Legal Cover. Necessary?

jcumpsty

Is legal cover on a car policy necessary?

I have 2 cars, 2 motorbikes, and a house insurance policy, and last year paid for legal cover on all of them. This amounted to over £100 in legal fees.

Is this necessary? Would my home legal cover take care of all of them?

bargainhunter90

simple answer is no why do you need any legal cover?

darich

IF you make a claim against a third party, whether it's for damage, excess, injuries or all of the above, your legal cover will pursue those costs.
Your policy will pay for repair/replacement of your belongings but not for any out of pocket expenses eg car hire while yours is being repaired.

If you can afford all the potential expenses that may come about from an accident and not covered by your own policy then you don't need it.
If you can't afford it, or would like someone to chase it all on your behalf, then you do.

bargainhunter90

darich wrote: »

IF you make a claim against a third party, whether it's for damage, excess, injuries or all of the above, your legal cover will pursue those costs.
Your policy will pay for repair/replacement of your belongings but not for any out of pocket expenses eg car hire while yours is being repaired.

If you can afford all the potential expenses that may come about from an accident and not covered by your own policy then you don't need it.
If you can't afford it, or would like someone to chase it all on your behalf, then you do.

Or you can enter into the other funding arrangement of a no win no fee to recover any losses for injury or losses and if you approach a solicitor directly your no worse off, they can also look at car hire if you get reasonable costs such as not hiring a new BMW after driving an old fiesta

darich

bargainhunter90 wrote: »

Or you can enter into the other funding arrangement of a no win no fee to recover any losses for injury or losses and if you approach a solicitor directly your no worse off, they can also look at car hire if you get reasonable costs such as not hiring a new BMW after driving an old fiesta

So if you win, you pay a proportion of the compensation.
Alternatively you pay a set fee up front and someone else does the donkey work.

Everyone has a different view and it's simply a case of deciding which is best for you.

bargainhunter90

darich wrote: »

So if you win, you pay a proportion of the compensation.
Alternatively you pay a set fee up front and someone else does the donkey work.

Everyone has a different view and it's simply a case of deciding which is best for you.

The other side pays for the legal costs if its won

taken from the law societys website below
If your claim is successful

In a 'no win, no fee' agreement your solicitor will only be paid if the claim is successful. He or she will also be entitled to an extra fee (known as a success fee). Both the basic fee and this extra fee are normally paid in whole or part by the losing party.
There are other incurred costs (such as court fees or the fee for a medical report). These are normally known as disbursements. Again, the losing party should pay all or part of these costs.
You are liable to pay your solicitor for any costs that the losing party is not ordered to pay.

Astaroth

But what is always missed is the fact that no win no fee only will come into effect if the claim exceeds the "small claims court" limit as a solicitor is unable to claim costs in a small track case.

As to the other question, most home insurance LE policies exclude motor accidents from their cover so the home policy most likely will not cover you car and/or bike requirements.

At the end of the day it is a judgement call, do you want to pay a fixed amount each year to avoid the risk of the pain/ hassle/ time/ cost etc of having to deal with things yourself.

Quote

jcumpsty wrote: »

Is legal cover on a car policy necessary?

I have 2 cars, 2 motorbikes, and a house insurance policy, and last year paid for legal cover on all of them. This amounted to over £100 in legal fees.

£100????!!!!1111

Wow. How much did you spend on fuel?

darich

Quote wrote: »

£100????!!!!1111

Wow. How much did you spend on fuel?

I currently have two cars - a 3.0 convertible and a 2.0turbo 4wd.
My fuel costs have not increased since I bought the second car since I can only drive one at a time. My mileage had not increased therefore fuel consumption remains the same.

I would have thought that unless the OP has increased mileage or has learned how to be in two places simultaneously, and drive two vehicles at the same time, fuel costs will be similar to someone with only one vehicle.

darich

bargainhunter90 wrote: »

The other side pays for the legal costs if its won

taken from the law societys website below
If your claim is successful

In a 'no win, no fee' agreement your solicitor will only be paid if the claim is successful. He or she will also be entitled to an extra fee (known as a success fee). Both the basic fee and this extra fee are normally paid in whole or part by the losing party.
There are other incurred costs (such as court fees or the fee for a medical report). These are normally known as disbursements. Again, the losing party should pay all or part of these costs.
You are liable to pay your solicitor for any costs that the losing party is not ordered to pay.

Ok..so the losing side pays costs in a no win no fee basis.
So what if my claim is for a few hundred pounds of car hire and my excess? If Astaroth is right and it's small claims court then a no win no fee solicitor won't touch it.
Meaning I need to claim my self. I need to pay my £60 odd quid (more than legal cover) provide evidence, receipts, state my case and then HOPE I win.

However, with legal protection, if I'm £50 out of pocket and have a receipt, I'd tell my insurance and THEY'D chase it for me. Would a small claims court procedure for less than £100 be worth it?

In my opinion, it's worth it. If I never make a claim then it's wasted money, but as soon as I have a claim in then that extra few pounds could save me a fortune.

SandC

I have legal cover on my car insurance but not my home insurance. My thinking is that I am more likely to need it with the car - and more importantly more likely to be incapacitated to the extent of needing someone else to do all that stuff for me, whereas in the home the liklihood of me incurring some sort of injury where I would need the legal cover is not high.

If it sways you in any way - a friend of mine was knocked off his motorbike by a car driver and suffered fairly severe injuries. He said he was very glad of his legal cover as they sorted everything out for him - something he would have struggled to do from his hospital bed.