Hi,
We took gap insurance, for a year, on our new 407 when we bought it on Oct 5th 2006. It was the first time we had ever taken it, and it was almost £300 but we didn't know much about shopping around. On Oct 5th 2007, my husband was driving to work. He had to cross a major road - a 'crooked crossroads' - which meant waiting on the crown of a very fast road to turn right. He was hit from behind by a lorry and propelled head-on into a car coming the opposite direction. It was a fairly major accident - he was knocked out after hitting his head and our 15yr old daughter suffered a back injury and friction burns from the seatbelt, as well as a dislocated shoulder. She was taken out on a back board and they were both hospitalised. The driver he hit was also concussed. Both cars were wrecked, although in hindsight the car crumpled where it was meant to, while the passenger compartment remained intact, thankfully.
Our insurance company offered us £7000 inside a few days, for a one year old car for which we had paid almost 15K. I was less than happy and asked my solicitor brother to look at it. If there is one thing I learned it is that Joe or Jo Bloggs have no clout with insurance companies. Our company (one of the best known underwriters) immediately upped the offer to £8500 once he got involved. At that point we decided to look at the Gap insurance.
The gap insurance company immediately began to argue that the gap insurance was only valid for a year, and therefore we were out of time. Again with legal help, the case continued to be argued for several months. Areas of dispute included the spelling of my first name (it's Irish, but I'm in NI), date of birth being wrong on the insurance document ( it was my responsibility to check it was correct), and the thorny business of 'a year'. In the event, after a lot of legal wrangling, which involved a QC, the Gap insurance company accepted that the car had been insured from 5pm on 5/10/06, and damaged beyond repair at 8am on 5/10/07. Our solicitor provided the insurance company with three 'new for old' quotations, our original dealer was deemed to be the best, and we took possession of a brand new 407.
It was a salutary experience for us, and we had no hesitation taking the dealer's gap insurance with our new RCZ. I know I probably could have got it cheaper elsewhere, but at least I know with that company, all the corners are covered. It took my husband a year to recover full mental capacity; our daughter recovered quickly and has no ill effects. I reckon they were lucky to be in so safe a car!