On my previous car, the dealer talked me into taking out the insurance that allows you have a new replacement car if yours is written off within the first year of ownership

Most (if not all) insurance policies include a new replacement car if yours is written off within 12 months of purchase and you are the first registered keeper. After that several companies offer what is called GAP insurance. Do a Google.

There seem to be 3 schemes available. In the event of writing off your car inside the first X number of years, you can get repaid the difference between your insurers payout and

1 Your outstanding finance payments

2. Your original purchase price

3. Your original purchase price plus inflation i.e the current price of your model.

There are probably more variations.

When I bought my Audi A6 (£26k), version 2 was offered by the dealer at a cost of £500+ for 3 years. By going to an online broker I got the cover for £110. For that sort of cost it seemed a good offer.

If the accident was in year 3, the insurers would give me what? say £10k. The GAP insurance would have to pay out £16k.

Being the sort of person who hates insurance, I would usually say, "I'll take the risk and if it goes bad, I'll find a £10k A6", but for £110 I took the bet.