A major downside is the poor value - having bought a car you should expect it to depreciate and be able to fund that - so the only value of Gap Insurance is to cover the big depreciation drop in year 1 - many comprehensive policies cover that as "new-for-old" anyway in the 1st year.

IMO this type of insurance is a waste of money. In 30 years of motoring I have had 1 car stolen and no rightoff's. I suspect most people would say similar statistics

Being a new car when purchased and had the car been less than a year old the insurance company (not GAP) like all insurance companies have to do would have purchase another new car, sadly it was 13 months old. In my case direct line sourced me with 12 month old car of the less mileage without cost to me i.e. like for like 13 month old car.

So pay for a quality insurance company that has a track record of paying the replacement value i.e. Dealer retail price and not one that will try and fob you off with trade in value. An issue you may have is that the finance is greater than the value of the car, but that should not in years 2/3 if deposit is sensible and rather than gap you put it towards the deposit and pay less on the finance in the first place.

Hi

I've had a quote from ALA following your comments about them and it would be £79 for three years which isn't much when you consider the total cost of buying the car.

Granted total loss or theft maybe a long shot but as Ilive in Britain's car theft capital maybe worth a punt!!!

Anyway thanks to you for your comments and indeed to everyone who kindly responded. In the end it's a gamble as are many things if life.

Many thanks.