Do you really need motor legal protection?

Quentin

lazer wrote: »

I believe the only time it would be useful is if there is a dispute over blame for the accident.

Not really.

If there is a claim against you, then your insurer would deal with the dispute as part of your normal third party policy cover. Your "legal cover" wouldn't help. ("Legal cover" is really "uninsured loss cover")

If you want to make a claim against a third party who disputes liability, then "legal cover" will only pursue a claim for you (for your uninsured losses) if they think you have a good chance of winning.

Which is what your solicitor (or a no win no fee firm) would do for you anyway, at no cost to you, and without you having to pay an extra £25 to your insurer in the first place.

lisyloo

As you can only claim personal injury after an accident that was not your fault, then the legal costs af this are covered by the third party.

Legal costs are not always covered by 3rd parties.
I don't know the exact rules on this, but if you don't have a personal injury you will find it a lot harder to get free legal help for your uninsured losses.
Of course you can do it yourself but be prepared to have to do a lot fo chasing.

property.advert

I had reason to use it or to try and use it a few years ago relating to a household insurance claim. Chocolate fire guard is the polite term I can use to describe it.

Utterly useless and terribly unprofessional.

I binned all these from all policies and now use the legal service from Which?

elektra

taken from Which magazine


Legal expenses insurance explained
How it works

Legal expenses insurance may help you pursue any losses from an accident that wasn't your fault
The cost of taking legal action can be prohibitive. Could you afford to claim compensation if you were injured in an accident, unfairly dismissed from work or had a dispute with a tradesman?
You may be able to if you have legal expenses insurance (LEI).
LEI is usually sold as an add-on to car or house insurance, generally for a small extra premium (£15 to £20 a year isn't unusual). Occasionally it’s included free. It is also possible to buy standalone policies, although these are less common.
There is always a limit to how much can be claimed under the policy – usually £50,000 or £100,000.

There are two types of LEI – before the event and after the event.
Most LEI is before the event and offers cover for things that might happen. It usually includes the costs of solicitors’ fees, expert witnesses, court fees and any legal costs awarded to the other side.
After the event insurance is taken out after the incident has happened, insuring you against losing the case.

lisyloo

Chocolate fire guard is the polite term I can use to describe it.

You will get mixed views on this.
I've used it once sucessfully. Others will say it's worth it's weight in gold.
My parents got an excess refunded because they had it.

I binned all these from all policies and now use the legal service from Which?

Is that just legal advice to help your pursue your own case, or it is legal cover where a solicitor takes on your case?
It's important to be aware of the difference.
What does it cost?

T1naB

thenudeone wrote: »

But there are third-party companies; you don't have to use your insurer's cover.

For example, anyone who works or worked for government, government out-sourcing or ex-nationalised companies is eligible for membership of CSMA for £15 pa which includes legal cover for the member and spouse. Referrers get a £5 voucher too;);)

Thanks SO much for this - I checked and was eligible - cost £17 to join and I got my car insurance £200 cheaper than my renewal. Brilliant!!!:T

InsideInsurance

orrery wrote: »

The cover is usually sub-contracted to a third party company who has no incentive to provide you with any service that would cost them money to provide. I'd guess that the insurance company pockets the vast majority of your premium.

The fact the provision is by a TP makes no difference to the contract law or the FOS jurisdiction. You bought it from your insurer/ broker, it is their responsibility to ensure the service bought is adequately provided.

As to the premiums, for Motor, large insurers/ brokers tend not only to pocket all the premium (net of tax obviously) but also get a fee from the provider.


To the OP.......

There really are two sets of circumstances where LE cover comes in for motor which are very minor injuries and cases where there are no injuries and your claim is under £5,000.

Both of these mean that the case would go through the small track (aka small claims court) which in the majority of cases prohibits legal fees being claimed. As such no win, no fee solicitors wouldnt be willing to take the case on.

Now, short of a few bruises there really arent many injury claims under £1,000. Claims for property damage (eg your excess, a hire car, loss of earnings etc) tend to be much more simple to do than injury claims but that depends on how comfortable arguing and dealing with letters that turn up in legalese

orrery

InsideInsurance wrote: »

The fact the provision is by a TP makes no difference to the contract law or the FOS jurisdiction. You bought it from your insurer/ broker, it is their responsibility to ensure the service bought is adequately provided.

You miss the point: you have no effective control over the cover you are given or the real price you pay for the service. People don't choose their insurance because of the terms of the legal cover - and the price they pay for the service, as you point out, is significantly more than the real cost of the service being provided. Insurers go to great trouble to drive down the cost of the contracts they have with the TP providers, hence a disconnect between what you pay and the quality of the service you get.

I have tried to use such a service after a hit and run accident that damaged my wife's car where the miscreant was 'well known' (name, address, previous history) to the police who attended (there were numerous willing witnesses and several got the registration number). The legal team took no effective action as, having written one letter, it was outside of their T&Cs to take it further.

If you want the cover, then take out the cover - but not through your insurer. I have had similar experience with 'emergency home assistance cover' where a plumber sent by the insurer to deal with a gas leak quoted me a stupid price to fix the problem (attending and turning off the gas was all he was required to do, but I'd done that myself). I sent him packing and got it done by a local company for 1/3 of the price.

InsideInsurance

The insurers dont drive down the price, they drive up the amount the TP pays them in the case of LE for Motor. That said the TP evidently still makes a nice profit from the business and so it is in their interest to give a good enough service that they dont lose the contract to one of their competitors.

The cost of LE tends to be fixed, and not underwritten, you do chose if you accept it or not or if you buy it stand alone or as an add on. I am not sure what lack of "control" you have. You cannot individually negotiate the terms on most insurance policies.

I would argue there is a disconnect between price and quality you get in many places. Harrods, House of Fraser and Debenhams all sell the blender I wanted to buy, all three had different prices for the identical item and the quality I would receive would have been the same.

Legal expenses can be a good quality product, it can be a poor quality product, sometimes its a good price others its a bad price.

losgiganteskid

you could try a freebie motorist legal expenses cover here

www.legalcompare.com/avail-offer.php