Reader’s Question:

I have a comprehensive insurance in Cleveland Ohio OH, and I’m telling you it’s not cheap! I’m about to renew it and my agent is asking if I’d like to upgrade it and include gap insurance? What’s that? Is he trying to pull one on me?

Jimmy

Cleveland OH

Hold it there, Jimmy, no one’s trying to get smart on you. Comprehensive insurance are really more costly than other insurance because it offers far more coverage for the policy holder. It offers coverage not only when you are in the road (which is the usual case for liability and collision coverage) but also when you are innocently parked somewhere. If some naughty kid decides to leave a “Jimmy was here” spray paint on your car, your comprehensive auto coverage in Cleveland Ohio OH will pay for the costs of having your car restored.

Gap insurance, on the other hand, offers a very special kind of protection which is very useful for new cars on auto loan or leased cars. If you have purchased your car through an auto loan in Cleveland Ohio OH, you naturally have to pay it over a period of years. If before you were able to fully pay your loan you got into a nasty accident and your car was beyond repair, your comprehensive auto insurance will “pay” you the fair market value of your car prior to the accident. This will most of the time be less than the value you owe on your loan because of devaluation. Gap insurance, if you have one, will “pay” the remaining balance of your loan which was not shouldered by your comprehensive insurance. So you see, there is no redundancy between comprehensive auto insurance and gap insurance.

To make doubly sure that your insurer is not getting smart on you, you may want to get free quotes online for gap insurance. On this page you will see a space where you can enter your zip code and it will give you quotes on how much auto insurance costs. It can serve as a guide when you get back to your insurer.

Tags: auto insurance, comprehensive insurance coverage, gap insurance