Just signed up for my first lease car, guessing its best to get Gap insurance to cover shortfall if it gets totalled ?? My last new car I bought (8 years ago) had Gap insurance etc for extra if needed
Any recommendations on gap insurance companies ? … do u need specific companies if its a lease car ?

cheers in advance

got mine through

https://www.ala.co.uk/

10% off with ALA71

Yes, definitely buy it. But don’t pay dealer prices. ALA as above ive used before. There are others. If you don’t buy it, and the car is written off, you have massive exposure.

Yes, definitely buy it. But don’t pay dealer prices. ALA as above ive used before. There are others. If you don’t buy it, and the car is written off, you have massive exposure.

That might not be true. Check your insurer to see if they effectively offer it. Some insurers used to offer invoice price cover for the first year but I don’t know if it’s still common.

If you’re thinking of “new vehicle replacement” cover where the car is replaced with a brand new one within the first 12 months from new, then that still exists. But for a lease, you’re not the owner. So the payout (which is not the new vehicle price!) is given to the owner and you’re still contractually obliged to pay the lease. And pay the owner (the lease co) any amount they’ve lost in vehicle value.

So gap cover is very much needed.

So gap cover is very much needed.

Yes you need to get it but your insurance will still pay out, therefore you only need gap insurance to cover what the insurance won’t pay out which is in essence the depreciation

Which is what Gap Insurance is, surely?

I used to but

If you don’t buy it, and the car is written off, you have massive exposure.

I’ve not actually heard of this happening, just the insurer directly settling with the lease company.

So possibly worth it to protect a big upfront payment, which you’d have to find again when you get another. I just went to doing 3x max for reason and I don’t bother with gap.

I’ve not actually heard of this happening, just the insurer directly settling with the lease company.

This is how the car insurance we sell works if its a lease car. After the first 12 months, however, it may very well be necessary as ‘new car replacement’ no longer applies, on our policies anyway.

I’ve been told over on Pistonheads (close to the antithesis of STW) that NFU provide 2 years of cover in this area, not sure if it is ‘new vehicle replacement’ or how specifically worded but worth a look. L&V certain do one year of cover, again can’t recall specific terms (may be limit of invoice value rather than outright replacement like for like on spec).

Personally I went with Return To Invoice with ALA as bruneep suggested. Never claimed but at ~£100 a year for a large sum of cover it seemed a no brainer.

I bought a car recently and the salesman tried to get me to buy gap insurance despite the fact I was paying cash. I politely declined…

@lunge depending type of ‘gap’ it can still be well worthwhile when paying cash. As said above ~£30k of RTI cover for 4 years with ALA for £400 to take you back to invoice value is IMHO an absolute no brainer.

I bought a car recently and the salesman tried to get me to buy gap insurance despite the fact I was paying cash. I politely declined

GAP cover is still useful here. You buy a car for say £10k cash. It gets totalled 6 months later and your ins co offers you £7k. GAP cover, on a return to invoice basis, would give you the other £3k.

You can still buy RTI GAP cover on second hand car purchases as well. As others have said, the stealer prices for it are outrageous but shopping around can get you a policy for £100 or so. Well worth it IMO

~£30k of RTI cover for 4 years with ALA for £400 to take you back to invoice value is IMHO an absolute no brainer.

Don’t see why. I’d rather have the £400 in my pocket. Get a good price at the start and you won’t lose that much at market value. I’ll take the risk.

I got my 2018 Superb estate through drivethedeal at £18k brand new. Currently a similar model (higher mileage) is on autotrader £17k. Though granted these are strange times for second hand cars. Not missing much with not having GAP

If we had paid £200 for the £15k of RIT cover on our Kuga I would have got a top up of around £8k on our recent payout after car was stolen and never found. That’s with the insane used prices and much bigger payout than expected too.

Your Skoda is quite the anomaly to be worth that much of new value and in that case it maybe isn’t worth it. That said if you were in a normal market, and had a total loss it would be.

On an £18k car 4 years of RTI would be nearer £150 at a guess.

Pay your money take your choice here though.

No doubt there are winners and losers. My choice is, as a rule, to only insure for unlikely but catastrophic events.

House insurance. I couldn’t cover the cost if it burned down.

Car insurance. Requiured by law but in any case I couldn’t cover an expensive medical claim or total loss of £18k car.

Travel insurance. I couldn’t afford serious USA hospital treatment.

Gap Insurance? Worst case I lose £2 or £3K. I don’t count not getting return no new cost on a 3 year old car as a loss. Insurance is to put me back where I was. I’m quite happy getting 3 yr old price (more or less) for a 3yr od car.

Likewise I don’t insure pets, appliances, UK travel etc etc. On average insurers make money even after overheads and covering the high risk and fraudulent claims. Over the long term I’m sure I am well ahead from not over insuring.

Good to hear