Got a call from the dealers the other day offering me GAP insurance. What are peoples views on this most people i've spoken too say its a con. When I took delivery they were charging nearly £400 but now the can do it for £300. I'm keen on the idea as Bradford is quite a high risk insurance area and some of the driving round where I work is terrible!!!

Got a call from the dealers the other day offering me GAP insurance. What are peoples views on this most people i've spoken too say its a con. When I took delivery they were charging nearly £400 but now the can do it for £300. I'm keen on the idea as Bradford is quite a high risk insurance area and some of the driving round where I work is terrible!!!

I took out GAP insurance at Skoda dealer when I collected my Fabia estate, but when I looked at the terms and conditions and the price I cancelled the insurance and took out GAP insurance with :=

http://www.car2cover.co.uk/Return-To-Invoice-Gap-Insurance

It cost me £128 one off for 3 years, they offer cover up to 4 years and have 3 levels of cover on offer, and includes cover if the car is stolen, after thief obtains the keys by breaking into your residence, which the Skoda insurance excludes.

Edited 30 October, 201015 yr by BDG

There are several versions of the GAP insurance. Depending on the way you finance your purchase be it full finance, cash etc. GAP insurance in my view is a good (risk) as hopefully you will never need it.

With the offers that are about at the moment and the way the insurance company's are acting there may be a time within the first 3 years of the life of the car that you may need to make a claimthe insurance company will only pay out the "current market value" leaving you with a substantial defecit to find to return yourself into a brand new car.

I mean £299 (what i paid) when buying my new fabia over 3 years is less than 8.50 a month. Spread over a month thats less than the cost of a pint a week. If the car is a total loss within the first 3 years VW group gap insurance will boosy my payout from my own insurers to "Full Invoice Price".

In all i think it is a good product. Unless you can afford to lose thousands possibly tens of thousands of hard earned pounds!!!

posted in error

Edited 30 October, 201015 yr by Xeryus-Uk

posted in error

To expensive from the dealer.

Got mine via internet from a company called 'click4gap'

If you google click4gap offers you may be able to get a discount like I did.

I paid 137 for 3 years cover minus the special offer.

If you want anymore info then feel free to contact me.

Cheers

What happens if you bought your vehicle during the vat free period, would you get the full value back or just the value at time of purchase (vat free price) ?

What happens if you bought your vehicle during the vat free period, would you get the full value back or just the value at time of purchase (vat free price) ?

My £128 policy is for the invoice price I paid, so it does not cover the VAT I did not pay.

My £128 policy is for the invoice price I paid, so it does not cover the VAT I did not pay.

Thanks for the reply, I thought it would be the invoice price but just wanted to make sure.

When we bought our Fabia we were quoted £299 by the dealer. Said "thanks but no thanks" and the price dropped to £199 immediately. We still said no but the dealers clearly have some leeway over what they charge.

haggle it and if not buy else where. I got mine on the Octavia which covers it for loss to full new car of same spec etc for 4 years. Its worth spending time on the net having a look

I was quoted £400 by the delaer as well and I added this at the time I paid my deposit. I was told I was covered for 4 years, but they sold me it without realising I was paying cash for the car - no finance.

However, before I paid the balance I realised that It only covers RTI for 3 years which is not what they told me. I cancelled the policy and got my own (recommend by Auto Trader) cover for £180 - whopping £220 cheaper.

The only good thing is I got the car a lot cheaper as I bought the GAP insurance, but when I cancelle the policy they said they would need to reduce the discount on the car. When I suggested I would cancel the whole order, they caved in and just took off the £400 from the invoice.

My advice - get your own.

I was quoted £400 by the delaer as well and I added this at the time I paid my deposit. I was told I was covered for 4 years, but they sold me it without realising I was paying cash for the car - no finance.

Unless I'm mistaken, you can take GAP insurance out whether it's financed or bought outright. All it serves to do is make up the shortfall in the event of a total loss from what your insurance pays out to the original invoice value and isn't just a finance protection product.

If you pay £20k for instance on your new car and it's written off after a year and your insurance only pays out £12k, the GAP insurance pays you a further £8k thus making up the difference. the risk is that if you bought your car with cold hard-earned then the worst case is that you're out of pocket by a few grand, obviously if you financed your car and the outstanding balance is more than the insurance payout then you've got a bit of a problem....

To me it's a big risk not to have such insurance in place, especially if you've bought on finance. I wouldn't buy from Skoda though, I'd follow others and get it from a third party.

Unless I'm mistaken, you can take GAP insurance out whether it's financed or bought outright. All it serves to do is make up the shortfall in the event of a total loss from what your insurance pays out to the original invoice value and isn't just a finance protection product.

If you pay £20k for instance on your new car and it's written off after a year and your insurance only pays out £12k, the GAP insurance pays you a further £8k thus making up the difference. the risk is that if you bought your car with cold hard-earned then the worst case is that you're out of pocket by a few grand, obviously if you financed your car and the outstanding balance is more than the insurance payout then you've got a bit of a problem....

To me it's a big risk not to have such insurance in place, especially if you've bought on finance. I wouldn't buy from Skoda though, I'd follow others and get it from a third party.

You absolutely right.

Skoda's GAP insurance covers both the Finance Shortfall and Return To Invoice (RTI) for cash buyers like myself . What they never mentioned is that the RTI is only covered for 3 years where as the Finance Shortfall is 4 years. So If I had taken it out and written it off after 37 months, I wouldna't have got a penny! My own policy just covers RTI but covers it upto 4 years.

Just shows you what massive margins Skoda (and all other manufacturers) make on GAP insurance. I never knew you could buy your own until someone told me, but I would certainly recommend it and get it yourself for much less.

first hand knowledge

i bought a meriva vxr cost me £12955 part ex my 1.6 meriva life for it i took out gap ins thinking better safe than sorry i had the meriva 18 months loved it, it was my pride and joy. Then my house got broken into while i was in bed they took the keys and it was never recoverd (stripped and on ebay with 24hours police dragged there feet even though i gave them the info). So after 6 weeks they decided to pay out £6,000 rare car ment very few used prices for my spec and mileage :( i owed just less than £7,000 to the finance i thought that ins pays out as follows

£6,000 goes to finance company directly not through me

Gap pays £1,000 to finance company to clear finance which they did

£5,995 comes to me that didnt happen the gap ins i actualy had was to clear finance not return to invoice so i lost everything so if you are going to take it make sure it is RETURN TO INVOICE