Usually it is the other way round - insurers want to write off a well trusted banger. The policy holder objects as the market value is materially less that the emotional value to the policyholder. Understandable!

You want them to write off your car so you can claim on your gap insurance which you think will generate you some extra cash. Also understandable, but:

- insurers are obligated only to put you back in the position you were before the accident. They will be unconcerned with your gap insurance policy (unless they insure both policies) and only want to settle any claim at lowest cost in line with the policy.

- so get some hard facts - repair costs, hire car costs, possible (lowish) market value of Focus, value as a write off sold for parts or through the trade. At least you will have a sound base for your arguments. Make sure their costing is complete as best you can - eg: loss of earnings/time, that the repair is being done 100% correctly (eg: no s/h parts) etc.

In repairing your car, your insurer will put you back in the same position before the accident - that's as it should be - trying to achieve a "better off" situation than deserved is one of the reasons premiums are as high as they are.

He's not screwing money out of the car insurer, he's looking to the GAP for which he has paid the premium.

But whether it pays out could depend, as Ted says...often if linked to a loan or HP it pays out the shortfall of any payout to the settlement figure, which might be less than the payout anyway (ignoring the fact that he has paid it off). Or it might be 'return to invoice' or 'replacment cost'.

GAP is provided by an insurer who charges a premium for the service - paying a premium doesn't given policy-holders any justification in seeking betterment.

Not quite.

The majority of GAP policies are designed to cover outstanding finance only. If your car is written off with a market value of say £3k but you owe £4k on it. The finance company gets the £1k difference.

There are variations, ie return to market value, return to invoice price, and even new for old replacement but policies of this nature are far from cheap!!

The O/P needs to clarify what type of GAP policy he has before any relevant comments can be made.