to "top-up" the payout.

To take out invoice cover and expect to profit from a claim is just wrong - no wonder car insurance is so high these days, with so many suspicious claims.

[Recce]

Recce - that thread you posted contains a lot of details, from both sides of the coin - non believer (me) vs GAP insurance salesperson. I'm sure it contains all the info anyone could possibly want to know about GAP.

So did you go with the GAP or not?

My car's not built yet But it's scheduled for next week
I'll be getting quotes for a Replacement GAP product, and if I can find the right product at the right price I'll get it.

I don't tend to buy "cover", as it's usually not suitable for my situation. When buying my morgage, you'd think the guy could see the angel of death on my sholder, the way he was pushing to sell me another product. I'd think he was skirting close to the limits of the rules for what he was aloud to say. But it wasn't good value for me.

When I was getting quotes for the 'roc, a dealer offered £300 for their GAP product, but I wasn't intrested. I'm very untrusting of someone trying to sell me a financial product on the back of another sale. It takes away your chance to shop around for the best deal. Also I didn't know enough about GAP insurance to ask the right questions. I learnt alot about GAP products from the discussion between you and David from SnP.

[Candy Monster]

Having used it, I wouldn't buy a new car without it. You want the invoice price type cover which gives you what you originally paid for your car if it is written off in the first 3 years. If you get it for a couple of hundred quid it's a no brainer. My previous motor was a mini so not exactly a highly depreciating car, though I get the point if you only go for the level of cover that protects against your payout being less than the finance owed.

What happened that you needed to use it? Can you share any figures on how it kicked it and how much your insurance was covering etc? Thanks.

My previous car was rolled after hitting gravel that had washed onto the road and clipping the verge. Insurance offered 9.5K but got them up to 11k as i had a rare car (factory recaros, special edition, panoramic roof, low mileage etc). Gap/invoice price insurance paid out after agreeing the valuation and i got my 16k purchase price back which allowed me to buy the roc. I paid 200 for the extra cover which i made a claim on after 2 years. At the end of the day accidents can happen and it's up to the individual to weigh up whether they think the extra cost is worth it, I do. Think i paid £180 for the roc (25k car) so i thought it was cheap but i got staff discount at the time. It's worth shopping around though as with any insurance.

There is some distinction to be made (which i haven't done very well) between ordinary gap and purchase price protection (which i am talking about here).

[drmyers]

Well

I picked up the car today, and heads were turning, one woman kept staring so much in her rear view mirror at a round about she annoyed a few people by waiting so long, including me .

Anyway GAP insurance:

I started the topic and really appreciate the views and feedback, I decied to get it, however shopped around and the cheapest was £199 for three years. I advised the Finance Guy at VW this morning of the competitive price when signing for the car, and he immediatly said no...and that he could not match it, but then said he could! he said , "how about £262??" I said no... unless he could match the above price.

Anyway the point here is dont get GAP from the dealer, search online, and save the £200 for something else.

Thanks Again Everyone

Hello

Well, its Thursday evening, I pick up my Roc tomorrow so fairly excited however my mood was broken today by the Finance Manager trying to sell the following:

- GAP Insurance
- Some form of Servicing insurance

Now I understand what GAP insurance is, but I dont understand why my dealer wants to charge £400 for 3 years when a seperate broker charges between £100 - £150 for the same amount of time. Any Ideas ?

On the subject of servicing insurance, (Which I have yet to get a quote for) is it worth it???? I know its a late question but any advice would be really appreciative.

Thanks
Regards

[AgaZaKa]

Thanks for all information. I just canceled my dealer provided gap insurance and bought cheaper one for 50% less.

[ZephyR]

What none of these insurance policies cover though ... is the months long wait for a new replacement Roc.
In the event of a claim for total loss do you get the cash from the insurance / GAP company and spend it on what you want. Or does it have to be paid out against like for like new-for-old ?

[SnP]

What none of these insurance policies cover though ... is the months long wait for a new replacement Roc.
In the event of a claim for total loss do you get the cash from the insurance / GAP company and spend it on what you want. Or does it have to be paid out against like for like new-for-old ?

Just come across your msg and whilst it's an old one, the reply could be useful still so I hope you don't mind.

The answer to your question is that it depends on who you bought the policy from. Our policies (and most others purchased online) payout in the form of cash (unless there's finance outstanding at the time of claim in which case we're obliged to pay the finance company first and pay you whatever is left)... obviously, receiving a cash payout leaves you free to choose what vehicle (and from where) you purchase to replace the one that was written off... it also puts the negotiation power back in to your hands.. e.g. if we payout one figure and then you negotiate a discount, that's your business not ours.

However some policies will restrict their payout so that it ether goes straight back to the original supplying dealre, or a dealer of the claim administrator's choice... OR, that the GAP Claim Administrator will themselves seek out a replacement vehicle for you.... (in either of these cases, usually the GAP Claim administrator will make money off the supply of the vehicle in one way or another) although thankfully these types of policies are becoming increasingly rare... but you should read the terms of any policy very carefully to be sure!