How do I get a gap insurance refund?

Gap insurance covers the difference, or “gap,” between the actual cash value of a totaled car and the remaining balance on your loan or lease. That means gap insurance helps you pay off your loan or lease if your financed vehicle is totaled and you are left owing more than what your car is worth.… read full answer

What Gap Insurance Pays for If Your Car Is Totaled

• Your remaining loan balance
• Any amount owed on a lease
• Negative equity from a previous vehicle that was rolled into your current loan

It’s important to note that gap insurance only pays when your car is totaled, so you cannot file a gap claim if you simply can’t make your loan or lease payments. Additionally, most gap insurance policies will not pay your collision or comprehensive deductible, if applicable.

What Loan/Lease Payoff Insurance Covers

Not all insurance companies offer gap insurance, but some offer loan/lease payoff insurance as an alternative. Loan/lease coverage is similar to gap insurance, except that it usually only pays up to 25% of the vehicle’s actual cash value toward the policyholder’s loan or lease balance, which might not be enough to cover the full amount owed.

If you’re curious about gap insurance or loan/lease coverage, you should check with your insurance company to see if they offer either.

To learn more, check out WalletHub’s guide to gap insurance.

Gap insurance is worth it if you paid a small down payment on your car, your loan term is 4-5 years, or your car will depreciate quickly. Gap insurance is never mandated by state law, and few lenders or lessors require it, so the decision to buy it depends on personal circumstances.… read full answer

Gap Insurance Is Worth It When:

• You don’t have the savings to pay off your loan or lease if the car is totaled or stolen.
• Your down payment is less than 20% of the car’s value.
• Your loan will last four years or more.
• You drive more miles than average, which reduces the car’s value faster.
• Your car is a make and model that depreciates especially fast, like a luxury sedan or electric vehicle.
• You are a single-car household and need a car to get around.
• Your loan includes negative equity from your last car.

Since gap insurance covers the difference between the car’s actual cash value and the amount you owe, researching these two numbers will be a key deciding factor in whether gap insurance is worth it.

Why Getting Gap Insurance Is Worth It

For example, say you buy a car for $20,000 and your down payment is $2,000. This small down payment suggests that gap insurance might be worth it, but it’s still a good idea to check the car’s anticipated value after a year to determine if there will be a gap. If the car is worth $12,000 after a year but you’ll still owe $15,000, gap insurance could be a smart investment. If you don’t buy gap insurance and this car is totaled after a year, you’ll still owe $3,000 even though you can no longer drive it.

On the other hand, if your down payment is large enough or the car’s resale value is high enough that you’ll never owe more than the car is worth, gap insurance is unnecessary. Similarly, if you do owe more than the car is worth but you have the resources to pay the difference if the worst happens, it might be worth taking the risk.

After a car is totaled, gap insurance covers the balance between what is owed on a driver’s loan or lease contract and what is paid to the lender by their collision or comprehensive insurance policy, or another driver’s liability insurance. A claim must be filed and verified before a gap insurance provider will make a payment.… read full answer

1. The policyholder files a claim with their gap insurance provider as soon as the car is declared totaled by their primary insurance provider.
2. The gap insurance provider will verify the car has been totaled due to a covered cause.
3. The driver’s primary insurer pays for the actual cash value of the vehicle, minus any applicable deductible.
4. The gap insurance provider pays the difference between the primary insurance payout and what’s still owed on the loan/lease contract.

An insurance company will “total” a car when the damage to the vehicle is so severe that the cost to repair it exceeds a certain percentage of the car’s actual cash value (ACV), depending on the insurance company’s policies and state law.

If you think you might need gap insurance coverage, contact your primary insurance provider, and possibly your lender, to see if gap insurance makes sense for your personal situation. Some gap insurance providers only sell policies to original loan/lease holders within a short period of time after the contract is signed, but others will sell a driver gap insurance as long as there is a need, no matter the age/condition of the vehicle.

Finally, it’s important to note that gap insurance is different from loan/lease payoff plans, which customers can purchase at any time if they have an active contract on their car. While gap insurance will pay the entire difference between a financed vehicle’s ACV and the contract’s balance, and often any deductibles, loan/lease payoff plans only pay a maximum percentage of a car’s ACV and don’t generally cover deductibles.