Gap Insurance

Car gap insurance is designed to provide car owners with peace of mind that if their car is written off, the gap between the insurance pay-out and the amount of money that they initially paid for their vehicle will be covered. It therefore provides a cost-effective way of protecting your investment - something comprehensive motor insurance alone will not do.

MoneySupermarket has teamed up with helpucover.co.uk, a marketing leading provider, with the aim of finding the most competitive deals available.

Who is helpucover.co.uk

Helpucover.co.uk is a trading name of Pinnacle Insurance - one of the UK's leading insurers. Pinnacle Insurance is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

Helpucover.co.uk provides gap insurance to help get you back into a car of similar value to the one you originally bought.
As the cover is provided direct, you can save on your premiums when compared to car dealership prices. This is because helpucover.co.uk doesn't have to pay commission or showroom overheads, so it is able to offer you the best premiums possible.

Cover is available for vehicles up to seven years old and you can also spread the cost of cover over monthly instalments up to 36 months.

You can take out cover again once the 36 months is up, as long as your car is still under seven years old. A new application and current car valuation will be required if you decide to renew your cover after the initial 3 year period.

Car gap insurance from helpucover.co.uk is available regardless of how or where you bought your car, providing the vehicle is less than seven years old and has less than 80,000 miles on the clock. Plus, it doesn't matter which payment method you used - cash, private finance, credit or lease purchase. You need to be 18 years and over and the named driver of the car on the motor insurance policy to apply for cover.

Why do I need gap insurance?

One of the problems with cars, particularly new ones, is that they depreciate in value so quickly. This can be particularly heart-breaking, as well as financially painful, if the vehicle is written off in an accident.

For example, imagine you paid £15,000 for your car, which then falls in value after three years' time to just half this, at £7,500. If your car is then stolen, or written off in an accident, your insurance company will only pay out for the value of the car at the time, so £7,500.

That means if you want to buy another car similar to the one you bought three years ago, you will have to stump up thousands of pounds of your own money to pay for it.

This is where gap insurance can be beneficial, as it provides protection against car depreciation by paying the shortfall between your motor insurer's settlement and the value of your car today. So, as well as getting the £7,500 from your car insurer, gap insurance will pay out the remaining £7,500, to enable you to replace your car with one similar to the car you originally purchased.