Will GapInsurance123 talk about other policies in the market?

In an ever increasingly competitive independent Gap Insurance market it is perhaps only natural that you compare your products with those of your competitors. It is also natural that those competitors will compare their products with yours also. Of course there is a major difference between you comparing your products internally, and then making the decision to use these comparisons as a marketing tool.

We are aware that some other providers in the field are all too happy to openly compare themselves with our GapInsurance123 products. We receive customer feedback on a daily basis saying ' I was told by ABC Gap that their product would do this, and your product will not', and of course this sort of tactic can be frustration when you find that what is being said of the Gap123 product is just plain wrong.

At Aequitas Automotive Ltd (the company behind GapInsurance123, Easy Gap and Shortfall.co.uk), we have considered providing a Gap Insurance comparison with our products, against the other major providers online. However there is a major problem in doing so.

Having taken legal and regulatory advise on the matter, it is clear that unless we have complete knowledge of how another product acts in the event of a claim then we have no legal right to compare ourselves to them. We can only ever interpret the policy terms, and in doing so even if there is a small chance that we could get that wrong, or the policy would act differently than we say it does, then we could be committing a criminal offence. No amount of disclaimers on our website could prevent this, as of course if our interpretation would lead you to choose our product over another then we could gain financially from providing such a falsehood. A slippery slope.

This issue has come to the fore recently with a number of complaints from member of the public regarding interpretations given by other providers on our policies. Some perhaps were made in error, however it appears that some have been made with deliberate intent. When deliberate, this type of marketing does nothing for our industry, and it is disappointing that some other brands in the market would employ such tactics.

We are sure that some brands provide comaprisons with the best of intentions, but even so they may well be biased and display features to compare that may have no practical use to the comsumer. Of course, as 'expert' as any brand may be in the field, we are sure they will acknowledge that comparisions are based on interpretation and that they have no knowledge of how claims are settled on any other brands polcies, other than their own.

We also feel it is as important, despite the natural frustrations that such tactics provide, to take a moral standpoint on this subject. Of course we consider ourselves as experts in this field, but ultimately we are only absolute experts on our own products. How could we possibly comment on other providers policy terms if we have no practical knowledge of how their claims are handled? At best these are only our interpretations, and do nothing to serve the consumer in the long run in our view.

So Aequitas Automotive will only ever compare our own products with each other. This is the only way we can guarantee that we are giving you the correct information for you to make an informed decision. Anything we see in other products policy terms would be our interpretation on those products, and even if they are through a common underwriter how would we know for sure how that our interpretation is correct. To comment in such circumstances may be morally wrong, and possibly even criminal.

We would also like to hear from any member of the public who finds they have been directly influenced by another provider comparing our products to theirs. It could be a completely correct comparison, if so then fine. However if it is not then we have a moral obligation to ensure that falsehoods of this kind do not become rife in the growing online marketplace., and do not infleuence consumers.

Remember Aequitas Automotive carry more of the leading Gap Insurance brands, carry more independently 5 Star Rated products and have more brands featured on the Which? Gap Insurance brand than any other UK company in 2014. However, we are not the only company to offer quality products. The truth is that there is little difference between the products we offer and many of the other online providers. The standard of online Gap Insurance products has risen in terms of product features in recent times.

So we would offer the following statement;

If you are comparing our products with another online competitor, the truth is that their product may be every bit as good as ours in most cases. However, if they question our product, and try to say it will not do 'this and that', simply ask yourself 'How would they even know?"

We hope this clarifies our position on comparing our products with others you may see, and we hope you understand our stance. Remember we can compare our GapInsurance123 products with Easy Gap and Shortfall, and you are guaranteed an independent, and completely truthful comparison, based on our unique knowledge of our own products.

If you want detailed analysis of other products in the market then we urge you to talk to the brands themselves.