What is Legal Assistance?

aj3001

I have just reaslised, for the past 2 years in a row, I have opted to pay extra for the Legal Aid on my car insurance, what does this actually mean though? What does it cover me for?

lisyloo

It covers you for legal fees for obtaining any losses from a third party for which you are not insured.

So lets say you are in a crash which is someone else fault and you happened to be carrying £300 worth of Xmas presents for which your own insurance does not cover you.

This extra insurance will pay for a solicitor to try and reclaim the £300 from the third party.

Note that having this insurance does not guarantee sucess.
It could be in some cases that there is no third party e.g. car is stolen by persons unknown.
If the 3rd party is known then it may be that they are a homeless beggar and it's impossile to get the £300.

In summary it covers you for legal fees for obtaining losses from a 3rd party for which you do not have insurance but have a civil legal case.

In my opinion this is worth having but it's definitely worth making sure you don't double-up.
For example my motorcycle policy covers me for my car also, so I declined it on my car insurance.
Make sure you aren't duplicating this cover on house/car insurance (although house insurance usually exclude motor vehicles).

Often it's used for personal injuries.
There are pros and cons.
Cons are that the insurance industry seems to use the "lowest calibre" of solicitors to save costs. Things take ages and sometimes they aren't very good. You could do "no win no fee" but this also has it's problems.
Pros are really peace of mind.
Personally for the small cost I would rather have it but it's something you can live without if you are really skint because you can always go "no win no fee" if you have a decent case.

flang

answered very recently
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=341138

aj3001

Sorry for the repeat question and thank you lisyloo, very informative