GAP insurance

[Gerry77]

Just about to spend the most I have ever invested in a motorhome and thought about GAP insurance as I imagine insurance companies may write off a motorhome due to its construction etc more so than other types of vehicles. Does anyone have any experience of this type of insurance or personal experience of claiming etc? TIA

 

[Abacist]

Surely the whole point of insurance is to put you back into the position you were in before your loss apart from any excess that you have agreed to.

If any insurance company tried to short change me I would tell them to go and buy/find me an equivalent van of make, model, mileage, extras etc.

An insurance company is no more in the trade than I am and I did not buy at trade price, nor insure at trade price and would not expect to be paid out on the basis of a trade price!

 

[Kannon Fodda]

Look at the terms of your main insurance policy. Many for the first year or so already do a replacement new vehicle provision if you meet criteria such as mileage. But make sure value is correct.

 

[Jonno1103]

I think a few are missing the point of gap insurance. It's a product for those who buy on finance and cover the cost of the interest in the event of a write off. Motor insurance will cover the cost of the vehicle only not the figure the finance company want and with interest rates now near 10% or above there's a big difference in the final cost.

 

[VXman]

Comfort insurance promise brand new replacement value of your motorhome for the first 3 years.

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[Gerry77]

I should have made it clear, I am not buying a brand new motorhome. As I understand it if my vehicle is written off the insurers will only pay me the market value at that time which could be considerably less than what I paid for it. The GAP insurance makes up the difference . Question is , is it worth taking out GAP insurance? What are the chances of writing off a vehicle

Surely the whole point of insurance is to put you back into the position you were in before your loss apart from any excess that you have agreed to.

If any insurance company tried to short change me I would tell them to go and buy/find me an equivalent van of make, model, mileage, extras etc.

An insurance company is no more in the trade than I am and I did not buy at trade price, nor insure at trade price and would not expect to be paid out on the basis of a trade price!

Surely the insurers pay the market value. Who mentioned trade value, which I appreciate would be less.

 

[Gerry77]

Comfort insurance promise brand new replacement value of your motorhome for the first 3 years.

I assume only when you buy brand new not secondhand which is my case in point.

 

[Coolcats]

Just about to spend the most I have ever invested in a motorhome and thought about GAP insurance as I imagine insurance companies may write off a motorhome due to its construction etc more so than other types of vehicles. Does anyone have any experience of this type of insurance or personal experience of claiming etc? TIA

Yes do it, but not via the dealer, I have a beak in lost two vehicles one had 5 year gap insurance, the vehicle I claimed on was three years old I can’t remember the exact figure think it was around £5k but it more than covered the outlay.

There are two types back to invoice or back to new the choice they say is yours.

 

[VXman]

I assume only when you buy brand new not second-hand which is my case in point.

Right. I assumed it was new. I wasn't aware you could buy gap insurance for a used vehicle. Normally you get market value. What if you have overpaid for the motorhome to start with?

I know with unusual sports cars, classic cars etc you can get an 'agreed value' with specialist insurance companies but I don't imagine that is the case with a 'normal' motorhome

 

[The Wino]

I don't really get the point of this. If you buy new then suffer a loss someone said you will get the value of the van but owe the finance company that plus the interest but aren't you in that situation already? Also secondhand insurance will only cover the value of the van if it's not worth that why are you buying it?

Like any insurance they must take in enough in premiums to cover what they pay out plus all the marketing costs including the dealers cut plus a profit. If you are an average risk on average you're going to be better off carrying the risk yourself. Maybe it's worth looking at any likely shortfall and seeing if thats an amount you would normally take out a separate insurance policy for. We don't insure white goods take out extended warranties have new for old insurance or have insurance for high value items we carry the risk ourselves others have different ideas!