What Is GAP Insurance?

Would your car insurance cover you in full if your vehicle was written off or stolen?

Even if you think you have high quality cover, in the event of a claim your car insurance policy will generally pay out the current market of your vehicle not the amount you paid for it. If you’ve bought your car using finance, this could mean that you could be left out of pocket if you are involved in an accident.

To protect yourself, you can take out Guaranteed Asset Protection (GAP) insurance. But what is GAP insurance? What does it do? And why should you have it? Keep reading to find out everything you need to know.

If your car is stolen or written off, your insurer will settle your claim based on the current market value of your vehicle. This is often based on the trade price of the vehicle rather than the full retail price.

A GAP insurance policy is designed to pay the difference between this sum and the replacement cost of your vehicle or the outstanding finance, whichever is higher.

GAP insurance is important because, when you buy a new car, the vehicle will start to depreciate in value. GAP insurance protects you against the financial risk of being left out of pocket when your insurance payment is only based on the current value of your car, not the purchase price.

If you were involved in an accident and your car was written-off, your insurance claim would be settled based on the value of the vehicle at that time, not the new price. In this situation your outstanding finance on the car may be higher than your insurance payout.

In this scenario, GAP insurance would help you by covering this shortfall.

insurance is a good idea if:

The Daily Telegraph advises that “without gap insurance you could end up having to keep paying the finance company for a car you can no longer use. So gap insurance does make sense.”

If you don’t want to be left out of pocket in the event of an insurance claim then it is a good idea to consider this cover. GAP insurance exists because of the fact that your new car may depreciate in value to the point where your car’s value is less than the remaining finance you have to pay were you to have an accident. If you don’t think you can pay any shortfall in the event of a car insurance claim then you should seriously consider this cover.