Legal Protection Insurance - another scandal waiting to happen

quotememiserable

I'm sure you've all been offered legal protection insurance for 'only' £25 when you bought home, car insurance or just about any other financial product. I renewed with eSure just now and they were really pushy about it - a sure sign they make money from it.
This product is basically useless, because a negligant party has to pay your legal fees anyway.
I'm rather surprised Martin hasn't picked this up already - or has he?

dunstonh

Lots of products are sold in retail markets every day which are useless or have little value.

As it happens, legal protection on both home insurance and car insurance is not useless. I have seen people use the home insurance legal protection although I dont have it myself. Car insurance legal protection can be very useful as most people need to deal with the legal side when there is a claim.

Would you like to explain why you have highlighted those two insurances as being useless? I would have picked other insurances for my list.

phill99

I have them on both my car and home insurance. I have used them both and find them useful. I'm happy to keep paying the £1 a week that it costs me.

TSx

You're right in saying third parties are usually forced to pay legal fees - that doesn't necessarily mean you can afford to hire a solicitor to do all the work upfront, and no-win no-fee solicitors are only interested in the clear cut cases... You're unlikely to find a no-win no-fee solicitor dealing with boundary disputes, but your legal expenses cover will pay for one.

ACG

What happens if the driver in the wrong decides to not admit it and you then have to go to court.
You would potentially have to pay the costs first and then get it back if you win.
I have it on my car insurance, i dont have it on my buildings insurance.

I dont think its miss sold even if its very unlikely ill ever use it - over the course of my driving life it will be £1250 (at £25 a year). Not a bad outlay over 50-60 years or so as one use alone will probably pay for itself.

quotememiserable

Well, one issue is that most of the insurances sold cover protection for all your legal issues, not just relating the original policy (car, home) you buy. So you people may have bought two, three or more policies covering the same thing.

FlameCloud

quotememiserable wrote: »

Well, one issue is that most of the insurances sold cover protection for all your legal issues, not just relating the original policy (car, home) you buy. So you people may have bought two, three or more policies covering the same thing.

Have you actually checked to see if that is true?

quotememiserable

FlameCloud wrote: »

Have you actually checked to see if that is true?

I was just going to say yes, but apparantly that's too short for the forum to acccept.

Yes.

forgotmyname

The negligent party pays your legal costs, But what if their is a dispute over negligence who pays?

My home contents policy excludes motoring related issues.

So i guess not another scandal.

dunstonh

So i guess not another scandal.

but this is MSE.....

thenudeone

The legal cover bought with my home insurance paid for a solictor who managed my claim against my former employer for unfair dismissal. We settled out of court and I didn't have to pay a penny. even if it had gone to a tribunal, legal fees aren't generally claimable as they are designed as not needing legal assistance.

On separate occasion they did all the chasing and got a full refund from an awkward supplier who didn't want to refund me when the goods were not as described.

On another occasion they advised me of the relevant law to quote regarding a vehicle warranty which a garage refused to transfer to a new owner. That was successful.

I've also successfully used motor legal cover twice which has saved an enormous amount of legwork.

So it's simply not true to say these insurances aren't worth anything, unless you happen to be a solicitor and don't need advice!