March 29th, 2013 sees the launch of our new and improved Invoice & Replacement Gap Insurance policies that have seen a drastic and thorough overhaul of the Terms and Conditions of each policy to make them better value and fairer to the consumer but also allow us to position ourselves in the marketplace with arguably the best Gap Insurance policies available in the UK.
So what’s changed?
Vehicle Age Restrictions
We’ve increased the maximum vehicle age on our Invoice Gap Insurance policies from 6 years to 8 years.
Increased Time To Claim
Previously, if your vehicle was involved in an incident that may have resulted in it being declared a Total Loss, you were obliged to inform us of the incident within 30 days. We’ve now increased this to 120 days.
We do though still advise that in the event that something does happen to your vehicle, you’ll naturally be informing your Motor Insurer. Informing us at the same time is far and away the best approach.
Market Value – Vehicle Purchase Price.
Previously our policies included a provision that would give the underwriter the right to revalue your vehicle at the time you purchased it by referring retrospectively to the Glass’ Guide Retail Value of your vehicle at the time you bought it. If the underwriter found that you had paid more for your vehicle than the Glass’ Guide Retail Value, they’d potentially reduce the Gap Insurance payout by they amount they deemed you to have “overpaid” for your vehicle. This is a standard condition in many Gap Insurance policies. It’s no longer in ours!
The purchase price of your car as shown on the invoice from the Motor Dealer, is the price we cover.
Market Value – Motor Insurance Payout.
Previously, if your Motor Insurer’s Total Loss payout was less than the Market Value of the vehicle (according to Glass’ Guide) at the time of loss, the underwriter would reserve the right to not cover the amount by which the Motor Insurer “underpaid” you – once again this is a standard condition in many Gap Insurance policies.
As of today, this has been almost entirely removed from our policies. I say “almost entirely removed” because we still reserve the right to pursue your Motor Insurer if they’ve paid out less than the current Market Value of the vehicle, but that won’t affect our payout to you.
We’ll pay you the difference between your Motor Insurer’s payout and the greater of either the original purchase price or the finance agreement settlement figure (Invoice Gap Insurance) OR the difference between your Motor Insurer’s payout and the cost of replacing the vehicle with one of the same Make, Model, Age and Condition as your original vehicle when you bought it (Replacement Gap Insurance) and then separately, if we need to pursue the Motor Insurer for a higher settlement, we will do.
What you can include in the Vehicle Purchase Price.
We no longer exclude cover for ancillary costs that may also show up on the New/Used Car Invoice from your Motor Dealer. This includes but is not strictly limited to: Warranty Premiums, New Vehicle Registration Fees, Insurance Premiums, Road Fund Licence and Fuel & Paintwork Protection Applications.
The only thing we don’t specifically incorporate cover for is Negative Equity brought forward from the previous vehicle, however you can opt to pay a small additional premium to INCLUDE cover for up to £2,000 of negative equity.
Briefly, what do all these changes mean?
Well, it means we can provide you with a Gap Insurance policy that:
- Is available for a vehicle that is already up to 8 years old (Invoice Gap Insurance only)…
- …purchased for up to £100,000…
- …with a Claim Limit of up to £100,000
- WILL cover the cost of all factory and dealer fitted accessories (Subject to the overall policy claim limit)
- WILL NOT exclude cover for the costs of any Warranty, Servicing Agreement, Insurance Premiums, Road Fund Licence, New Vehicle Registration Fees, Fuel & Paintwork Protection Applications or (subject to an additional premium) Negative Equity brought forward from a previous vehicle, that formed part of the make-up of the purchase price of your vehicle.
- WILL give you 120 days from the date of incident to make a claim
- WILL NOT leave you short if you paid more than the (then) Market Value for your vehicle.
- WILL NOT leave you short if your Motor Insurer pays out less than the Market Value of your vehicle at the time of loss.
- WILL allow you transfer FREE OF CHARGE any unused cover to a replacement vehicle if you change your vehicle (or your vehicle is replaced) withing the policy term.
- WILL provide you with a 100% REFUND if you cancel the policy (and no claim has been made) within the first 30 days.
- WILL provide you with a pro-rata REFUND of unused premium if you cancel the policy at any later time.
- WILL leave you wondering why anyone would ever even remotely consider buying Invoice or Replacement Gap Insurance from any other provider.
Ok, so we’re pushing it a little with the last one, but hey, we’re proud of what we’ve created and we’re pretty sure that with all the above considered alongside our ultra competitive prices for Gap Insurance, there’s really little value in looking elsewhere for Gap Insurance.