A woman saved thousands of pounds on her car after taking part in a discount scheme meant to help teachers, NHS workers and public sector workers with their savings.
Jenefer Cockerill only bought her brand new Citroën C4 SpaceTourer 14 months ago when it was written off in a road accident in July 2020.
“The car ran straight into us,” says Jenefer. “The insurance had to be paid, but we knew that we would have to pay something out of our own pocket. So getting almost 20% off our new car certainly helped.”
After their car accident in Brixham, South Devon – in which Jenefer, a 69-year-old retired special needs teacher, was a passenger and her partner Richard was the driver – the couple decided to see if the Motor Source Group discount scheme could help them.
“I found out about the scheme in 2019 by chance from the teacher discount emails I receive regularly,” explains Jenefer.
Road users who are teachers, NHS workers, members of the armed forces, police and any other public sector employees such as firefighters and civil servants – whether working or retired – are eligible to save up to £5,000 on a car through the scheme .
“The driver admitted responsibility, so we were immediately entitled to a rental car for five weeks,” says Jenefer. “We went to our holiday home in Brittany (in France) and organized everything from there.”
After Richard did some research, the couple decided to buy a new Citroën C5 Aircross Flair Plus in Blue Silver – automatic, diesel, higher spec – to replace their SpaceTourer.
A brand new model normally retails for around £29,000, but Motor Source Group have offered it to them for £23,911. This represented a saving of 17.5% of just over £5,100. The nearest alternative offer from car platform Carwow was offering a discount of just £2,900.
Two types of insurance cover £22,000 in total costs. “The insurance from the driver (who drove us) paid out £16,500 and the ‘gap’ (guaranteed asset protection) car insurance we pay for (one-off £250 from PSA Finance to cover three years) paid out £5,500,” says Jenefer.
Gap car insurance covers the difference between the amount you paid for your car and the amount the insurance company would have given you if it had been written off or stolen.
This is useful because, according to the AA, the value of the average car drops as soon as you drive it off the showroom floor, and could drop by 40% in the first year.
If the car is written off or stolen, the insurer will pay what it is worth at the time – which will be less than what you paid when you bought it, especially if it’s brand new.
“Gap insurance compensates for devaluation – when we bought our Citroen C4 SpaceTourer it was worth £22,000,” explains Jenefer. “We then paid just under £2,000 out of pocket for the higher spec Aircross.”
The Motor Source Group even sped up their free delivery when they learned of the couple’s circumstances regarding the car accident and the vehicles involved and advised them to look for a better auto insurance policy.
“Five weeks after the accident, we got our new car,” says Jenefer. “And now we pay £173 for insurance over a three-year period with Total Insurance.”
After finalizing all the insurance details, they decided that their new car would be used for the couple’s regular trips to their holiday home in Brittany.
“The car definitely lived up to our expectations,” says Jenefer.
Richard’s daughter, a school teacher, was also inspired to use the scheme to buy a Hyundai Tucson and save £5,000.
What I did
- My partner Richard researched and selected the make and model of our new car
- We emailed Motor Source Group about our situation and the replacement car we were targeting. He replied within 24 hours.
- We contacted one person regarding the purchase and another person regarding the delivery.
- Our blue and silver Citroen C5 Aircross arrived five weeks later.
Which worked
- Have gap insurance to compensate for devaluation. The £173 it cost us was delivered and £5,500 paid out.
- Competition check. We checked offers for the same car and model at other dealers. The nearest alternative was only offering a £2,900 discount.
- Motor Source Group provided a great and reassuring service – even while we were on holiday in France. We only dealt with two people during the whole process and they rushed the free shipping when they found out about our personal circumstances.
- The entire purchase process went smoothly despite the trauma of the accident.
