When Can I Claim on GAP Insurance?

You can claim GAP Insurance if your motor insurer declares your car a total loss. This can happen following a theft, malicious or accident damage, a fire, or a flood.

Your motor insurance claim will cover the market value of your car at the time of the claim, which has already depreciated.

GAP Insurance (also known as Guaranteed Asset Protection Insurance) then covers the financial shortfall between your car insurance payout and your car's original purchase price, outstanding finance, or the cost of a replacement vehicle. Your top-up depends on which of the types of gap insurance policy you have.

Knowing precisely when and how you can claim ensures you fully benefit from GAP Insurance protection and avoid unexpected financial stress. When can you make a GAP Insurance claim?

How to Initiate a GAP Insurance Claim

If your car has been in an accident, fire, theft, flood or been vandalised, and may be declared a total loss, you'll need to follow specific steps to successfully initiate a GAP Insurance claim:

Step 1: Notify Your Primary Car Insurer

Contact your comprehensive car insurer immediately after the incident. They'll assess your claim and, if the vehicle is deemed beyond repair, or stolen and unrecovered, declare it a total loss and offer a settlement.

This settlement should be for the current market value of your car. This is the

Step 2: Contact Your GAP Insurance Provider

Before you accept any settlement from your car insurer, get in touch with your GAP Insurance company. Inform them about your claim and confirm your eligibility to proceed.

Step 3: Provide Required Documentation

Your GAP insurer typically needs the following documents to process your claim:

Vehicle purchase invoice (proof of the original price paid)
Leasing or Finance agreement details (if applicable)
Copy of your motor insurance settlement offer
Evidence of vehicle valuation (provided by your car insurer)
Police report crime reference number (in cases of theft or vandalism)
The V5C (aka the 'log book)

The type of GAP Insurance policy you have can impact the documents that you may be asked for.

For example, if you have Finance GAP Insurance, Return to Invoice GAP Insurance or Vehicle Replacement GAP Insurance then you will need 'ownership' proof like the V5 being in your name.

If you have Lease GAP Insurance cover then you do not have the option to own the vehicle. You may need to provide proof of the outstanding finance agreement in place.

Step 4: GAP Claim Assessment and Pay out

Your GAP insurer will review all submitted documentation and, if everything is in order, calculate and issue a payment covering the difference between your insurer’s settlement and your original vehicle price, finance outstanding, or replacement vehicle cost.

The GAP Insurance claims team may speak to your motor insurer directly if they feel that your 'market value' settlement is too low. This should not impact your GAP Insurance settlement unless your motor insurer provides a low current market value offer due to your contributory negligence.

Following these steps ensures your GAP Insurance claim process runs smoothly, minimising delays and helping you quickly resolve your financial situation.

A real-life example of a GAP Insurance claim

You buy a car in 2025 for £35,000

You take it on a PCP finance agreement. You put £5,000 down as a deposit and take £30,000 on finance over 4 years. BMW x5 written off

At the end of the third year your car is stolen. It is not recovered and your motor insurer writes off the car as a total loss. They provide you with a market value settlement of £15,000.

You still owe £18,000 on your PCP finance settlement.

Making your GAP Insurance claim

Before accepting the motor insurers offer of £15,000 you would call the GAP Insurance claims team to lodge your claim.

On the basis that the motor insurers offer is acceptable, the GAP Insurance claim will be processed as follows|:

Invoice price paid : £35,000
Insurers settlement : £15,000
GAP Insurance settlement : £20,000 (to add to the motor insurers settlement)
Total settlement : £15,000 + £20,000 = £35,000

This means that out of the £35,000 received you can pay off the £18,000 settlement on the PCP finance agreement, leaving you with a £17,000 deposit for your next vehicle.

Exclusions and Limitations of GAP Insurance Claims

While GAP Insurance is vital, there are times when your claim won’t be valid. Here are the common GAP Insurance exclusions and limitations to watch out for:

1. Non-Total Loss Incidents

GAP Insurance only covers claims where your main insurer writes off your vehicle (total loss) or your vehicle is stolen and unrecovered. It won’t pay for repairs, minor accidents or damage that doesn’t result in a total loss settlement.

Your GAP Insurance will not cover you if:

Your vehicle is in an accident and repaired by your motor insurer.
Your vehicle is stolen, recovered, repaired and returned to you by your motor insurer.
Your vehicle suffers severe mechanical damage, like a gearbox or engine failure.
If you part exchange your car and it is not worth the amount you still owe on your finance agreement.

2. No Comprehensive Car Insurance

Your GAP Insurance claim usually requires you to have comprehensive motor insurance at the time of the loss. Claims made without comprehensive cover in place will not be honoured.

Essentially, the main insured and all named drivers on your comprehensive car insurance policy for the insured vehicle can be covered by your GAP Insurance policy too.

3. Undeclared Modifications

If your car has modifications or enhancements not declared to your insurer or GAP Insurance provider, your claim will be invalid. Always keep your insurer updated on changes to your vehicle.

GAP Insurance may cover you if your car is modified IF your motor insurer covers it too. However, the cost of the modification may not be covered.

Make sure your comprehensive motor insurance policy AND your GAP Insurance policy both know, and have confirmed they can cover your modifications.

4. Misuse or Neglect

This will include where your main motor insurer does not pay out because of of your contributory negligence.

This could be where:

you leave the car open, keys in the ignition and the engine running when the car is stolen.
You are driving in excess of the speed limit and crash the car.

Remember, for you to make a valid GAP Insurance claim your main comprehensive insurance MUST write off the vehicle as a total loss AND pay you the market value of your car.

5. GAP Policy Expiry

Claims made after the GAP Insurance policy period ends (usually 1 to 5 years) won’t be covered. Check your policy expiry date.

If you have an incident just prior to the end of your GAP Insurance cover ends then make sure you contact the claims team to make them aware of the incident, and to note it is still within your policy period.

Make sure you get evidence of the timing of the incident also.

6. Time limits in making your claim

Most GAP Insurance providers require that you make your GAP Insurance claim within a set timeframe from either:

the incident that lead to to vehicle being written off or stolen, or
from when your motor insurer declared your vehicle a total loss.

Some GAP cover requires you to make your claim within 30 days of the incident. This means you do not have much time to get all your claim in. Some allow up to 90 days so you will have some more time. No doubt you will want to get your claim in as soon as possible anyway, but just be aware of these limits. If in doubt, call the claims team for the GAP Insurance policy

7. If your motor insurer provides you with a new replacement car

Some comprehensive car insurance policies gave a new car replacement clause. This means that, if you are eligible, that the motor insurer will provide you with a brand new replacement car instead of the market value in settlement.

This normally requires you to be the first registered keeper of the vehicle on cover and it may only apply to the first year of your ownership.

So if your motor insurer does replace the vehicle with a brand new car then there is no 'gap' to cover.

In this circumstance you should be able to transfer your GAP Insurance cover on to your replacement car free of charge.

Key Takeaways - When can I make a GAP Insurance claim?

You can make a claim on GAP Insurance is you have comprehensive auto insurance and your vehicle has been in an accident, fire, flood, been vandalised or stolen.

As a result, if your motor insurer writes the car off as a total loss, and pays out the already depreciated market value then you can claim on your GAP Insurance cover.

If you need to make a claim, call your GAP Insurance claims provider as soon as you think the vehicle is being written off by the car insurance company.

Do not accept any offer from your motor insurer until you have lodged your GAP Insurance claim.