Gap insurance on car finance deals......

[manzi18]

I was advised by a friend not take out the 'gap' or car depreciation insurance which was pushed upon me by the commission-driven forecourt salesmen when we bought our car.

I just feel that this 'Gap' insurance could follow in a trend which echoes PPI - another type of cover sold alongside a loan or credit deal.

There must have been cases during new car purchases where people did not even realise they had bought the cover & from my experience this could be quite easily missed as the 'Gap' insurance is bundled up with various add-ons such as an extended warrant or breakdown cover etc-

My friend also pointed out that Gap policies do not cover additional purchases such as service plans and a policyholder may be left out of pocket if they paid more than the recommended retail price! Policies also often last several years, but provide no refund if they are cancelled early.....

Probably, but gap insurance on a brand new car is pretty essential IMHO unless you are able to cover the loss of a few thousand pounds yourself. Just don't buy it from the dealership, shop around.

We have GAP insurance and we have also had to use it.

Best insurance ever! We were actually better off with the payout.

I would always advise to get it. We shopped around too for the best deal.

GAP insurance is pretty essential if you're buying a new car on finance IMO. I have it on mine, and if I was to write off the car before the end of the finance term then the GAP would cover the remainder of the money I owed. Also, in the event of an accident, GAP bridges the difference between what your car was bought for and what an insurance company would value it at. My salesman was very upfront about it all, there's no way I would be able to cover thousands of pounds if I had an accident myself.