If your car is written off, your insurer takes your excess out of the settlement before they pay you. Our GAP policies have always put some of that money back. From now on, they put back a lot more.

 

Motor excess contributions have been increased across our panel of insurers. 

 

On new policies underwritten by Helvetia, the maximum contribution towards your motor insurance excess has risen from £250 to £1,000. On new policies underwritten by Hiscox it has risen from £250 to £500, and we've added a payment of up to £300 towards excesses on claims that aren't a total loss.

 

Here's why we changed it, and what it means when you come to claim.

 

Say your car is valued at £12,000 and your excess is £750. In a ‘fault’ claim, your motor insurer settles at £11,250. The other £750 stays with them, and you're short by that amount at exactly the point you're trying to replace a car.

 

GAP insurance covers the difference between that settlement and what you originally paid, or what a replacement would cost. The excess contribution covers the deduction itself.

 

Two things have changed since we set that limit.

 

Excess levels on comprehensive motor policies have been rising. Zego cited several sources confirming excess amounts have increased by up to 47%.

 

The second reason we see is with our own customers. Raising your voluntary excess is one of the few dependable ways to bring a motor premium down, and a lot of people have done exactly that. Excesses of £750 or £1,000 are common now. By comparison, £250 could have covered only a quarter of the problem.

 

Hiscox Underwriting Ltd is an 'A' rated insurer. It underwrites our prestige Return to Invoice Shortfall GAP and Lease GAP cover for the more specialist cases: taxi, hire and reward, lease vehicles, and cars valued above £100,000.

 

Hiscox policies now contribute in two situations.

 

If your car is a total loss. Claim on your GAP policy, and we can pay up to £500 towards the excess your motor insurer has deducted.

 

If you claim on your motor insurance for anything else. A repaired accident, for example. We can pay up to £300 towards that excess. This is limited to one claim in each policy year, and to £1,000 across the whole term of your GAP policy.

 

Helvetia Global Solutions Ltd is also 'A' rated, and underwrites our Return to Invoice and Vehicle Replacement GAP products for vehicles valued up to £100,000.

 

The change here is simpler. If your vehicle is written off or stolen and you claim on your GAP cover, the maximum excess contribution has gone from £250 to £1,000.

 

These limits apply to newly purchased policies. If you already hold a policy with us, your cover continues on the terms you bought it under, and the excess contribution shown in your policy documents is the one that applies.

 

We've been selling GAP insurance direct to UK drivers since 2010, without the dealership markup, and in that time we've covered in excess of £5 billion worth of vehicles. Products move on. Excesses have gone up, so the contribution towards them needed to go up too.

 

We want the best value for our customers, and by increasing the motor excess contribution options, we think we underline this commitment.