Promoted: Free 30-day GAP policy for PHers with ALA

[ALA Insurance]

Hi rlg43p

Thanks for your question.

Just down to the underwriters restrictions, the Tyre insurance can only be purchased within the first 30 days after you've bought your car.

I'm sorry if we can't help this time but if you have any further questions at all please let me know.

Thanks,
Katie

[ALA Insurance]

Hi rizel23

Thanks for getting in touch.

Out policies are in full-year term so you would be need two year policy to cover the full term of your lease. However you can carry over the remaining 6 months' worth of premium to a new policy when you change your car.

We don't charge a fee to do this, you would only be paying the difference in premium for the new policy.

I hope this helps but if you have any other questions at all please let me know.

Thanks,
Katie

[ALA Insurance]

Hi elliebeth

Thanks for your questions and hopefully I can help

When you pop your details in for a quote our system will automatically suggest a level of cover - it is based on the vehicle cost, the term of cover and average rates of depreciation. Most new cars lose about 50% of their value in the first 3 years and our system tends to round up to cover the cars that lose more money.

From the figures you've given it may be that £20,000 is enough cover, but it could leave you short if your insurer ever pays less than £30,000. It may also be worth mentioning that the balloon payment is based more on your finance rather than just the vehicle.

I hope this makes sense! However, if you would like to run through this further please let me know - you're welcome to drop me an email ([e-mail]) or give me a call (01653 916301).

Thanks,
Katie

Edited by ALA Insurance on Tuesday 30th October 17:05

[ALA Insurance]

Hello janesmith1950

Thank you for getting in touch and I'm sorry to hear that your GAP settlement has been delayed.

For data protection reasons, please can you contact me directly by email ([e-mail]) or telephone [phone] providing me with your policy number. I can then contact our claims administrators on your behalf to see if i can obtain more information.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,
Katie

[ALA Insurance]

Thank you so much, I have received the email.

Please leave this with me and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

Thanks,
Katie

[ALA Insurance]

Thank you so much for your patience with this, and we're really pleased we have been able to help with your claim.

We'll always be happy to assist where we can - please contact us either on the forum, over the phone or by email and we'll do our best to make sure a claim runs smoothly


Thanks,
Katie

01653 916280
[e-mail]

[ALA Insurance]

Hi J50

Thanks for getting in touch.

We can only provide policies for full years i.e. 2 years, 3 years etc. However if you buy a 2 year policy, when you change the car after 18 months you will have 6 months' worth of premium left which we will credit against a new policy for your new car.

I hope this helps and if you have any other questions at all please let me know.

Thanks,
Katie

[ALA Insurance]

Hi Sochaux

Thanks for getting in touch

If you are extending your lease agreement, you can also take further cover with ALA to protect you for the extra 12 months.

If you'd like a new quotation please send me an email ([e-mail]) with your current policy number and how much you'll be paying each month for the car going forward.

Thanks,
Katie

[ALA Insurance]

Hi Dannbodge

Thanks for getting in touch.

I understand and it is simply a restriction that our underwriters impose on our policies - as you can imagine, there are varying terms depending upon the underwriter.

Historically, GAP insurance could only ever be bought for a maximum of 4 years and, whilst the underwriters did relax their terms a few years ago, they are starting to impose tighter restrictions.

I hope that this information is useful and if you do have any other questions please let me know.

Thanks,
Katie

[ALA Insurance]

Hi johnhardley12

Thanks for your post.

If you need any more information about any of these products please contact us either by phone: [phone], email: [e-mail] or on the forum, and I'll be more than happy to provide any further information you might need.

Thanks,
Katie

[ALA Insurance]

Hi Blue Oval84

Thanks for buying a policy and we hope you enjoy your new car!

Katie

[ALA Insurance]

Hi jjj8x

Thanks for the post.

That's great, glad to hear you've got your cover... and we do hear that from a few of our customers!

Thanks again,
Katie

[ALA Insurance]

Hi TooLateForAName

Thanks for getting in touch.

The Vehicle Replacement Plus policy would cover the difference up to the replacement cost of an equivalent diesel or petrol model at the time of the claim. This means that, if Skoda have switched to the electric version of the Citigo and your daughter's car is a total loss, we would need to look at an alternative similar model, which would potentially be from another manufacturer.

The logic behind this is that the liability under the policy would be exponentially increased by covering the replacement cost of the electric version, which isn't technically the equivalent to the original petrol/diesel vehicle that was purchased.

The money settled from the Vehicle Replacement + policy would be paid directly to a dealer as a credit towards the replacement vehicle. At the time of the claim you would have the option to either:

- Opt for a higher spec car, or a more expensive model with that dealership and you pay any difference in cost
- Opt for a settlement which takes you back to the original invoice price, which can then be used however you wish

The policy does therefore give you a lot of flexibility as you have the option of a replacement car, an upgraded replacement car, or an invoice settlement (in conjunction with the settlement from the motor insurer).

I hope this helps and if you have any further questions at all please let me know.

Thanks,
Katie

[ALA Insurance]

Hi TooLateForAName

Sorry for any confusion, hopefully I can clarify these details for you.

The Back to Invoice + policy will pay the difference up to the fixed original price you paid for the car, whereas the Vehicle Replacement + policy will pay up to the replacement cost - the benefit with Vehicle Replacement over Back to Invoice is that the replacement cost could be higher than the original invoice price.

We do understand that manufacturers are moving towards hybrid and electric vehicles in the coming years, and as you say the issue we're discussing here is likely to arise in 5-10 years' time when manufacturers are aiming to solely produce electric cars. For this reason, although the electric version of the Citigo is due to be released soon, the petrol/diesel version (or a similar equivalent petrol or diesel version from an alternative manufacturer) will still be available for some time yet. It is also worth bearing in mind that our maximum policy term is 3 years, and it would be unlikely for there to be no petrol or diesel replacement car available within that time.

Also, GAP insurance is designed to put you back in the position you were in when you first bought the policy and so in your case you have bought a petrol/diesel engine car and to provide you with a replacement electric car would bring in issues of betterment.

In relation to model changes, when this happens they are usually either face lifted or replaced with a newer version of the same model and this would be accounted for by the GAP policy. There may also be a complete change to a model and a recent example from Skoda is the end of production of the Yeti, and the replacement of it with the new Karoq. This would also be allowed for within the policy, so a customer who purchased a brand new Yeti which is subsequently written off, we would then look at the cost of the new Karoq as the replacement model, with a price increase for the new model being less than £2,000.

I hope this information helps with your decision. I think this probably is the limit of information that we can go through on here but if you do need anything else please feel free to get in touch with me by email [e-mail] or calling 01653 916301.

Thanks,
Katie

[ALA Insurance]

Hi PenelopaPitstop

Thanks for getting in touch.

As long as you're covered to drive in those countries by your comprehensive motor insurer, you would also be covered by our GAP insurance policy in the same way. Although they are not technically in the EU they would be seen in the same way as EU countries for insurance purposes.

I hope this helps and if you have any other questions please let me know.

Thanks,
Katie

[ALA Insurance]

Hi Michelle76,

Many thanks for getting in touch but at the moment the maximum vehicle value we can cover is £100k anything over this is not cover-able on our current policies.
If there is anything else at all i can help with please just get back in touch.

Thanks,
Jason

[ALA Insurance]

Hi J500ANT,

Well what can we say? Excellent customer service comes as standard!
Joking aside we are always happy to help where we can so please feel free to with any queries or questions.

All the best,
Jason

[ALA Insurance]

Hi kelevraz

Thanks for getting in touch and I'm sorry for the delay in getting back to you.

If you take your car on a track day, it wouldn't invalidate the whole policy but would just mean that the GAP cover won't apply during the track day.

I hope this helps but if you would like me to answer any further questions at all please let me know

Thanks,
Katie

[ALA Insurance]

Hi berlintaxi

Thanks for the enquiry.

We're not able to shed a lot of light on that I'm afraid - we used to be able to offer this type of cover but the underwriters providing that type of policy decided they didn't want to offer it any more.

Please don't quote me on this but when we were offering cover, it was our understanding that motorhomes hold their value quite well and don't depreciate very quickly, especially when compared to cars. However, they are more susceptible to theft and so in lieu of being able to purchase GAP insurance it might actually be more beneficial to take advantage of as many security features as possible.

The only "motorhome" type vehicle we're able to cover at the moment is a VW California, as they're actually classed as a passenger car by the DVLA (if that helps at all!)

Thanks again and if you have any other questions I'll do my best to answer them

Katie

[ALA Insurance]

Hi Onespeeder

It was lovely to talk to you the other day - I know you're asking other PHers advice on this one but I hope you don't mind me jumping in - I've had a bit of a chat with my manager this morning and we've clarified a few points that might help

As you rightly say, the payment under our policy is paid to a supplying dealer. One thing that we may not have discussed is that, as the car is sourced by our claims administrators and due to the frequency with which they're doing so, they can command really good discounts. So in the future, they may be able to obtain the car at a similar rate of discount as the one you've received this time, whereas you or I buying the car as members of the general public might get a less significant discount.

Also, the cost of buying the car again is usually not equivalent to the RRP and so, although you can't guarantee discounts, the potential shortfall shouldn't be as worrying as it could first appear.

Just on another point, I'm sorry, I can't recall whether your car has a diesel or petrol engine. If it is the diesel engine and this is part of the reason for the great discount you've had, it is unlikely that diesel cars will increase in cost in the future due to the shift towards cleaner cars (although we do realise this can be a very black and white argument - diesel bad everything else good! )

We would never comment on any other suppliers but just to give a bit of background about ALA, we do have UK based A-Rated underwriters (Lloyd's Syndicate 4444), we're Defaqto 5 Star Rated, are rated 9.7 out of 10 on Trustpilot... and most important of all we're recommended by PistonHeads

I hope some other forum members can rally round with their advice and if you have any questions at all, please let me know.

Thanks,
Katie