Shortfall Gap Insurance for your Smart

Why buy Gap Insurance for your Smart?

Shortfall Insurance is a supplementary insurance that runs alongside your own motor insurance, to help protect your finances in the event of your car ever being written off. 

Your motor insurance, will only ever award you with the amount of money your Smart is valuated on the day it is written off and due to depreciation, this is likely to be less than it was originally worth. This could essentially leave you thousands of pounds out of pocket and in a financially devastating situation. 

So, how could Shortfall Gap Insurance aid you and your Smart?

Shortfall Gap Insurance will cover the difference between the valuation of your Smart on the day it is written off or stolen and depending on which type of cover you choose, the original price you paid for your vehicle (Return to Invoice Gap Insurance), the cost to replace your Smart with the same model, age, mileage and specification as yours was when you drove it away from the showroom (Vehicle Replacement Gap Insurance), or to pay the outstanding balance you have on a finance agreement (Finance and Contract Hire Gap Insurance). 

Different levels of Gap Insurance cover work in different ways, to cater to different needs. Explore more about the different types of Gap Insurance for your Smart to see which level of cover best suits you and your specific needs. 

A History of Smart 

Smart is an automobile marquee of Daimler AG, which was founded in 1994. The history of Smart dates back to the late 1980’s when Nicolas Hayek, the CEO of the Swatch Watch Company set out to design and manufacture a small, stylish, affordable city car.

This proposal became known as ‘Swatchmobile’. However considering Mr Hayek was new to the automobile industry, he did not feel confident enough to take on the challenge alone, and so he searched for the backing of a well-established automobile company.

Mr Hayek approached Volkswagen, Fiat and BMW, who all would decline his proposal. Eventually Mr Hayek got in contact with Daimler-Benz AG who would accept his proposal. The name of the project was changed to Smart and the company opened its manufacturing facility in France, which was known as Smartville. The company introduced its first model, the Smart City Coupe in 1998. The model was a great success and firmly established the Smart name.

By the end of the 1990's, the company began to expand its operations throughout the world in countries such as Japan, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, America, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Australia and the UK. During this time, Daimler-Benz AG would buy out Mr Hayek’s remaining stake. The company is said to be investing greatly in its electric car line. In 2007 it introduced a micro hybrid drive version of the successful model, the Fortwo.