Car insurance dilemma

pondskater_2

I am in the middle of insuring one of our cars. The cheapest quote is from Hastings and of course they have a selection of add-ons but we are trying to keep costs down these days - who isn't? Any way I am a bit concerned about the legal cover, does anyone have any views/experience regarding whether this is necessary or not. Any advice would be much appreciated.

lisyloo

In general for most things you don't need it because you can take out a "no win/no fee" deal with a solicitor after the event.

There are some circumstances for which you cannot get this kind of deal.
For example if you had a personal injury case, then they'd be very keen to take you on as they get juicy fees from this, but if you just wanted to claim some lost wages and an excess then they won't be interested and you'll be on your own.
You might be able to claim these things back by yourself but be aware that it may be a certain amount of stress adn finding your way around the legal system involved.

Personally I feel happier with the insurance.
But if times are really touch then you could go without it.

Bear in mind that there are very many areas where you could save money without any compromise before you start reducing things you may need for a relatively small amount.
For example changing your gas/electricity generally involves no compromise in service, whereas you are talking about going without something potentially valuable to save a small amount.

Personally I would look elsewhere for money saving, but I don't know your circumstances and how tight things are.
Are they genuinely very tight or are you just wondering if it's worthwhile?

pondskater_2

Thanks for your input I really appreciate it. I will give it a bit more thought I think, before I commit, maybe it would be a false economy. You hear so many horror stories these days in this age of litigation.

Quentin

Hastings legal cover won't provide you with a solicitor to deal with litigation against you. (Though it is cleverly named "legal protection" to give that impression!

It should really be called uninsured loss recovery (that's all it does). And then only if they consider you have a good chance of winning, and they consider you have a better than 50% chance of recovering any money claimed off a third party.

Norman_Castle

I always have legal cover but have questioned if it can be bought cheaper than through your insurers.

Norman_Castle

I have just found this http://www.bestadviceuk.co.uk/legal.html for £9.99.Has anyone used this or does any one have thoughts on it?.

McKneff

Try the Coop CIS, they are very competetive and not on any comparison sites as far as I know.

My Corsa 09 is insured to the hilt for around £210.

pondskater_2

I'll check out the Co-op, thanks.

lisyloo

I have a family legal cover policy for both motoring and home (with groupama) and it does cover defence (against criminal, tax, consumer dipsutes).

If you have a broker/advisor then it may well be worth asking them about this especially if you have more than one motor vehicle.

pondskater_2

Ah, thanks everyone for your replies, isn't life so damned complicated nowadays! I will have to stop watching all those cop programmes where it seems a fair proportion the population doesn't bother with all this faff, suppose that is why it is so expensive for the rest of us :cool: