Why choose GapInsurance123 for your new 17 plate vehicle cover?

March 1st 2017 brings the excitement of a new registration plate in the UK with the 17 plate vehicles leaving UK showrooms. A new car registration month means the busiest of times in motor dealers and when you are buying a car then so many aspects need to be considered including any part exchange vehicle, car finance and additional protections like tyre, alloy wheel, scratch and dent and Gap Insurance of course. 

So if you are considering buying Gap Insurance for your new vehicle then why would you look at a brand like GapInsurance123? There are several compelling, we believe that we can provide the best balance between value and features in the market today. 

A few things to consider.................
 

Policy features

GapInsurance123, as a brand, has been developed over a number of years. In that time we have sold tens of thousands of policy and experienced claims accordingly. That experience has allowed us to develop and add features in our policies that provide you with advantages above other policies in the market that may even have the same generic name as our style of policy. 

Some examples would include

Combined Vehicle Replacement Insurance - a key issue we identified with the generic Vehicle Replacement policies in the market was that you assume the cost of the equivalent replacement vehicle increases above the price you originally paid for the vehicle (with Brexit on the horizon who knows where vehicle prices will be in a few years). It is this assumption that would mean you buy the Vehicle Replacement policy above a Return to Invoice policy (and pay more premium also). However in a number of claims we actually found the replacement cost was actually lower than the original price paid. This means that the claimant could have purchased a Return to Invoice policy, at a lower premium, and actually got a higher settlement.

We think that is just not right!

In 2015 we added Vehicle Invoice Protection to our Vehicle Replacement policies. This means that if the cost of the equivalent replacement is actually lower than the original invoice price you paid then we will cover the invoice price instead. We should stress it is only a small number of cases where we would expect this to happen but this feature means you do not lose out.

Since we introduced this feature in 2015 we are pleased to say that a number of our competitors have also added this feature in response. We take that as a huge compliment and recognition that a potential unfair outcome exists for customers without this feature. However not all Vehicle Replacement policies have the Invoice protection added. This means you could lose out on thousands of pounds in settlement if the replacement price drops below the price you originally paid. 

Deposit protection on Contract Hire - The method of Contract Hire (whether business or personal) is an ever more popular method of securing a new vehicle. With Contract Hire lease you do not have an option to own the vehicle as part of the agreement. This means in terms of Gap Insurance that your only option has always been to cover the shortfall between the motor insurer's settlement and the outstanding lease settlement at the point of loss. 

That leaves a problem.....

A common feature of the modern lease is the advanced rental or deposit rental that you may have to pay. When you see a lease quoted as '6+23' for example this means you have to pay 6 monthly rentals as your 'deposit' followed by a further 23 monthly rental instalments.

If something was to happen to the vehicle that causes it to be written off then your motor insurance would pay the market value and the Finance and Contract Hire Gap would pay any shortfall to clear the lease. However what happens about the deposit rental you have paid? Well with traditional Contract Hire Gap you would not be able to claim this back.

GapInsurance123 now provide a solution to that problem. With any Finance and Contract Hire Gap you now have the option, with GapInsurance123, to select an additional option to protect up to £2000 of any advanced rental. By taking this option you can have the shortfall on the lease cleared but also be able to claim back up to £2000 of any advanced deposit rental you may have paid.

The bottom line is that not all policies you are looking to compare us with will have the same policy features. It is certainly worth comparing policy terms, as well as premiums, or you may face losing out on a significant amount of money in any settlement.

GapInsurance123 is one of many brands operated by Aequitas Automotive Ltd

One major advantage of using GapInsurance123 is that the brand is only one of a number operated by our company Aequitas Automotive Ltd. In the world of Gap Insurance, our sister brands are Easy Gap, Shortfall.co.uk and Totallossgap.co.uk. We have a range of different policies and use a range of different insurers across our brands. We feel that this provides a huge advantage over many of the other providers in the market in the following areas:

The ability to compare: having access to a number of different insurers and products means we can not only compare the product features dispassionately but also compare the premiums on offer also. Not all insurers will provide competitive features and rates for every type of vehicle. At Aequitas Automotive we feel there are very few circumstances that we could not provide a competitive quote. 

By avoiding the 'all eggs, one basket' approach of having underwriting with only one insurer we also feel that this allows us a competitive edge to ensure our insurers provide the very best terms and premiums in order to gain a sizeable proportion of the business we provide. That is why GapInsurance123 policy premiums are often significantly lower than your motor dealer and also many of the other independent brands you find online.

Another key aspect is how we insist our claims are handled by our insurers. With our policies, all claims are processed by one company who have complete authority from the insurer to do so. You may find other policies in the market involve an insurer, and insurers agent, a broker and even a completely different company handling the claims. In our experienced view, this configuration can clearly be not only confusing but also can cause delays in settlements if any problems arise.

With GapInsurance123 policies, any claim is handled by one company who have complete authority from the insurer to do so. If there are any problems or issues (and they can arise) then GapInsurance123 will liaise with the Claims Team to resolve the issue as soon as possible. There is no need to refer the problem to the insurer, or the insurers agent which can cause inevitable delays.

Aequitas Automotive Ltd strength

At GapInsurance123 we feel a key factor in selecting our products is the strength of our company, Aequitas Automotive Ltd and the strength of the relationships we have with our insurers.

Aequitas Automotive Ltd is based on the Wirral peninsula in the north-west of England. Having developed our company over a number of years, and the brands that represent us online, this has put us in a position to record our best ever trading figures in 2016. During this period our company purchased our new head office at Hamilton Square in Birkenhead. The Grade 1 listed buildings at 56 and 57 Hamilton Square provide around 7,000 sq feet of historic office space in the traditional professional and financial district in the area.

It may seem an insignificant point but the fact that we own the building we work at but, as historic and splendid as it is, we feel also demonstrates the solidity of Aequitas Automotive Ltd as a company. We also feel that our base demonstrates our long-term commitment to our customers and our insurers.

In short we are here to stay!