Stand alone legal cover for car insurance

17lbp

I'm due to renew my car insurance on Sat and have been shopping around for quotes. We have 4 cars in our household between myself, husband and daughter and I always take legal cover on the insurance policies so thats in excess of £100+ per year for all vehicles for the legal cover.
I was wondering if anyone had any experience of a standalone policy which would cover all cars and drivers? I'm not after a freebie ambulance chasing policy just thought there may be a separate policy which can be purchased that would be a cheaper option?
Any thoughts or recommendations?

InsideInsurance

You need to read the terms carefully, some of these policies are very weak and only cover things that are above the small track/ small claims court level which means you are ok in a significant accident but if its just a relatively minor thing and your losses are a couple of hundred/ thousand in excess/ repairs, hire car etc then you are on your own as the no win, no fee crowd wont touch these either as legal fees are excluded from the lowest court track

forgotmyname

You can get cover for free but as mentioned above there are usually drawbacks.

There is a thread on here where a company rep stepped in and said you get the same cover as your would with your car insurance, but when queried there were lots of situations where they would not cover you where the insurers legal cover would.

The rep had to retreat with their tail between their legs.

So do check all the terms and conditions before opting for it.

ripplyuk

I've got stand alone cover with Driver Guardian. I've never claimed against it so can't say if they're any good. I hope they aren't the company forgotmyname mentions above! It wasn't free but it was cheap, with keycare included.

I compared the policy with the one offered by my car insurer and they didn't seem any different. Both would only take on a case if you have 'a reasonable chance of winning', which is the same as my home insurance says so I just assumed it was standard with any legal cover.

I wanted it seperate as I like the possibility of not having to claim off my car insurance for a non fault accident. I'd still have to declare it though.

OnanTheBarbarian

ripplyuk wrote: »

I wanted it seperate as I like the possibility of not having to claim off my car insurance for a non fault accident. I'd still have to declare it though.

Even if you buy the product offered by your car insurer, it is always a separate policy to the actual motor insurance policy.

InsideInsurance

OnanTheBarbarian wrote: »

Even if you buy the product offered by your car insurer, it is always a separate policy to the actual motor insurance policy.

Depends on how you define "separate", certainly with the likes of DLG/UK Insurance who write both the motor and the LE themselves it is arguably just a different section of the motor policy.

OnanTheBarbarian

Be interesting to see how things played out with a Direct Line punter with the same UKI underwriters of their LEI policy when they need to sue a Churchill Policyholder with the same insurance and LEI underwriters. Possible conflict

This is why I believed it is recommended that the underwriters of the motor insurance policy and the LEI policy are recommended to be the same.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) case - Eschig v UNIQA Sachversicherung AG (C-199/08) - was a case about class actions which cited the separation of business requirements under Article 3(2)(c) of the legal expenses insurance Directive 87/344/EEC.

Article 3 requires insurers to ensure that legal expenses are separated from other classes of insurance they underwrite - so as to spread the risk and avoid internal conflicts of interest

InsideInsurance

Directive 87/344/EEC Article 3.2 gives the choice of A, B or C with the discretion of the state to limit the choices available

2. Each Member State shall take the necessary measures to ensure that the undertakings established within its territory adopt, in accordance with the option imposed by the Member State, or at their own choice, if the Member State so agrees, at least one of the following solutions, which are alternatives

Article 3.1 of the same also states that LE cover can be part of the same contract as the policy that it is attached to but states it must be a separate section.

I know LE processes changed shortly after I left claims in my then employers as we used to deal with any low value/ non-injury cases in house by the same filehandler that was dealing with our own losses. That changed shortly afterwards to having a dedicated LE claims team that "managed" all cases but again low value non=PI cases were in house and anything else farmed to panel.

17lbp

Thanks all - i think to be on the safe side I'll just take the separate cover with each policy. From what your all saying there really doesn't seem to be a safe, separate alternative.
Thanks

forgotmyname

ripplyuk wrote: »

I've got stand alone cover with Driver Guardian. I've never claimed against it so can't say if they're any good. I hope they aren't the company forgotmyname mentions above! It wasn't free but it was cheap, with keycare included.

I compared the policy with the one offered by my car insurer and they didn't seem any different. Both would only take on a case if you have 'a reasonable chance of winning', which is the same as my home insurance says so I just assumed it was standard with any legal cover.

I wanted it seperate as I like the possibility of not having to claim off my car insurance for a non fault accident. I'd still have to declare it though.

Check the terms, Does it say they will only help you recover losses if its 100% the 3rd party's fault? If there is any dispute they may say its not worth it for them, They wont make any money so your on your own.

Check the terms.