GAP Insurance

[SuperWhiteS3]

My cars due in the next few weeks, reading some recent incidents on here I've been thinking - is it worth taking out GAP insurance?

A quick search on Google says it will cost £200. What do people think?

 

[jaypers777]

I never have previously but did for my S3. Depends how much peace of mind is important to you.

 

[h5djr]

GAP insurance is always very worthwhile when you are purchasing a brand new car otherwise if the worst happens and you car is written-off or stolen you can be very much out of pocket.

Do a search on the forum as there are already several threads about GAP Insurance and which companies members have used. Basically the GAP through the dealer will often be more expensive. For example I purchased mine through ALA.co.uk and paid £162.50 for a 3 year Vehicle replacement policy for a £32,000 car with a GAP claim limit of £20,000.
Although a lot of normal insurance companies will offer 12 months replacement of a brand new car with one of the same spec there have been some problems with this and it's a good idea to start the GAP from when you take delivery of the car.

 

[Bristle Hound]

Plenty of info on GAP here
http://www.audi-sport.net/xf/thread...-on-the-8v-chassis.198794/page-2#post-2286700

 

[Liquidfusion-S3]

I've never bought GAP insurance before and never knew it even existed!
Bought mine from ALA this morning, 5 years £282, £25000 return to invoice

For me £282 gives me piece of mind for the next 5 years

 

[Trevolly]

Spoke to Ala.co.uk the other week £136 against £615 from Audi. They were really nice and didn't push, recommended Back to Invoice policy or Vehicle Replacement policy, trying to see the difference between the two policies. Are Ala a good choice as a company? I mean safe to go with?

 

[Pushed]

I have GAP from ALA, no problems with them, I still had a few months left on an old policy on my Merc and when i asked for a quote for my A3 they automatically discounted the policy by what I had left on my old policy. very helpful and not pushy.

But the real test of any insurance company is what they are like when you need to make a claim... But not heard anything bad about ALA.

well worth getting gap insurance, such a small price to pay to protect what is a large investment.....

 

[A3Kent]

Check to see if your car insurer offers New Car Replacement. If it does then you will need to go with Gap Insurance 123 as they will allow you to defer the start date until the end of your car insurance with New Car Replacement. ALA don't allow this. No point in having New Car Replacement and GAP insurance running at the same time, it's waste of money.

123 Gap also allow you to take out the cover up to 6 months after you take delivery so if you've just put down a big deposit on the new car and you are a bit short then you can wait a while. That's what I'm doing

123 Gap are also cheaper than ALA.

 

[h5djr]

Check to see if your car insurer offers New Car Replacement. If it does then you will need to go with Gap Insurance 123 as they will allow you to defer the start date until the end of your car insurance with New Car Replacement. ALA don't allow this. No point in having New Car Replacement and GAP insurance running at the same time, it's waste of money.

123 Gap also allow you to take out the cover up to 6 months after you take delivery so if you've just put down a big deposit on the new car and you are a bit short then you can wait a while. That's what I'm doing

123 Gap are also cheaper than ALA.

For me ALA priced matched the 123 GAP price and gave me an extra 20%.

There have been articles in connection with GAP Insurance where, when the 12-month New Car Replacement has been provided by the normal insurance company and the same model is not available or on a long delivery, they have just paid out the market value rather than replace the vehicle. Personally I would rather not take the chance for such a small amount for the GAP premium when compared to the total cost of the car.

 

[A3Kent]

For me ALA priced matched the 123 GAP price and gave me an extra 20%.

There have been articles in connection with GAP Insurance where, when the 12-month New Car Replacement has been provided by the normal insurance company and the same model is not available or on a long delivery, they have just paid out the market value rather than replace the vehicle. Personally I would rather not take the chance for such a small amount for the GAP premium when compared to the total cost of the car.

I have also read somewhere on here that there is a risk of neither paying out if you run them side by side. I will dig further to see if I can find it.

 

[A3Kent]

@A3_Rider said this in another thread about GAP

Put the price after discount, i.e. the actual price you paid - they won't pay out the RRP, etc, only the actual amount you paid on the order form.

Just remember to check if your insurance is market value or replacement; if the latter then GAP is void so you're forced to wait for a replacement (I repeat this alot).

That being said; has ala ever paid out? :/

What I said about it becoming void isn't strictly true then but it does mean running GAP alongside New Car Replacement is a waste of money

 

[S32B]

I got the following quote from GAP123: From day one £214 (over 4 years £20k limit, or Deferred for the first year was £157). That's for:

Combined Vehicle Replacement:
Pays the difference between Motor Insurers Settlement at the point of loss and the cost of replacing it with another vehicle matching the vehicle's original specification age and mileage or amount outstanding on finance whichever is the higher.

I can live with £1.02 per week to know that if my S3 went missing I'd be in a position to get right back into a new!

Looking at a lot of insurance T&C's you see "We will replace your vehicle with a new vehicle of the same make, model and specification (if one is available in the UK)."

I called them up and asked the following: "If 10 month down the line my car was stolen/written off and there wasn't a same spec car in the UK and had to be factory ordered what would happen?". The reply after checking with her supervisor: "The car would be given a market value for that make/model/spec as a 10 month old car and we would pay that amount out".

So a 10 month old 'insurance priced' written off S3 is going to be a lot lower than what it will cost you to replace it!

I've also phoned Gap123 and asked them if I'm OK running GAP alongside my new for old policy and he said it's fine and explained how insurance companies get around paying top replacement prices, as in theory if they pay out the market value for a 10 month old S3 they are still under the T&C's for a new for old! As they are paying you what a 10 month old S3 is worth (on paper) so you are getting a new replacement for your old car, it doesn't state 'brand new'!!! Sneaky.

From another post on the same subject:

Found this that a person who sells GAP insurance posted on another forum:

It's also important to carefully check the terms of your New-For-Old cover before you elect to defer the start date of a GAP Insurance policy at all. For example some insurers will revert to a Market Value payout in the event that they cannot source a physical replacement vehicle at the time of a New-For-Old claim and we're seeing more frequently insurers changing the criteria under which they'll agree to replace a vehicle New-For-Old - e.g. it used to be the case that if the car was going to cost more than 60% of what it was worth to repair AND if it was less than 12 months old at the time, it would invoke a New For Old replacement. However more recently we've seen insurers change this to say that they'll write it off if the cost of repair is more than 60% of what the car is worth at the time of loss, however, they'll only do a New-For-Old replacement if the cost of repair exceeds 60% of the manufacturer's list price for a brand new version of the same car at the time of loss - this leaves a potentially large financial "gap" within which the car could be written off, but not breach the threshold for a New-For-Old replacement and if this happened, you'd be needing your GAP insurance and regretting having deferred it.