Is knocking off the 'Motor Legal Protection' bit a good way to save on Car Insurance?

cazzerp

Hands up who risks not bothering with 'Motor Legal Protection' on their car insurance? It is an optional extra after all and surely good comprehensive cover should see you right in all but some very unlikely and extreme circumstances... Is this extra bit quite a new thing born of the compensation culture? I'm thinking the £26.99 would be better off in my pocket...

roddydogs

Ive always paid it, and never used it, but sods law if i dont have it next time.............. However ive always got it free by saying "Ill renew at that price if you include it"

lisyloo

surely good comprehensive cover should see you right in all but some very unlikely and extreme circumstances...

It's not that extreme at all to have an excess (in fact it's very common) or to have a personal injury.

Suggest you take a look at
https://www.matthewsgude.co.uk
where it's £4.99
I have no connection with this policy or site so do your own due dilligence to decide if it's any good.

or don't bother with it at all and go via a "no win, no fee" solicitor after the event.

Personally I've got a couple of free policies that I googled for or got free with quotes.
I don't really know the quality of them, but I use hem very rarely so I'm prepared to take a risk.

darich

It's a good saving if you don't need to use it during your policy....but if you need it and it's not there then it's anything but a saving.
Personally i always include it - when the insurance premium is £400 plus, an extra £20-30 isn't much to give me that protection should i need it.

lisyloo

when the insurance premium is £400 plus

True, but conversely for those of us that pay £30 (after cashback) it's quite a big cost, proportionally.

jd87

It only ever seems to be about £5-£10 on top of my normal premium and I can't help but feel that if I didn't have it I would need it. I don't think the saving is worth the risk. There is a thread somewhere on here about someone who was in an accident where the other person drove off and the insurance company provided him with a solicitor to get it sorted out. You would probably need your own solicitor if you don't have legal protection. There are a lot of situations where a lawyer could be required.

lisyloo

If its £5-£10 then I would definitely take it.
If it's going over £20 then they are probably relying on your apathy not to shop around.
So shop around and get a better deal.

Forgetful

I take it out but personally I dont see much use of it.
In the past I had a hit and run accident and the kids joyriding ran off.... I tried to claim back my excess and queried the legal protection policy, to see if I could use it in helping me get my claim sorted out, but it was no use!!!
So not really sure when it needs too be used............

JoeA81

One of my workmates had a small accident that seemed quite straighforward at first, until the other person involved tried to sue him for damages etc etc. He was pretty glad of the £20 he paid for legal projection, as the case took a while to come to court and took a fair amount of time to deal with. In the end he won, but it would have been much harder if he hadnt had the legal projection. My advice would be to take it - you never know what is going to happen after an accident..

Sooler

I wouldn’t consider not having.


Consider if someone crashes into you, they give you their details but don't report the incident to their insurance company. When your insurance company claims from the other drivers company they will refuse to pay out as they have no knowledge of the incident.


With legal aid your insurance company passes the case to a solicitor who handles it for you. They’ll pursue the other driver to pay for your losses, if they don’t respond the solicitor working for you will start legal proceedings against them, if it gets to court they'll lose with no defence.
This can take months, you need not do anything, sit back and let other people sort it out for you, and probably recover all losses in full.

With no legal aid it’d be up to you to sort out, instructing and paying out for a solicitor to pursue the other driver for your losses.

lisyloo

but it was no use!!!

Hi Forgtful,

The policy provides legal cover (solicitors etc.) to claim back any uninsured losses that you are legally entitled to under UK law.

Unfortunately if there is no-one to claim from (driver unknown) OR they have nothing then it is useless.
There has to be a 3rd party to claim from plus they need to have the means to pay.
If they are a tramp with no assets then there is no point taking them to court as they have no means to pay.

You were unlucky, but in most scenarios there will be an identifiable 3rd party to claim from and the majority of the time they will have an insurance policy. There are some insured drivers out there but there are still the minority.
Even if they are uninsured they can still be sued personally but it depends on them having the means to pay.