Picture this.....

The snow was coming down heavily yesterday morning and my wife didn't feel safe driving her car to work (she's a teacher) with our 4 year old girl in the car, so I decided I'd be late for work and drive them there in her car (Octavia Scout 4x4, 57 plate).

The roads were terrible and we crawled along the back roads. As I was approaching her place of work (doing approx 20mph in the conditions) I saw a Volvo XC70 bombing along a side road out of the corner of my eye, no way he could have stopped, he was sliding onto the main road and trying to brake.....next thing we knew, a split second later, there was a Lexus RX300 on our side of the road coming right for us, I naturally tried to avoid it by moving to the right but BANG, airbags went off and we were spun 90 degrees to the left so the passenger side was facing the way we'd come from, we'd hit each other's front left of the cars....then BANG again, the car behind us, a Toyota Avensis, went into our side.

The guy in the Lexus couldn't have done much else as he was trying to avoid an impact with the fool who was driving the Volvo and in the process didn't make it back to his side of the road again and we hit.

So, we're all ok is the main thing. My wife has a bruised eye, my hand got grazed by the airbag going off and I bashed my left knee, our little girl was scared but she is fine.

The Canadian driver of the Volvo has accepted full responsibility for the crash - we were helpless really. I reckon we were travelling at 20mph and the Lexus was travelling at 30mph, so a 50mph impact.

Damage from what i could see on the outside to our Octavia Scout:

- Driver and passenger airbags deployed

- Windscreen has multiple cracks/shattered

- Passenger headlight smashed

- Bumper smashed, washer covers missing

- Bonnet?

- Grill?

- Passenger front door caved in at hinge side and won't open fully

- Passenger front wing heavily damaged

- Passenger front wheel damaged

- Passenger front suspension damaged (no front drive on car on either wheel, only rear wheels were driving and wishbone was hanging off)

- Probable other passenger side damage from secondary impact

The engine still ran ok I think as I tried it afterwards but only the rear wheels would spin.

So, the day could have started better really.

I am just wondering if the car will be written off,.....Also, if it is repaired, will it be recorded as a crashed and repaired vehicle hence affecting it's resale value? That will p*ss me off as none of this was my fault whatsoever.

My Skoda dealer, who I bought the car from on 21/02/08, tells me I got GAP insurance when I bought the car back in Feb 2008.....does this mean I get the full invoice value of what I paid?

I paid a total invoice value of £18,113 (have it in front of me) which included mats, supaguard, GAP cover and road tax. Assuming the car is a write off and my insurance company (More Than) offer me for arguments sake, £12,500 for the car....will the GAP insurance make up the difference so that I get the £18,113?? I am confused...how do I claim? I have nothing other than the sales invoice stating I have the GAP cover.....it was also a part-ex deal when I bought the scout, they took my Octy vRS as part ex and gave me £11,750 for it, does that matter?

Advice welcome....

Cheers,

Annoyed Dan

p.s. After all that ironically the Volvo didn't have a mark on it and he caused the crash! He drove away after speaking to police.

p.p.s. 10 minutes after the accident my wife's school was closed due to bad weather....sometimes you wonder if someone up there is looking down and laughing.

Edited 6 February, 200917 yr by Race Blue vRS

as i understand it dan , gap insurance covers the shortfall from you insurance payout , they will make up the difference back to invoice price, so if the insurance offer you £15k then the gap will give you the difference from your invoice.

there will be a policy for this so check with the dealer, then you can contact the company , failing this get the no. for the company from the dealer and talk to them direct and process the claim.

glad your all ok tho.

pete

Yep, Pete has it dead on, that's how it works. Don't expect to get anything for about 6 months, though.

you won't get the 18k you'll get slightly less as GAP only covers the car and nothing else. whats the price of the car alone on the invoice not the on the road price?

the GAP won't cover things like the VED, new car registration fee etc etc etc

just had a quick google and it turns out different companies do different policies so you'll need to check, some do value, invoice or replacement cover :confused:

Thanks folks.

They gave me £11,750 for my Octy vRS against the Scout

Scout by itself was £17,304.25 not including the extras.

I just hope they don't try giving me the difference between the 2! i.e. £17,304.25 - £11,750!!

The dealer did say it was 'back to invoice' cover or something like that? I guess it was through the dealer so I'll contact them....it hasn't been written off yet though....do you think it will be from the damage I have described?

Dan

IMHO, if you pay for insurance, you pay for the car (= what the car is worth). No matter what you traded in.

Otherwise you would only have to pay insurance for the difference between trade in and car price.

So they will have to replace what the car is worth and not what you payed.

(at least it is so, here in Germany and in Holland)

GAP is traditionally the difference between the insurance pay out value and what is outstanding on finance, so you aren't left with no car and remaining car debt.

RTI (return to invoice) insurance is what pays back the original invoice value.

You need to read your small print mate.

Yes i'm probably being thick, surely if they will give me invoice value then I'll get £17304.25 or hopefully very close to it!

You need to read your small print mate.

That's the problem, I can't find any docs relating to GAP, only the Skoda dealer invoice stating I bought it with the car.

D

Just found this:

Škoda - Drivers - Business Drivers - Gap Insurance

"Up to a max of £15,000"....I hope that is on top of what the insurance company offer and not a maximum payout of £15,000.....

yeah that's the maz payout of the gap insurance so a max gap of 15k between invoice and insurance payout

Potentially good then......will just need to see if it's

a) written off

and

if it definately is the back to invoice cover

Cheers,

Dan

Thanks folks.

They gave me £11,750 for my Octy vRS against the Scout

Scout by itself was £17,304.25 not including the extras.

I just hope they don't try giving me the difference between the 2! i.e. £17,304.25 - £11,750!!

Dan

When you "trade in" a car what really happens is that the dealer buys your car from you for an agreed price.

You then buy a car from them for an agreed price.

The fact that you use the cash from the sale to make the purchase is irrelevant - they are 2 separate transactions.

The gap insurance will take no account of the trade-in

I doubt the car will be written off. The damage doesnt sound that severe.

GAP is traditionally the difference between the insurance pay out value and what is outstanding on finance, so you aren't left with no car and remaining car debt.

RTI (return to invoice) insurance is what pays back the original invoice value.

You need to read your small print mate.

We have bought 2 new cars in the last 3 years, both paid for in cash, both have GAP insurance, which I was told would pay the difference between insurance value and replcaement invoice price.

If it's not written off I'm pretty sure it won't be recorded with any of the major vehicle data agencies (HPI etc) but I once got told by a Porsche service manager that they kept a record of a major accident repair in case the car later got traded back into the group.

Most GAP (Guaranteed Asset Protection) policies have lots of small print so you really need to read yours thoroughly and make sure you are clear on what cover it gives you. It's the fact you say you haven't got a policy document that worries me as GAP is an insurance product so the selling of it is strictly regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). I'd think it would be unusual for it to be sold to you and you not to have any paperwork from the dealer. If that was the case they were very very naughty. I'd double check they actually incepted a policy for you with their provider. How much did they charge you for it (all that should have been listed on the invoice), was there a policy summary or a demands and needs statement etc presented to you. If you have no policy document how do you go about claiming on it, you wouldn't know who to contact etc etc.

Sadly insurance is a very unexciting item until you need it, and once you need to make a claim that's the point [as people who then have problems realise] it's too late to sort it out if it wasn't right in the first place.

Sorry to sound a bit negative but I've got my fingers crossed for you that it all works out.

The gap may be part of the finance package, so any details will be in those docs

Right, have had a rummage and found the details of the GAP Insurance sold to me by my dealer - It is not a Skoda product, but sold by Skoda Finance. Confusingly, the document is headed ABOUT GAP PLUS, but then goes on to explain Guaranteed Asset Protection Return to Invoice (RTI) Cover. Basically I am guranteed the difference between the motor insurance settlement and the invoice price I ORIGINALLY paid for the vehicle. I have to say that this is not what was explained to me, I understood it to make up the difference between the Insurance Settlement and the invoice for the replacement! If the OP would like a copy and PMs me an e-mail address I am happy to scan and e-mail a one!

Been there done that. If the damage comes to more than 60% of the cars value (current) it will be written off. Then if this is the case as said before you will have to wait up to 6 mths for the gap.

However if you bought the gap through the dealers as you have said they can lean on the gap provider to speed up the process. You will get the receipt value less the quoted charges, there will be some this was around £500 in my case.

good luck

Steve.

Right, so new airbags controller (crash data can be deleted, but it's not common practice), new front seat belts and tensioners, front airbags and dashboard and windscreen with rain sensor, that alone is worth a lot of money, not even looking at the probably 4+ body panels you need replacing and painting, wheel and suspension damage and maybe even some damage to the underframe.

if you 've lost front drive then a driveshaft is gone and for that to be gone something else is quite damaged i would guess.

Right, have had a rummage and found the details of the GAP Insurance sold to me by my dealer - It is not a Skoda product, but sold by Skoda Finance. Confusingly, the document is headed ABOUT GAP PLUS, but then goes on to explain Guaranteed Asset Protection Return to Invoice (RTI) Cover. Basically I am guranteed the difference between the motor insurance settlement and the invoice price I ORIGINALLY paid for the vehicle. I have to say that this is not what was explained to me, I understood it to make up the difference between the Insurance Settlement and the invoice for the replacement! If the OP would like a copy and PMs me an e-mail address I am happy to scan and e-mail a one!

That's right. Think logically about it - if GAP paid the difference between your insurance payout and the cost of the replacement vehicle then the payout would be totally dependant on what you replaced the car with!!

GAP RTI will take the amount you paid for the car, deduct off it what the insurance pay you, and give you the difference. There is a slightly different policy which covers financed cars, which pays the outstanding finance IF it isn't covered by what the insurance payout is. That policy tends to be cheaper (because the payout is virtually always less).

Read the small print.

And to the OP - sounds hideous, and a clear indicator that most people (particularly those in stupid Chelsea Tractors) don't adapt their driving or sense of risk aversion to the conditions, and just presume that the car will do it for them. It's the curse of electronics and "safer" cars. I'm just glad to hear that you, your other half and especially your daughter were ok after what could have been a really nasty one.

Drive safe!

Did you buy it brand new? If so it might be worth looking at the car insurance policy too.

I'm pretty sure mine used to (maybe still does) have a clause in saying that if you buy a car new (and are the 1st registered keeper) and have an incident within the first year, they'd replace with another new car.

The gap may be part of the finance package, so any details will be in those docs

Thanks guys.

I paid cash on top of the vRS in part-ex so no finance exists on the car. I spoke to the dealer today who confirmed it is 'back to invoice' cover......I can only think the docs may be in the glovebox along with the car's manual and usual Skoda documention....will have to go to the repairers to get some other stuff out of it too.

Will let you know what happens.

Dan