What is GAP Insurance?
Guaranteed Asset Protection (Shortfall or Motor Equity Insurance) is an optional add on insurance or junk insurance product that should help cover the difference between insurance pay-out & your finance shortfall amount you have left on your loan, should your car get written off/ damaged in an accident or in the unfortunate event your car was stolen! The name GAP insurance really makes a lot of sense seeing as that’s exactly what it does; it covers you for the gap amount, Easy!
Sometimes the insurer can pay out less that what is remaining on the car loan, as it’s all about the equity of the car in the insurers eyes vs how much is left to pay off leaving a potential negative equity as the car may depreciate over time at a much faster rate than you can pay it off.
Now… this depends, if you have agreed the value of your car also the reverse can happen and you may get a much bigger pay out from the insurer than the car is worth, Winning!
Why was GAP Insurance Purchased?
Gap insurance is a product that should be offered as a choice when taking out a loan to buy a car. It is sold suggesting it will give you peace of mind if you were ever in the situation of not being able to cover the full amount owing on your car finance agreement and want to avoid and cover the event of having to pay off a car you no longer have! Now here’s the tricky part, it isn’t uncommon for lenders to sneakily add this extra product in to your original car loan paperwork as if it were part of the package, and not an optional extra cost. Or even worse, add the insurance in to the loan payments of your car finance amount totally unknowingly to you. Yes, this happens!
Examples of Mis-Sold GAP Insurance
Please find below some common examples of how GAP insurance can be mis-sold to consumers:
- Sold to clients who use their car for Rideshare, hire cars or fast food delivery work, which then voids the ability to claim in a range of car accident scenarios on the job
- Car dealers may automatically include some form of GAP insurance as part of the car loan without disclosing this to you
- Car dealers and/or their chosen financiers may include the insurance premium in the cost of the car repayment (which you are paying interest on) without informing you
- Car dealers may state that a car loan cannot be approved without the customer signing on for it, which is simply dishonest and not true, particularly as individuals may take out comprehensive motor insurance that covers the new vehicle replacement in the event of it being written off in an accident or stolen.
- Once the loan is completely paid off, it isn’t brought to the attention of the client that GAP insurance is no longer required
- There may have been a big deposit put down initially for the car, meaning it would have been impossible for the finance to ever need a Gap to cover!
How do I know if GAP Insurance was unknowingly added to my policy?
Unfortunately, one of the most deceitful forms of mis-sold insurance comes from lenders discreetly including it into your original loan documentation and paperwork without you knowing about it or having agreed to it. It is Australian Law that before you buy insurance you are provided the product disclosure document to read and understand. This will help you make a decision if the Insurance is right for you by choice.
Most consumers were never given these documents to risk highlighting the insurance they had paid for. If you were lucky enough to be given your Certificate of Insurance this should have an itemised listing of the insurance products you have purchased, along with important information such as:
- Your policy number
- Period of insurance
- Cost or Premiums
If the policy wording or the information proves to be confusing or unclear, you can contact your insurance provider and ask them to explain all of that itemised information in detail.
How do I claim back mis-sold GAP Insurance?
Thankfully this is where our industry expertise comes in! We take care of the entire claims process for you:
- Provide us with your details, including loan contracts if you can (If not we can help)
- We analyse these details and call you to finalise your claim
- We submit your refund claim(s)
- You get paid!
FAQs
GAP insurance, or Guaranteed Asset Protection insurance, typically pays the car’s market value plus the remaining balance on the loan. If a borrower has opted to insure their car for market value, this means they will not be totally reimbursed for the initial amount they paid, as cars depreciate the second they are driven off the lot.
If you used a car loan or car finance to purchase a car and get into an accident, resulting in the car being written off, GAP insurance is designed to cover the gap between the amount your comprehensive car insurer pays you and the amount you still owe to the lender.
GAP insurance is still available as part of many comprehensive car insurance policies and car dealership contracts. Often, these insurance policies are sneakily added into a borrower’s loan terms without their knowledge or are made a mandatory condition of their contract — both dishonest and predatory practices.
If you believe you have been unknowingly sold GAP insurance, this is where we come in, we search,find and claim for it on your behalf.
Get My Refund can help you recover funds paid toward your GAP insurance. To get your GAP insurance refund, customers must fill out an online form to provide more details of their lenders, and we can check all vehicle loans for you, whether still currently active or finished.
The amount you receive in your GAP insurance refund will depend on many factors, such as how much you have already contributed to the policy. Rest assured, Get My Refund will always fight to ensure you get back the maximum of what you are owed. We typically see customers get back anything from $500 to $4000.