Gap & Tyre Insurance

[Robbo66]

A quick question. I am just about to pay for the V8 which arrives tomorrow, and the faxed invoice included both a gap insurance @ £995 and tyre insurance @ £399, both of which had never been discussed with me at any time. I have never purchased insurance of this kind, and am sure this is not compulsory. Anybody else had the same experience ?

[Phil Dicky]

Usually GAP insurance is arranged via a finance co, which should the car be written off covers the shortfal the insurance company would offer you to allow the finance to be cleared. All assuming there is finance on the car. As for the tyre ins no idea, but surely a con ??

[Robbo66]

Phil,
looks seriously sharp to me.

[razbox]

Robbo66 said:

A quick question. I am just about to pay for the V8 which arrives tomorrow, and the faxed invoice included both a gap insurance @ £995 and tyre insurance @ £399, both of which had never been discussed with me at any time. I have never purchased insurance of this kind, and am sure this is not compulsory. Anybody else had the same experience ?

My dealer, erm..,London-based, was very sharp when they said that "by law" they needed me to sign some paperwork for the "Financial Services Authority" so that they could talk to me about insurance and financing. I said I needed neither, but they said it was now the law and I had to talk to them. After getting a bit annoyed, I agreed and was given the hard sell for everything including gap and tyre insurance etc. I declined it all and eventually the man went away. I was going to report them to their Head Office, but never got round to it.

[razbox]

Phil Dicky said:

Usually GAP insurance is arranged via a finance co, which should the car be written off covers the shortfal the insurance company would offer you to allow the finance to be cleared. All assuming there is finance on the car. As for the tyre ins no idea, but surely a con ??

Here's a link explaining the general terms: www.racwarranty.com/cars_tyre.htm

[Robbo66]

Thanks for the info, really appreciate it. The dealer knew I would not be financing the car, and still tried to slip these in...quoting me the balance of the invoice over the phone without mentioning these. Hence my Bankers draft would have beem made out for this amount. I've now requested a printed,detailed invoice as my options were also simply listed as a lump sum on the scrawled faxed invoive I received, rather than broken down...unreal on a £90 k car. Never had this before, never want it again.

[Norfolk n'chance]

Robbo66 said:

Thanks for the info, really appreciate it. The dealer knew I would not be financing the car, and still tried to slip these in...quoting me the balance of the invoice over the phone without mentioning these. Hence my Bankers draft would have beem made out for this amount. I've now requested a printed,detailed invoice as my options were also simply listed as a lump sum on the scrawled faxed invoive I received, rather than broken down...unreal on a £90 k car. Never had this before, never want it again.

Well done to you for spotting this sharp practice, I'll bet most people, in all the excitement, just sign all sorts of stuff. From what I've seen so far Aston have quite a bit to learn with regard to customer relations.

[allornothing]

Good point....I think lots of invoices are being issued with options 'lumped' together rather than breaking each item down line by line.

[TheDarkSide]

The GAP Insurance quoted by the dealer will be a 'Vehicle Replacement Insurance' policy. Whilst (in the event of a write off) GAP pays the shortfall between an insurance payout and the finance settlement, VRI pays the defecit between the insurance payout and the purchase price of the car; it's effectively a 'new - for - old' insurance top-up.

Tyre insurance (surprisingly) pays the cost of repairing or replacing your tyres in the event of damage.

Both are legitimate products - although the dealer appears to be trying to make an extremely ambitious mark-up on them - the alarming thing is the way the dealer tried to hide the inclusion of them within the deal. The sale of insurances like these is regulated by the FSA. One of the FSA's guidelines is that dealings with customers should be "clear, fair and not misleading" - doesn't sound to me like the dealer is playing fair.

AFAICS, you've got two ways to deal with the problem - either explain to the Dealer Principal that his sales staff are potentially putting him in a position where a disgruntled customer complained to the FSA (who would then charge the dealership a fee to investigate them, followed by a fine - possibly a six figure sum - if they discovered malpractice); or speak to the FSA yourself and let them experience the problem first hand

And yes, I do work in an FSA Accredited role in the motor trade.

[richb]

TheDarkSide said:

Tyre insurance (surprisingly) pays the cost of repairing or replacing your tyres in the event of damage. Both are legitimate products

WHAT so now insurance companies can rip you off for insuring separate parts of the car even though the quote is to insure the car, and... like most normal people I would assume tyres are part of the car. After all it's no bloody use without them! And... they are put on by the manufacture! Rip of merchants the lot of em! Rich...

[Robbo66]

To hit target, they discounted my options and included both Gap & Tyre Insurance, so got something I didn't want or need for nothing.