I had a car loan

by Jodi » Tue Jan 06, 2009 10:03 pm
Posts: 1
Joined: 06 Jan 2009

I had a car loan and delayed 3 payments over the loan due to job downsizing and not having the fiances to make those payments. I also had GAP insurance. My vehicle was totalled on 11/18/08. My car loan people are telling me that I am still responsible for those 3 delayed payments because GAP insurance doesn't cover them. I was under the assumption that GAP insurance was GAP insurance and no matter what they would pay the difference off. Please help

Total Comments: 15

Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 07:14 am Post Subject:

Hi Jodi,

I can't blame you if you know something wrong about how the insurance performs. The misconceptions are quite wide prevailing and often leads to the predicaments people find difficult to handle.

Gap coverage is meant for covering the difference between the claim check and the lien outstanding on the car. if you have missed earlier payments the gap insurer isn't responsible to compensate you for those. And, 'yes' you still owe those payments to the lien holder.

Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 07:35 am Post Subject:

I can only say that try to pay for those missed installments and get rid of the loan.

How much do you owe on the car? Had you started upside down with the loan? However, you have done one good thing by keeping the gap insurance in place.

Many a times people find themselves in tough situations since they hadn't apprehended the importance of gap coverage correctly. The value of a car depreciates very fast and therefore the gap insurance is the wisest choice to make.

Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 09:12 am Post Subject:

I was under the assumption that GAP insurance was GAP insurance and no matter what they would pay the difference off.



I really do not understand the reason of so many 'guesses' associated with your coverage. Why didn't you go through your paper works while you signed up with them?

You were aware that this GAP insurance is gonna pay you the "difference" but you should have known what this "difference" should mean to you.

Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 02:04 pm Post Subject:

Nope... GAP only pays the difference when the loan is paid up to date. GAP is to address the difference between what the insurance companies pays on the loan and what the current balance is... not the pass due balance.

Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 10:48 pm Post Subject:

My car loan people are telling me that I am still responsible for those 3 delayed payments because GAP insurance doesn't cover them.

well course they won't cover those missed payments...nobody covers you missing your payments...

I was under the assumption that GAP insurance was GAP insurance and no matter what they would pay the difference off. Please help

they didn't sign up for covering bad debt habits...be glad you had the gap coverage to pick up the rest and you ONLY owe the three payments (plus penalty i'm sure) that you skipped to get yourself out of this mess. further be glad giant red flags didn't sail with your adjuster and drag this puppy out for six months!

Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2009 02:26 am Post Subject:

It is a wonder they did not think it was suspicious, some people take vehicles out and total them out to get out of the debt. It is a wonder they did not look at it more seriously and not pay anything on it.

I have gap on my car, I knew going into it that they will only pay the difference between the cash value and the loan amount, but not any payments that I may be behind on. That is your responsibility to keep the payment up to date.

Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2009 05:05 am Post Subject:

be glad you had the gap coverage to pick up the rest and you ONLY owe the three payments (plus penalty i'm sure) that you skipped to get yourself out of this mess.



I'm sure that the OP now knows it and is still not satisfied with those 3 payments that Lori is pointing to.

Its amazing that we have this habit of forgetting all that we owe to our creditors and whenever we hear the knock at the front door we wake up to face the harsh reality. Now that these 3 payments are seeming too harsh, the OP should rather consider himself to be lucky to have had his gap insurance in place.

I'm wondering if the worth of penalty would be a % upon each of these missed payments! Then there stands a chance of this % being more for the latter ones.

Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2009 07:08 am Post Subject:

It is a wonder they did not think it was suspicious, some people take vehicles out and total them out to get out of the debt. It is a wonder they did not look at it more seriously and not pay anything on it.



I'm sure that they would if there isn't enough time passes between the purchase and the accident. Now, I'm not saying that this is always a case. One can have a genuine misfortune to total his/her brand new car. Also we don't know what time has passed between the two incidents and how close the OP was to repay her loan. Hence, it'd be too early to throw a red flag. However, what the posters have mentioned regarding the Gap insurance not covering the late payments is absolutely correct.

Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2009 11:19 am Post Subject:

Can GAP insurance be denied if the car owner is in an accident and the payments were not up to date?

Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2009 12:40 pm Post Subject:

Can GAP insurance be denied if the car owner is in an accident and the payments were not up to date?

Apparently not since they are covering this OP's his GAP premium must've been on time.

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