Midnight on January 21st 2019 will mark the beginning of the end of our time spent working with GAP insurance policies underwritten by UK General Insurance Ltd (UKG) on behalf of Great Lakes Insurance SE.
In late 2018 UKG announced that January 21st 2019 would be the last day that they’d accept new policies on cover and that their live policies would go in to a “run-off” phase – e.g. all live policies will be honoured until such time as they’re either claimed on, cancelled or they naturally expire but no new policies would be accepted.
In response, November 2018 saw us launch a new range of Contract Hire, Invoice, and Replacement GAP insurance policies underwritten by DTW 1991 Underwriting Ltd on behalf of Syndicate 1991 at Lloyds of London (DTW).
With the UKG policies out of the picture and DTW employing in some cases considerable more strict eligibility criteria than UKG, there’ll be a number of not-insignificant changes deployed from January 22nd, including the following:
- The maximum timescale for buying GAP insurance will reduce from 365 days after taking delivery of your vehicle, to 90 days.
- The maximum duration for Invoice and/or Replacement GAP insurance policies will reduce from 5 years to 4 years.
- There will no longer be the ability to defer the start date of your GAP insurance policy – even if your motor insurer covers you on a new-for-old basis in the first year (though you may not wish to do this anyway given recent “trends”).
- Replacement GAP insurance will only be available for brand new vehicles at first registration – meaning used, pre-registered and/or ex-demo vehicles will all be excluded.
- Vans, car-derived vans, motorhomes, camper vans and a number of specific vehicles from a range of manufacturers including (amongst others) Audi, BMW, Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren, Subaru and Volkswagen will all be excluded from cover – see here for a more detailed list.
If you’re seeking GAP insurance for a vehicle you bought more than 90 days ago, or a policy for which you wish to defer the start date (e.g. if your motor insurer covers you on a new-for-old basis in the first year – though if you are considering this, you should understand the risks first), or a Replacement GAP insurance policy on a used vehicle etc, you will need to buy cover before midnight on January 21st or, potentially miss out on buying GAP insurance altogether.
If you wish to discuss your GAP insurance requirements with us, please get in touch either by emailing support@gapinsurance.co.uk, by calling our office on 01484 490095 or by completing our online enquiry form.
Thanks for reading
David Burns-Keane
Director
GAPinsurance.co.uk
Who am I?
I founded the UK’s very first independent online provider of GAP insurance back in March 2004 and this has evolved into the GAPinsurance.co.uk that you see today. Over those years I’ve been the champion of the UK car-buying consumer, doing my best to help them avoid being overcharged by and/or mis-sold to by motor dealers charging vastly inflated prices for what are often sub-standard GAP insurance policies. In the face of increasing competition from companies offering budget policies (via insurers who have ultimately gone bust), I’ve led the way with market-defining policy refinements and at all times stuck with large A-rated insurers with the financial clout to ensure they’ll still be around if/when the need to claim arises. I don’t, and never will, offer budget policies. I offer the right policies, at the right price.