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Has anyone had experience of claiming under Total Loss Gap insurance? My car was written off two weeks ago and I took the above cover out when I purchased it. Car cost £7400 in June 2001 and I've been offered £2400 by insurance company (currently being hotly disputed by me!) and the Total Loss Gap company have set a figure of £3570 which is the minimum they will accept. This means that I will receive £6300 in total giving me a loss of £1100 on original purchase price. Obviously £6300 is brilliant compared with £2400 especially as the policy cost just £300 for three years cover. The problem seems to be with the Total Loss company using retail value as against (I think) my main insurance company using trade-in value for their estimate. Any comments would be very much appreciated. Maz
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My understanding of GAP insurance is that it covers the differance between the insurance company pay out and the amount owed to the finance company.
Does the £6300 cover your outstanding finance ??
Standing ready to be corrected.
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I recentl took out GAP ( Guaranteed Asset Protection )insurance and, typically, there are three levels of cover concerning total loss ( note: this excludes theft of car if it was achieved by stealing the keys ):
Where there is an insuance settlement difference:
(1)Full replacement cost of identical vehicle - price payable at time of replacement ( typical cost is £400 )
(2) Full re-inbursement of original invoiced value, ie probably a bit lower than the above. ( typical cost £300 )
(3) Financial gap cost; ie differnce still owed to finance company after insurance settlement ( can't remember cost, but didn't apply to myself since I went for (2)
Above info given to you here courstesy of memory only, so don't slag me off with details if it's not 100%!
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I found it hard to believe that options 1 and 2 exist - but it appears I was wrong and they do. Surely this is wide open to abuse:
I was going to write something here about 'defrauding' the insurance cos, but thought better of it. Think carefully and there is, apparently, a way here to get a new car every few years and pay only the cost of the interest on the finance and GAP insurance. I find that amazing, and doubt the insurance co's would keep it up!
Maz - back to your problem. You'll need to check carefully the terms of your GAP policy to see what it is offering. The insurance co will always start at bottom book, but as teabelly says you should be able to get them up to market replacement cost without any difficulty. Try getting a few ads from your local Autotrader to point out what its market value replacement is.
RichardW
Is it illogical? It must be Citroen....
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I'd be reminding the insurance company of their obligations under the principle of indemnity. You have to be put back in the exact same position as you were before your car was written off. Their payment should allow you to buy another car the same and hopefully the finance company will allow you to carry on payments as before. If not I assume the insurance company will have to give you enough to pay the outstanding finance amount so you can start afresh. If the car was bought for cash then they should give you the full market replacement cost less any excess.
teabelly
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If you have comprehensive insurance and you buy a new car it is quite common for the ins co to offer a replacement brand new vehicle in the case of a total loss in the first year (though what this does to future premiums I dread to think). Check out your existing policy anyway.
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If, as it appears from your expectations and figures, your GAP insurance policy was to top-up to the price you paid in 2001...
Then your sole issue seems to be the current value put on your written off car.
If you can give us its make, model, year, mileage, condition etc it will be possible to advise on a fair figure for all parties.
M.M
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My car was a Rover 200 214is. It was registered in April 1999 on a T plate. Mileage was 50k and it was in very good condition. I have had great trouble finding this particular model as it appears that this was a limited edition brought out in April 1999. Some of the things I thought came as standard were maybe extras. It had cd player, electric sunroof, rear spoiler, alloys, half leather/half velvet interior and metallic paint. The local Rover dealer was unable to find mention of it in any of the guides but believes that it was produced from April to June 1999. There is no mention of limited edition on the V5. I can't find it in Glass's guide. I can find a 1.4is up to March 1999. The Total Loss people tell me that £3570 is the minimum I should expect to receive but wont say where they got this price from. Rover would have offered me £2500 in px but it would cost approx £4000 on their forecourt. There is about £1800 owed on the car so that isn't a problem. The main thing is the difference between Total Loss valuation and Insurance Co valuation. Thanx
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This will include your model then...
Introduced - Apr 1999. Limited edition SEi, iL and iS models launched. SEi models have special trim, sunroof and a CD player; iS has part leather trim, foglamps, alloy wheels and rear spoiler; iL adds air conditioning.
Assuming it's a 5-dr one of the guides available to the consumer gives it as £3700 dealer retail, £3400 private sale in good order and £2400 at auction with high mileage and in rough condition.
Another says £3400 for dealer retail, £3000 for a private sale, £2500 as a trade in and £2400 at auction.
Give or take a few quid you can see what is going on here. Your insurance company has started their offer at rock bottom auction price, the GAP guys are expecting you to be paid out nearer to the dealer or private sale figures.
I couldn't find this in Glass's either but similar cars of a lower trim were at pretty low prices!
If you are prepared to stand behind your car being in good order then I would try to get the insurance to pay out nearer to £3000-£3500 and ask the GAP guys to be realistic and meet you closer to that figure.
Of course you may find there is small print in the GAP policy that allows them to pay out on retail prices..then you can't do much about their end of things.
Good luck,
M.M
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Sorry to hear of the write off, either way it highlights why I went for Gap, it's a bit of a gamble, but whatever happens you are gonna be left with at least £5K cash after paying off your remaining finance, that's not a lot of depreciation to lose on 2 years motoring, especially when you consider the car was only worth about £3,500. :-)
Blue
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You're right and I'm so glad I took the cover out but you know what the best thing is - I'm still alive and a car can be replaced !
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