Negotiating a new car purchase yesterday the salesman was very keen I buy the Gap insurance offered via his company. I knew cover was cheaper online. Can anyone recommend a good company please? I have owned two dozen cars without needing such cover but that of course is the insurance chance I have taken.
Incidentally, he was even keener I spend some hundreds of pounds on "Superguard" to protect the car's paintwork and interior. I declined.
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>>> I have owned two dozen cars without needing such cover but that of course is the insurance chance I have taken.
That has been a wise choice... so why change now?
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>>so why change now?
The assumption that the odds are probably moving against me.
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I'd say it proves the odds are always in your favour to forget gap insurance. It is promoted because it makes a good profit.... same as the paint/seat treatment nonsense.
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Just had this with two purchases, one for me and one for my uncle, we declined it.
Gap as you say is much cheaper direct. Might even be worth it if you would especially dislike the option of just buying a used car with the market value payout in the event of a write off.
Some sources here
www.moneysupermarket.com/car-insurance/gap-insurance/
I wouldn't have bought Supaguard anyway at the price offered, but I don't really see the benefit on paint that already has a lacquer coat.
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I was quoted c £350 for Gap for the Jazz. I could have bought direct for £100.
Hard sell by garage - (incly Supaguard etc)...
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Check your own insurance. Many seem to offer a new replacement if yours is written off in the first year or so.
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At my last purchase they were prepared to drop the price of the car by more than the cost of the superguard. Good deal for me in that I paid less (and have an untouched set of stuff in the cupboard) and I assume, somehow, for them.
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GAP insurance was invented to cover new cars bought on finance where the amount one might get from the insurance in a total loss might be less than what one owes. So from that aspect, rather less relevant to a car bought with cash.
As stated earlier, many insurance companies will replace a total loss with a brand new car in the first year, and a few, will even do this for a second year. NFU Mutual for one.
Never ever buy GAP insurance from a dealer. Their price is getting on for three times the best internet deal. Don't know how much a dealer trousers, but the evidence suggests it's a good earner.
Last edited by: Slidingpillar on Thu 19 Jun 14 at 14:01
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"As stated earlier, many insurance companies will replace a total loss with a brand new car in the first year"
Be aware that some companies are now restricting this service to those who are the first registered keeper (eg LV). Which knocks out pre-registered cars from being eligible for new car replacement.
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>>and I assume, somehow, for them.
The total money is the same but they account for it in different ways;
Firstly selling the insurance/superguard/whatever will count as a unit towards his target for that item, and the car will count as a unit for that target. But he's not allowed to distribute the money, you must request and sign for the product.
Secondly the profit margin on the additional product is much higher and accounted for differently.
It is exactly the same as Comet selling you an extended warranty for your television.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Thu 19 Jun 14 at 15:23
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Out of curiosity, why 'GAP'? The risk insured against is a real - or at least a financial - gap, so it's a word, not an acronym. Unless it really is the Great Automotive Predicament, or something else I've not heard of.
}:---)
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I assumed it was GAP because it comes from the sign on London Underground 'MIND THE GAP'
:-)
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I though it stood for Guaranteed Asset Protection, but that could just as well be something I made up :-)
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A Google suggests
Guaranteed Auto Protection (it was almost certainly an American invention so probably right)
or
Gay And Proud.
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Sounds about as likely as the reverse-engineered derivations for 'chav', except that there was presumably a marketing department involved somewhere in this one.
Maybe it describes the customer, not the product. Gullible And Panicky, perhaps?
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Different folks different strokes I guess but I would never buy a car ( with my own money ) on finance or indeed buy one I couldn't afford to take an unexpected hit on. Similarly I wouldn't buy anything, nowadays anyway, which couldn't easily average north of 40mpg. I don't like having to give motoring costs a second thought.
I have, in the distant past, bought cars which stretched me financially, but after about a month of being thrilled by them I always ended up seeing them as an indulgence.
Not suggesting for one slightest moment that any of this applies to the original question / post but it just sort of made me think about whether I would ever want to be even a little bit worried about buying or not buying such a policy and why.
Others may of course quite rightly differ.
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I'm convinced - no Gap insurance for me. As to Superguard, it seems the packs contain enough for two cars and I am told all the lads staffing a local facility do their own cars for nothing, at frequent intervals.
My negotiations involved much more than these two points and the salesman kept scurrying away to his sales manager for confirmation. Or so he said. I didn't play the trick I had tried in another dealership, as it had gone down badly.
On about the third "must check with my sales manager" I asked the salesman if he had seen the film "Fargo". He had not so I explained that, as I recalled, it features a car salesman dealing with an irate customer over the supply (and charge) of an item he had not ordered on a new car. The salesman goes allegedly to plead for a refund from the sales manager, who is watching a baseball game on TV.
The salesman also watches for a few minutes but speaks only to comment on the game. He then returns smiling to the customer with good news and says "Phew! I REALLY didn't think he would give way over that one!"
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>> Different folks different strokes I guess but I would never buy a car ( with
>> my own money ) on finance or indeed buy one I couldn't afford to take
>> an unexpected hit on.
>>
Which sort of answers the question you posed on the "To BiK or not to BiK". How else would you waft around in a LEC without a lottery win behind you?
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I do. But I didn't buy a new one.
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>>Different folks different strokes I guess but I would never buy a car (with my own money )
>>on finance or indeed buy one I couldn't afford to take an unexpected hit on.
That's the point of insurance. You insure against things you couldn't afford to lose.
So I pay to insure my house. And I have to insure my car by law third party - and fully comp is no more expensive. And my employer insures my health compulsorily on which I pay a stonking great BIK tax. Otherwise I don't think I have any insurance - apart from the AA, which is a convenience thing rather than anything else.
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Mind My Gap - Fenlander
