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The GapInsurance123 brand, and our company Aequitas Automotive Ltd, have always aimed to provide the very best products at the very best premium prices. Looking back through our development we have been at the forefront of new features in the market. In 2011 we were the first to announce our intention to provide 5 year Combined Return to Invoice, and Combined Vehicle Replacement products. We also provided, initially through our Easy Gap sister brand, the ability to defer a policy start date if you had 'new for old' on your new vehicle motor insurance.
In January 2015 our GapInsurance123 brand provided an enhanced feature on our Vehicle Replacement product. The addition of the Vehicle Invoice Protection meant that in the unlikely event that the replacement cost of the vehicle falls below the invoice price you paid, then the policy would revert to the invoice price instead. We changed this as we had a number of real life claims where our customers saw this happen.
Our company does so things differently than many other providers in the market. We do not have exclusive 'tie ins' with one insurer, and indeed we use a number of different insurers across our retail websites. All of these insurers are used by other online brands, as well as manufacturer products you may have been offered in the showroom. We believe this gives us a distinct advantage when we are looking to develop products and features. Not all insurers will like all features, some may charge more for that risk, some may not want to provide cover at all. However, by developing products in this way, we are able to offer a solution for most circumstances, and be able to compare premium prices where more than one product applies.
With this in mind we have been developing more features and products that we can reveal to you now...............
Deposit protection for Contract Hire lease deals
The Contract Hire style lease has been around for many years, and Gap Insurance for these arrangements have been around for nearly as long. We have seen in the last few years that more and more private individuals are taking advantage of very low lease payments for contract hire deals. The other trend we have seen is for a higher 'up front' rental to be paid, leaving lower monthly rentals across the remainder of the lease. A traditional Finance and Contract Hire Gap policy will cover the difference between the motor insurers settlement and what is left outstanding on the lease.
If you consider the situation where you put down a large deposit, and the vehicle is deemed a total loss even after one week, it is nice to think that any shortfall between the motor insurers settlement and the lease settlement can be covered with a Finance and Contract Hire Gap policy. However, what about your deposit that you may have only recently paid? Well a standard Finance and Contract Hire Gap policy cannot give you this back. It is a query we answer time and time again, and we believe we have found a solution with our GapInsurance123 product providers. We will be introducing new features and options for various levels of deposit protection. This will allow us to tailor a policy to cover any lease shortfall AND your initial deposit rental.
We think this will be a welcome additional benefit for lease car buyers.
Alloy Wheel cover for Diamond and Laser Cut Alloys, including replacement contribution
GapInsurance123 has always been a 'stand alone' Gap Insurance brand. However, we do have a number of sister brands in the UK market that provide similar and complimentary products. In the Gap Insurance field we own and operate the Easy Gap, Shortfall.co.uk and Totallossgap.co.uk websites also. Our Shortfall brand also provides options for Tyre Insurance, Scratch and Dent Insurance and Alloy Wheel cover, amongst others. In 2014 we also introduced our new TyreInsurance123 brand for (you guessed it) Tyre Insurance products. Having an array of products gives us the opportunity to provide comparisons between products underwritten by different insurers, and this means we can mix and match to provide a bundle of products should you wish.
There has been one product that has been requested time and time again. All the online providers for Alloy Wheel Insurance (that we have seen), specifically exclude cover for Alloys that are diamond or laser cut in style. This is because they are more difficult to repair, and may need to be sent away to a specialist refinisher.
The difficulty in providing such a product for the online market is clear, a nationwide network of repairers is required for example.However, we have agreed a new product with a new provider that can put all this in place for us.
The features of the new policy will see cosmetic repair to you alloys, similar to current market policies. However, we can also cover diamond or laser cut styles, as well as increased claim numbers per annum from the standard 3. One final feature is also quite unique we think. If the alloy cannot be repaired, then there will be a contribution of up to £150 for the cost of a new, replacement alloy.
The added benefits and options do not finish there...........
Our new product will offer the chance to combine the product with a tyre insurance product, providing very cost effective premiums by combining the risk of the two policies together. Although we cannot confirm figures as yet, we do believe we could provide a combination of a three year Combined Return to Invoice Gap, Alloy (even diamond or laser cut) and Tyre Insurance with a combined premium starting at less than £349.
That could represent a saving of hundreds of pounds from comparable providers, another example of why we believe keeping ourselves independent from one particular insurer is the best way to be.
The game changer.................................
The two features listed above are obvious options to plug a gap (excuse the pun) in our product range. One final feature we are working on could be something that is quite different and a real game changer. Whilst this is in the very early stages, and therefore we are not going in to detail at this point, we do think that there would be quite an interest if we could offer you Gap Insurance for free. When we say free, we are not talking 7 day, 14 day or 30 days, we do mean anything up to the 5 years we offer, effectively at no cost to you.
We are in talks, and whilst it is really early days we do think we have a mechanism to deliver this ambitious plan. We can say no more at this stage, but we do hope that if we can get this in place we can offer this to all new Aequitas Automotive customers, as well as our tens of thousands of current customers too.
Exciting times at GapInsurance123!