Gap Insurance And Supagard (and Towbar)

[keywest]

After 8.5 years and 93000 miles with my trusty RX300SE I have today finalised a deal to buy a 2007 RX400h SR with Multimedia.

After looking at BMW, Audi etc I just felt so much more at home in the Lexus with all of its standard toys.

However as part of the overall deal the dealer wants me to buy GAP insurance and Supagard. He described both as no-brainers. However I had neither when I bought my original RX300SE.

I am looking to pay cash between the PX value and the agreed price.

What do other LOCers think of GAP insurance in these circumstances? They are quoting £399 for 3 years

Also Supagard at £299. Is it worth it? Does it last? or should I just Autoglym it when I receive it (or get someone to do it for me).

Finally any recommendations on the best towbars for a RX400h?

Looking forward to your responses

[Teatowel]

Can't advise much on GAP insurance, sorry ;)

Supaguard, while there is nothing wrong with it, costs about £20 on eBay, and goes on like a polish. It is NOT worth the money for the dealer to do it, as they make a huuuuuuuuge mark up on it, offsetting all the discounts you have bargained for. Don't got for it!

Lots of decent towbars out there, again, Lexus will charge over £1k for their own ones, which is ridiculous, and they also require the car for a full day (or so the two nearest dealers to me say). Somewhere like Towbars UK will do one for £350 ish including fltting, which takes about 90 mins.

HTH!

[Steve ( West Mids )]

Can't see the point of Supaguard and on a used car it is a "no brainer", why would you do it when the car probably hasn't already been protected and almost certainly the "guarantee" on it would be even more worthless.

[Parthiban]

Supaguard is probably not that important, I actually like the idea of GAP insurance and is probably something I would buy when I buy my next car.

[Ian M]

GAP insurance seems to me to be a good idea. Go on line and get some quotes for it and you'll find it's much cheaper than the price your dealer has quoted. Then have a chat with your dealer and you'll either find his prices falls quite dramatically (it did when I bought my car), or you can decline his offer and buy it on line anyway.

[crb]

After 8.5 years and 93000 miles with my trusty RX300SE I have today finalised a deal to buy a 2007 RX400h SR with Multimedia.

After looking at BMW, Audi etc I just felt so much more at home in the Lexus with all of its standard toys.

However as part of the overall deal the dealer wants me to buy GAP insurance and Supagard. He described both as no-brainers. However I had neither when I bought my original RX300SE.

I am looking to pay cash between the PX value and the agreed price.

What do other LOCers think of GAP insurance in these circumstances? They are quoting £399 for 3 years

Also Supagard at £299. Is it worth it? Does it last? or should I just Autoglym it when I receive it (or get someone to do it for me).

Finally any recommendations on the best towbars for a RX400h?

Looking forward to your responses

Last year I bought a 2008 model (demonstrator) and went for both of these options.

GAP gives a guarantee of purchase cost in the event of a write off in the 3 year period. Difficult to put a value on this as it is an insurance policy.

Also had the Superguard. Personally I think this was expensive for what I got and they did not do a very good job of it. In my opinion it is not worth the money.

Hope you enjoy the car.

[ianb0]

After 8.5 years and 93000 miles with my trusty RX300SE I have today finalised a deal to buy a 2007 RX400h SR with Multimedia.

After looking at BMW, Audi etc I just felt so much more at home in the Lexus with all of its standard toys.

However as part of the overall deal the dealer wants me to buy GAP insurance and Supagard. He described both as no-brainers. However I had neither when I bought my original RX300SE.

I am looking to pay cash between the PX value and the agreed price.

What do other LOCers think of GAP insurance in these circumstances? They are quoting £399 for 3 years

Also Supagard at £299. Is it worth it? Does it last? or should I just Autoglym it when I receive it (or get someone to do it for me).

Finally any recommendations on the best towbars for a RX400h?

Looking forward to your responses

Last year I bought a 2008 model (demonstrator) and went for both of these options.

GAP gives a guarantee of purchase cost in the event of a write off in the 3 year period. Difficult to put a value on this as it is an insurance policy.

Also had the Superguard. Personally I think this was expensive for what I got and they did not do a very good job of it. In my opinion it is not worth the money.

Hope you enjoy the car.

[ianb0]

After 8.5 years and 93000 miles with my trusty RX300SE I have today finalised a deal to buy a 2007 RX400h SR with Multimedia.

After looking at BMW, Audi etc I just felt so much more at home in the Lexus with all of its standard toys.

However as part of the overall deal the dealer wants me to buy GAP insurance and Supagard. He described both as no-brainers. However I had neither when I bought my original RX300SE.

I am looking to pay cash between the PX value and the agreed price.

What do other LOCers think of GAP insurance in these circumstances? They are quoting £399 for 3 years

Also Supagard at £299. Is it worth it? Does it last? or should I just Autoglym it when I receive it (or get someone to do it for me).

Finally any recommendations on the best towbars for a RX400h?

Looking forward to your responses

I had gap insurance and superguard on my 400h-well pleased!! Also had towbar fitted by Lexus.Quite expensive but I most local towbar fitters said they would not fit to a 400h-too complicated and could easily create problems. Lexus did reduce their original quote a lot, so I let them fit it then no problems in the future(I hope)

[Normski]

Supagard IMO is a complete waste of time. Like others have said the actual product can be bought for next to nothing. A friend who works for Merecedes was telling me that they pay £15 for the kit, £40 to to the chap who does the application and the other £250ish is their markup. Easy money B) It doesn't really protect that much especially from the hand car-washes that lots of people use these days - the paint will STILL get scratched.

[indy727]

Having recently bought a 06 RX400h I was faced with similar decisions, here is what i did :-

Towbar fitted by Towequippe for about £360 fully detachable with electric socket that folds up behind bumper. No bumper cut out and its also the same one that lexus fit!

Supagard - Bought from eBay (i actually bought enough to do the car twice) So easy to put on and initially very pleasing....Will i do it again? probably not, i will probably go for a good quality wax for a better finish.

GAP insurance depends on your circumstance and how cautious you are. I put a significant deposit down so did not bother, but i did seriously consider it.

[keywest]

Thanks for all of the advice.

Gap insurance sound a good idea - probably independant to Lexus as much cheaper although Lexus are looking to see if they can match or get close to the deal on offer - we will see what happens.

Supagard sounds less impressive although a lovely shiny finish without any effort from me sounds good at the moment (no spare time available) so I am going with it and the dealer is looking to add a little sonmething into the deal.

Towbar - not resolved but dealer trying to get a good price from an independant for me. i am searching too. Thnaks for the adavice re Towequippe.

Looking forward now to the car arriving!

[ihpj]

After 8.5 years and 93000 miles with my trusty RX300SE I have today finalised a deal to buy a 2007 RX400h SR with Multimedia.

...GAP insurance...are quoting £399 for 3 years.

Do you also have Volcano and/or Godzilla Insurance too? GAP is designed to pray on the vulnerability and fears of punters when buying luxury vehicles. I would say that it may be worth while considering IF you are financing the car over say a similar period with minimal deposit - as should the worst happen you want to to break even.

However, it is perhaps more pertinent to consider on a brand new vehicle, or when buying one with options, as you are spending full ticket money on a depreciating asset. But even then, I would think carefully. Like all insurances, it depends on your circumstances and perception of risk. In any event I would look for an preferred Third Party Company offering GAP products (you also may want to consider RTI insurance in lieu of GAP) as buying from Dealer will invariably be expensive.

On a Used Vehicle I would respectfully suggest the cost of GAP becomes less so important. But each to their own!

[Steve ( West Mids )]

Supaguard does not work as they claim, you will still have to wash your car and your wheels and dry them.

[keywest]

I am financing this entirely from savings so GAP insurance would give me peace of mind if was unfortunate to suffer a right off in the first 3 years and would ensure I could easily afford another Lexus. I have found RTI insurance and can get that with a good level of cover fro around half the price Lexus are asking ehicj=h makes it more palatable.