GAP INSURANCE

Insure for Travel working in partnership with Bettersafe for Gap Insurance

Insure For Travel have selected Bettersafe as their partner for Gap Insurance. Bettersafe are the administrator for Gap Insurance and handle all customer enquiries.

GAP stands for Guaranteed Asset Protection. Put very simply, a GAP policy comes into effect if your car is written off or deemed unrecoverable. It then covers the difference between your insurer’s settlement and how much you paid for the car.

Cars typically lose their value quickly. In some cases, this can be as much as 60% over 3 years. Because of this, when a car is declared as written off, motor insurers will often only pay out what they value the car at, rather than the amount you paid for it.

Without a GAP policy, your insurer would pay out a settlement fee and that would be that.

This could leave you significantly out of pocket. Especially if you paid for the car outright and have owned the car for a number of years.

Alternatively, if you paid for your car on finance, and there’s anything outstanding, this settlement may not cover the remainder of what you owe. Leaving you without a car and out of pocket.

Imagine you bought your car for £30,000 around 3 years ago. Over time your car will most likely have depreciated and so is now worth £9,000. If you had an accident and the car was then written off, your motor insurance would very likely only pay you the £9,000 it is now worth.

This would leave you £21,000 out of pocket.

GAP insurance is designed to prevent this financial shortfall.

Our policy would pay out the difference between what you paid and what your motor insurer valued your vehicle at.

Or if paid on a finance agreement, the remaining balance owed to the company.

This way you’re not left out of pocket.

We have two types of GAP insurance. Combined GAP and Lease GAP. 

This is for anyone who paid for their car outright, through a finance agreement or a PCP deal.

If your vehicle is written off or has been stolen and is not recoverable, Bettersafe will pay the difference between the motor insurance settlement and whatever was greater, the purchase price of your vehicle or the settlement amount that you owe to your finance company.

This is for anyone who has chosen to lease their car, or use a contract hire agreement.

If your car is written off, under this policy type, we will pay the difference between the motor insurance settlement and the termination charge applied by the finance company.

We also cover your initial rental deposit paid on your vehicle up to a maximum value of £2000 and pay up to £250 towards your motor insurance excess.

This of course depends entirely on your personal circumstances.

The main thing to consider when taking out a GAP policy is how quickly you believe your car will depreciate. Even cars only a few years old can fall in value much faster than most people would expect.

​Many brand-new cars lose their value as soon as you drive off from the car dealership. So, it’s often worth getting yourself covered in this case. Especially if you think that your vehicle’s value is likely to fall faster than others.

In this case, getting GAP cover would likely be a good idea.

Alternatively, if you bought a 7-year-old car from a dealership, it is unlikely the value of the car is going to fall too dramatically. Although depending on the car you could still end up a few thousand pounds out of pocket in the even of a write off.

Absolutely. The only condition we have is that your car must be bought from a second-hand dealership, and not from a private individual.

Otherwise, the policy applies in the same way as it would for a brand-new car.

Your vehicle must be covered under a comprehensive motor insurance policy. This insurance policy must cover loss or damage to your vehicle caused by accidental damage, fire, or theft.

Your car must be less than 8 years old at the time which the policy begins.

Your car must have been purchased from a registered car dealership.

As with all insurance, there are always some instances where our GAP policy wouldn’t cover you.

The full list of exclusions is located within the policy wordings below, but some common exclusions are:

✕ Not written off or unrecoverable:

If your car has not been determined a write off by your insurance provider. GAP insurance will only cover the financial shortfall of your insurance providers' valuation of the vehicle if it is classed as being written off or beyond economic repair.

✕ Negligence:

Your GAP insurance policy would not be valid if the vehicle was written off as a result of you leaving the car unlocked, with the windows/ roof open, or if the keys are left in or on the vehicle. 

✕ Private Sale:

You wouldn’t be covered under our policy if you purchased your car through a private dealership or individual.

✕ Under the influence:

As with most insurance policies, we would not cover any financial shortfall if the vehicle was written off due to intoxication from alcohol or drugs not prescribed by a licensed medical practitioner.