Cheap GAP insurance for camper vans and motorhomes

Our step-by-step guide guides you through what GAP insurance is, whether you need GAP insurance for your camper van or motorhome and where you should go for the cheapest and most comprehensive GAP insurance cover.

1. Understand what GAP insurance is before getting quotes

Don’t be ashamed if you have never heard of Guaranteed Asset Protection (commonly called GAP insurance). It is one of those things that you won’t give a moment’s thought until someone tries to sell it to you. This will generally be at the dealership or garage, as you're putting your name to the paperwork. Never take out GAP Insurance without shopping around for best value cover. You DON'T have to take the dealer's GAP insurance and, should you want it, there's the potential to save hundreds by taking a policy with a third party supplier.

In the most simple of terms, if you should suffer the unfortunate loss of your camper van or motorhome through an accident, theft or damage and your insurance company pays out, you will receive the market value of your vehicle at the time of loss. That figure is highly likely to be less than what you paid for it when you bought it, what is owed on finance or the cost of replacing it now - or possibly all three. GAP insurance is an insurance policy that will cover the shortfall between those figures.

2. Where should I research prices and policy details to compare with the dealer?

Below are our current best bus, featuring those providers we have found to be the cheapest and what we consider to be the overall best value.

Cheapest for motorhome and camper van GAP insurance:

Best all-round value:

Other providers of GAP Insurance for camper vans and motorhomes include: Motoreasy*, Cartocover, Click4Gap* and Gap4you*.

3. What are the different types of GAP insurance for camper vans and motorhomes?

The two most common types of GAP insurance are finance and return to invoice. If you have bought your motorhome or campervan on hire purchase, finance GAP insurance will cover the difference between your car insurance payout and the sum owing to the finance company to settle the agreement.

Return to invoice GAP insurance will pay the difference up to the original purchase price of the vehicle, so is the best option if you have bought the vehicle outright although it can also be bought if the vehicle is on hire purchase. A third option is vehicle replacement GAP insurance, which goes beyond return to invoice and will pay out what it costs to replace the vehicle today, even if that amount is more than you originally paid if the price has increased.

As with any other kind of insurance, the higher the level of cover and the longer the period, the higher the premiums will be. Generally speaking, a return to invoice policy will be cheaper than finance or vehicle replacement policies, and the shorter the period covered the cheaper it will be too.

4. How much does GAP insurance cost?

The elements that determine what GAP insurance will cost are the length of the cover period, the value of the vehicle at the time of purchase and the rate of depreciation of the vehicle, and in each instance the greater the value the higher the premium cost will be.

To help reduce the cost of the premium it is crucial to do some homework and calculate what your particular requirements are. Many motorhome or camper van buyers like to keep their vehicles for many years, but you only need GAP insurance to cover any shortfall that you would not be able to manage yourself, whether that is covering the finance period or until depreciation has brought the replacement value down.

Insurers will suggest a recommended level of cover but you should double check and make your own judgement to ensure you have an adequate level of cover.

5. Shouldn’t this be covered by my standard insurance policy?

Only if you have ‘old for new’ replacement included in your camper van or motor home insurance policy in the event of your vehicle being written off, especially within the first year of cover/ownership. The majority of insurance policies only cover the value of the vehicle at the time it was written off – in insurance terms, this is called the ‘retail market value at the point of total loss.’

6. Do you really need GAP insurance for your camper van or motorhome?

This is an important question only you can answer. Camper vans and motorhomes tend to be higher value vehicles so the ‘gap’ is likely to be bigger the higher value it is.

If you have bought your camper or motorhome recently, whether outright or on hire purchase, then GAP insurance makes more sense in these circumstances; the basic principle affecting the size of the gap is depreciation which, almost regardless of the vehicle in question, is most severe at the time of purchase but is less so over time. That means that generally speaking, the longer you own the vehicle, the smaller any potential gap will be.

** Sometimes we show a link with a * next to it. It means that it is an affiliate link and as a result helps HonestJohn Vans stay free to use. It's tracked to us and if you go through it, it can sometimes result in a payment or benefit to the site.