Gap Insurance?

[littleade]

While renegotiating the cost of my bike insurance with IAM Cornmarket today for my 1250RS I bought in December that's due in a few weeks time they asked me about taking out Gap insurance. For 5 years cover they quoted a total premium of £277 that I could pay over 10 months at 0% as an IAM member which I thought was reasonable.

I have until the bike is 6 months old to take out the policy if I want it.

I probably won't bother but for any other tosser thinking about getting Gap insurance this might be a cheaper option than getting it from the dealer.

 

[Robbi]

What is Gap insurance.?

 

[littleade]

What is Gap insurance.?

It's where if you have a total loss either from a theft or a write off the policy makes up the difference between what the insurance company pays out and what you paid for the bike.

 

[wessie]

What is Gap insurance.?

very profitable for the insurance industry

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/insurance/gap-insurance/

largely for those who do not feel they can negotiate with a loss adjuster. I have found them to be quite reasonable once they establish you understand the contractual arrangements their employer has committed to.

 

[stickywicket]

I wouldn't be without it. Bike was written off in the Pyrenees. Bike was valued about £4k less than I paid for it and had the full money back in the bank within 10 days.
I hate insurance companies. I dont know why they ask you how much the value of your bike is at time of insurance as they will always give you the trade in value, not a private sale value. You can negotiate with them but if you drive your £14k bike off the garage and write it off in the same day then you re not getting your £14k back.
In your case its £4 a month!
Also have to consider how easily insurance companies write off damaged bikes nowadays as its cheaper than repair.

 

[Smartbazza]

I took it on a used car which got stolen after 9months. Albeit it was an expensive car the Gap paid out £10k to cover the depreciation. I had done 21k miles in the car so if was worth every penny for me. I’ll be taking it out on my 1300gs.

Barry

 

[Barnoe]

Yep i always take GAP too

Confused does a comparison so i use them, always cheaper than the garage.
recently the wife got gap on her 11k car for 4 years for £126

Confused GAP quote

 

[er-minio]

What is Gap insurance.?

Insurance for people that do not understand depreciation.

 

[Barnoe]

Insurance for people that do not understand depreciation.

that's got nothing to do with it, i understand depreciation but why suffer when you don't have too?

If i buy a car for 30k and after 2 years write it off, i would like the 30k back. Not the 18k the insurance reckons its worth
That way i can use the 30k to buy another new car instead of having 18k and then 12k on finance.

for £30 a year cover its a no brainer, pay up front and forget about it.

 

[Wapping]

I wouldn't be without it. Bike was written off in the Pyrenees. Bike was valued about £4k less than I paid for it and had the full money back in the bank within 10 days.

I hate insurance companies.

You wouldn’t be without gap insurance.

You hate insurance companies.

Your gap insurance (which you wouldn’t be without) was provided by…. Umm…… Err…….. an insurance company.

You might start by hating yourself for accepting a valuation that was £4,000 under what you believed was a fair valuation of your bike at the time of loss.

It is odd that the forum is full of posts about: “I wouldn’t buy bike XYZ brand new. I would let owner ABC take the depreciation hit first, as ABC is a mug”. Only for umpteen bods to then deny that depreciation doesn’t happen and cannot be real.

As for:

…. they (an insurer) will always give you the trade in value, not a private sale value.

Besides being absolute garbage, where does it say that in your policy?

 

[Hann]

For 5 years cover they quoted a total premium of £277

That sounds quite good.
When i bought my 1250 in Oct `21 they quoted £400 for BMW gap insurance for (i think 4 years).
If the premium had been as reasonable as your quote i might have taken it out.....

 

[Boxed-in]

I got a quote for a new car from ALA and they seemed reasonable, then I looked at their web page, which said quote ALA20 for a 20% discount. Then they became very competitive. And the quote I got from them is valid for 60 days.

 

[Neil W]

Brother in law had a brand new Rover Tomcat that was written off when 4 weeks old , he would have lost over £3000 on what he paid for the car but he had GAP insurance so was able to replace it with a brand new identical car

 

[wessie]

Brother in law had a brand new Rover Tomcat that was written off when 4 weeks old , he would have lost over £3000 on what he paid for the car but he had GAP insurance so was able to replace it with a brand new identical car

most comprehensive policies will replace a new car with a brand new car in the first 12 months so unlikely he would have lost £3k in this case

 

[stickywicket]

You wouldn’t be without gap insurance.

You hate insurance companies.

Your gap insurance (which you wouldn’t be without) was provided by…. Umm…… Err…….. an insurance company.

You might start by hating yourself for accepting a valuation that was £4,000 under what you believed was a fair valuation of your bike at the time of loss.

It is odd that the forum is full of posts about: “I wouldn’t buy bike XYZ brand new. I would let owner ABC take the depreciation hit first, as ABC is a mug”. Only for umpteen bods to then deny that depreciation doesn’t happen and cannot be real.

As for:



Besides being absolute garbage, where does it say that in your policy?

Everyone knows what insurance companies are like.
Insurance is a necessity as we all know. Doesnt mean to say I have to like them. Basically you are gambling against them
Of course they paid out. I bought a product off them!
I didn't have to accept the valuation. It is the insurance company who provide the GAP insurance that have to accept the valuation as they pay the difference. The valuation was £4k under what I paid for the bike, not what the value of the bike was. That WAS the depreciation! The bike was just under three years old ast the time
Thats how GAP insurance works.
The valuation was typically £1000 below retail on any similar bike that was for sale via a dealer.

 

[wessie]

The valuation was typically £1000 below retail on any similar bike that was for sale via a dealer.

that's when you go back to the loss adjuster and present the evidence that their current offer is too low to put you back into the same position you had before the incident that led to a claim

the underwriter is obliged to negotiate with you not issue an edict that you have to accept

 

[zoltan]

very profitable for the insurance industry

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/insurance/gap-insurance/

largely for those who do not feel they can negotiate with a loss adjuster. I have found them to be quite reasonable once they establish you understand the contractual arrangements their employer has committed to.

In my case actually it worked out in my favor.

 

[stickywicket]

that's when you go back to the loss adjuster and present the evidence that their current offer is too low to put you back into the same position you had before the incident that led to a claim

the underwriter is obliged to negotiate with you not issue an edict that you have to accept

I agree but in the case of having GAP insurance it is the GAP company agrees the price between the two insurance companies. Had I not had GAP then I would have negotiated up. If the insurers offer is too low then the GAP company will counter offer their figure.
Its a strange one as you are in the middle but cant lose out because either way you will get back what you paid for the bike

Going back to the original OP question. I think in his case for £4 a month for 5 years cover is a no brainer. Imagine writing off his circa £5k bike in 4 years 11 months time and getting his £14k back. Mine was written off two weeks before the policy ran out and ended up with a new bike.

Or even worse, its stolen a month after he buys it.

 

[er-minio]

i understand depreciation

If i buy a car for 30k and after 2 years write it off, i would like the 30k back.

Ok.

 

[littleade]

Going back to the original OP question. I think in his case for £4 a month for 5 years cover is a no brainer. Imagine writing off his circa £5k bike in 4 years 11 months time and getting his £14k back. Mine was written off two weeks before the policy ran out and ended up with a new bike.

Or even worse, its stolen a month after he buys it.

TBH the reason I made the OP was in case other tossers were considering taking out GAP insurance with their dealer.

Personally I'm unlikely to take it out because:

I've never had a bike stolen - if it was stolen within the 1st 6 months my insurer would replace it anyway.
I've not had a bike claim in over 20 years
Although I always say "This one's a keeper" I may well change it within the 5 year period.

So I think my personal risk is low. On a slightly different topic I don't extend my warranty when thev3 years are up either as
I already gave breakdown/recovery cover with my bank which I'll use if I still have the bike when the manufacturers warranty runs out
I do relatively low milage
I have only made 1 warranty claim on my previous 4 BMWs for a marked tank panel
I always use my main dealer for servicing. so if anything goes wrong after the 3 years is up as a loyal customer I'd expect BMW to make a contribution towards the repair.