is legal cover for car insurance worth it?

rs65

lisyloo wrote: »

My understanding is that if I wanted only uninsured loss recovery then the free accident management companies wouldn't want to know as they are interested in cases with personal injury and car hire.

Onan has previously said he would recover just an excess.

lisyloo wrote: »

My understanding is that if I buy an insurance policy regulated by the FSA then they would have to offer the cover (provided there is a reasonably chance if recovery) and I have the protection of the ombudsman, so they can't just decide they don't want to know on unprofitable cases.

That's the key thing to me - a policy is an obligation to provide the cover.

lisyloo wrote: »

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Its FCA, not FSA.

lisyloo

rs65 wrote: »

Onan has previously said he would recover just an excess.


That's the key thing to me - a policy is an obligation to provide the cover.


Its FCA, not FSA.

The key point is that i can't hold Onan to that.
I agree the key point is the obligation to provide cover, so I'll be getting one.
Thanks for the advice.

I have found memonline which does 4 cars for £14.

Norman_Castle

ranjitrai wrote: »

Legal expenses cover is a type of insurance you can buy alongside your car insurance to cover yourself against the potential costs of legal action either brought by you or against you as a road user.
The cost of adding legal expenses cover to your car insurance policy is generally around £20 to £25 a year.
Some deluxe policies offer it as standard for no extra charge.
The cost of legal proceedings can be huge. So taking out legal expenses cover would prove a very worthwhile move if you needed to take legal action for any reason, for example following a car accident. Above all information are cleared to me by xxxxxxxxxxx as same problem I was suffering.

Newbie with two posts both naming the same company. Spam.

OnanTheBarbarian

lisyloo wrote: »

The key point is that i can't hold Onan to that.
I agree the key point is the obligation to provide cover, so I'll be getting one.

Accident management companies are soon to be regulated by the FCA

Currently, the legal ombudsman is the organisation to direct complaints to if not resolved in-house. They can force the company or the appointed solicitor to take on the case, providing there are "reasonable prospects of success". This is the same mantra that the legal expenses policies operate by.

Just because you have a legal expenses policy does not guarantee you will get assistance, for example if you are at fault for the collision giving rise to the claim. Legal expense policies do not help defending claims brought against you, that is what you have motor insurance cover for.

When it is all stacked up, the only areas where I see things being any different between the insured products and the free memberships is that the company in question only provide accident assistance for incidents in England, Scotland & Wales whereas the underwritten products generally cover Europe wide. Most of the other features of legal expense policies are catered for/ replicated such as motor prosecution advice etc.

The bottom line is that motor legal expenses policies have and continue to be used as a claims capture mechanism for personal injury and credit hire claims. This results in kick backs being paid to the insurer or broker who sold you the policy if you use the policy to claim for injury or hire is arranged.

The policy you pay circa £30 for annually usually cost the vendor about 50p, the reason being that the underwriters of the policies never take a hit as the service providers who get used (panel solicitors etc) have all agreed never to seek any costs from the underwriters on cases they don't succeed on or are not entitled to seek costs for. So they sell you a policy for £30 which cost them buttons and then make kick backs from the service providers they appoint to help you and never incur any expense themselves. A pretty savvy business model don't you think?

lisyloo

I did a long reply but suffice to say I'm not naïve and I'm aware of most of your points.


To cut to the chase - do you have an answer to the key point that an insurance policy entitles me to cover (yes I know subject to it being likely successful and recoverable) and a free policy entitles me to nothing.

OnanTheBarbarian

All I can say, hoping this does not breach forum rules as I am genuinely trying to respond to a query, is that an insurance policy entitles you to various products and services, subject to meeting the terms and conditions of the policy. So there is no absolute guarantee a service will be provided unless you meet the criteria.

With a free membership service, I think you know the one I am talking about, the terms and conditions confirm the services they will provide. If there is a refusal to provide services and a complaint in-house does not resolve to your satisfaction, then a complaint to the legal ombudsman is made. They have the power to force the membership service or their appointed representatives to perform a service if they feel you have been unfairly treated. So the same as what would happen if you felt your insurer was not adhering to policy terms or not treating you fairly.

So I can't see how a free service entitles you to nothing

At the end of the day, you have to choose a product and service provider you are happy with and as evidenced by this and some now outdated threads, there is a choice or providers and services.

Quentin

OnanTheBarbarian wrote: »

With a free membership service, .... the terms and conditions confirm the services they will provide. ....

That is no different to an insurance policy (which will state exactly what is covered, and forum posts by any company rep cannot override the policy ts + cs)


But your membership ts + cs state that although there is no minimum amount members need to claim for, you can drop a claim (by giving an unspecified period of notice) and withdraw your services if you consider the costs involved outweigh the value the claim!


(Which is a good reason to pay for a "proper" insurance company backed policy if you are worried about claiming back your small uninsured losses, rather that your free policy that does have a way out set out in its conditions and so guarantees nothing!)

lisyloo

I have asked 3 free companies whether they would cover non-income generating claims. I will report back.
My fear is that they won't provide the cover I need if it isn't income generating whereas insurance is cross subsidised by non-claiming policy holders paying an insurance premium.

firely2327

wow, look what I've started with my question! It seems like a real minefield. I only hope (knocks on wood) that I've never any need to try out 'using' any of the legal cover. I've learned a lot from all the comments, thanks folks

rs65

OnanTheBarbarian wrote: »

When it is all stacked up, the only areas where I see things being any different between the insured products and the free memberships is that the company in question only provide accident assistance for incidents in England, Scotland & Wales whereas the underwritten products generally cover Europe wide. Most of the other features of legal expense policies are catered for/ replicated such as motor prosecution advice etc.

Do you provide free legal advice for motoring prosecutions? Do you provide any motoring prosecution assistance for offences committed in Scotland?