About GAPinsurance.co.uk
GAPinsurance.co.uk has been helping UK drivers arrange GAP insurance online since 2004. We started because we thought people deserved a calmer, clearer and better-value alternative to buying GAP insurance from a motor dealer.
If that sounds a little personal, it is. This business was not dreamt up in a boardroom. It started with one person, a small loan from his parents, a computer, a telephone and a stubborn belief that customers were not being treated as fairly as they should have been.
Why we started
In late 2003, whilst working for an online car dealer, David Burns-Keane was asked to create a website that could sell GAP insurance to car buyers. The more he looked at how GAP insurance was being sold in the wider motor trade, the less comfortable he became.
Too often, GAP insurance was expensive, rushed and poorly explained. Customers were being asked to make a decision at the very point they were already dealing with the pressure of buying a car, arranging finance and getting everything signed.
David thought there had to be a better way. In March 2004, he launched what he understands became the UK's first independent, specialist, direct-to-consumer online GAP insurance provider.
The early years
The original business traded as Surf and Protect, with GAPinsurance.co.uk following shortly afterwards as a trading style. It was a proper David and Goliath situation. We were small, independent and online at a time when many customers had only just heard of GAP insurance from the dealer selling them their car.
Some dealers warned customers away from independent alternatives. Some customers were understandably cautious. But slowly, by focusing on fairer pricing, clearer explanations and genuine help when people needed it, the business earned trust.
That is still the bit we care about most. GAP insurance is a financial product, yes, but behind every quote and every claim there is a person trying to protect themselves from a nasty surprise if their vehicle is written off.
Rebuilding the business
After a change of ownership and a difficult period for the original Surf and Protect business, David re-acquired the GAPinsurance.co.uk brand and relaunched it properly in 2012 alongside Andrew Pickles of Frank Pickles (Insurance Brokers) Ltd.
In August 2016, GAPinsurance.co.uk and its assets were acquired by Pickles & Burns Ltd. The business later moved from Otley to Holmfirth, giving David an even more hands-on role in how policies were designed, explained and supported.
Our approach has stayed deliberately simple: explain GAP insurance clearly, keep the sales process low-pressure and help customers choose cover because they understand it, not because they have been pushed into it.
The 2024 FCA intervention
In 2024, the GAP insurance market changed dramatically after the Financial Conduct Authority intervened over concerns about product value and the way GAP insurance was being sold, particularly through motor dealers. In principle, we understood the concern. We had been talking about the problems with dealer-led GAP insurance sales for years.
The difficult part was how bluntly the intervention landed. Because our then-underwriter also supplied entirely separate motor dealer GAP insurance schemes, we were caught in the crossfire. We had to stop selling GAP insurance policies in February 2024 and were not given permission to start again until mid-June 2024.
That was an incredibly tough period. After two decades of trying to give customers the kind of lower-pressure, better-value online alternative the regulator said it wanted people to find, it was hard not to feel that common sense had taken the scenic route.
Still, we got through it. Not easily, not quickly, but we got through it.
Where we are today
We are steadily building back. GAPinsurance.co.uk now offers eligible customers access to GAP insurance options from more than one provider, including Arch Insurance (UK) Limited and Helvetia Global Solutions Ltd UK Branch, depending on the policy type, vehicle details and underwriting criteria.
That means policy features, claim limits, eligibility rules and available add-ons can vary. Our job is to make those differences clear, explain the trade-offs properly and help you understand what you are buying before you buy it.
Still here to help
If you have questions about GAP insurance, want help choosing the right policy for your vehicle, or simply want someone to sense-check what you have been told elsewhere, please contact us. We will be happy to help.
