GAP insurance, paint protection and other practical Qs!

Hi all - have finally got a delivery date today (27 Nov) so the end is in sight and I can start thinking about practicalities!

A few questions please....
1. If I get GAP insurance, what claim limit is appropriate? My purchase price is £37,500.
2. Is alloy wheel and tyre insurance worth it?
3. I was minded to get some of paint protection done. I am crap at things like this so would rather pay someone to do it properly. I'm in SW London - who should I go to and how much should I pay?

Cheers all - very excited now!!

(22-10-2012 09:34pm)chris76 Wrote:  Hi all - have finally got a delivery date today (27 Nov) so the end is in sight and I can start thinking about practicalities!

A few questions please....
1. If I get GAP insurance, what claim limit is appropriate? My purchase price is £37,500.
2. Is alloy wheel and tyre insurance worth it?
3. I was minded to get some of paint protection done. I am crap at things like this so would rather pay someone to do it properly. I'm in SW London - who should I go to and how much should I pay?

Cheers all - very excited now!!

1 dont know
2 dont know
3 NOT the dealer

1. If I get GAP insurance, what claim limit is appropriate? My purchase price is £37,500.
Depends which sort of GAP insurance you get, there are "return to invoice" and " replacement" which will cover the gap between write-off value and the most current list price. I would suggest that what you want is a replacement car at minimal cost to you. If you require advice then there are forum sponsors who deal with GAP - I would recommend Kam100 but there is another

2. Is alloy wheel and tyre insurance worth it?
Yes it is if you ding a wheel or slash a tyre. I claimed on mine this year when I found a huge slash in a tyre. A replacement tyre was >£300, max payout was £270 on a single tyre claim. Whatever, only a minimal amount came out of my pocket to buy a new tyre and I can still claim for another 3 tyres, 5 wheel refurbs and 4 new alloys before the policy expires in 3.5 years time.

3. I was minded to get some of paint protection done. I am crap at things like this so would rather pay someone to do it properly. I'm in SW London - who should I go to and how much should I pay?
If you use the search function you will find lots of posts about this. General opinion is not to get it done by the dealership as it either doesn't get done or you are hugely over charged for the product. Advice from those in the know on here is either to do it yourself or get a specialist valeter or system applier to do it for you. Some dealerships will allow you to have it done on their premises but most won't so you have to get the car to the valeter or the appliers workshops yourself. I have Gardex on my car, it was not applied by the dealership but by Gardex themselves. I very very pleased with it. 14 months after delivery the car is still mostly just a hose off rather than a full on wash down with detergents and it looks just like it came out of the showroom after that. I would say if you go the dealer route then don't pay anywhere near the price they are asking, use it as a negotiating thing as you won't get a discount on the new car.

thanks for the advice.

out of interest, how much is it to fix a scratch on an alloy?

(23-10-2012 11:34am)chris76 Wrote:  thanks for the advice.

out of interest, how much is it to fix a scratch on an alloy?

typically £50 to £70 to refurbish an alloy

I dont normally do GAP insurance on my new cars but seeing as this car is the most expensive one that ive purchased to date, I thought Id look into it.

Ive managed to get 3yrs of up to £20,000 return to invoice GAP insurance for £131 which I dont think is a bad deal, considering what the stealers would like to sell you that for. £44 a year is hard to turn your nose up at.

I got it from http://www.ala.co.uk who matched and beat a quote from http://www.gapinsurance123.co.uk

You can even purchase it now and delay it for a year so if your car insurance policy offers new for old on your first year you effectively get the GAP for 4 years.

ala.co.uk do all your other insurances too Tyre(£259) Alloy (£149) and dent (£199). Im sure if you shop around you could beat these

Oh and Ive got a 3yr service plan from the stealer for £878 which is very good

But in 4 years time you could have to fund quite a big difference between what you paid today ( invoice) and the cost in 4 years time. Is your dealership really stealing from you? If so then don't put any business his way there are better dealers around