Car Insurance add ons....... Car Hire....... Motor Legal Protection ?

demonted

Most, if not all Car Insurance quotes and Comparison Websites tend to display Insurance premiums with add ons.

A Courtesy Car/Car Hire add on, cost in the region of £15-£40 per year.

Motor Legal Protection, an add on too, cost in region £25-£30 per year.

However, when accident damage has been sustained, most, if not all reputable Auto Body Repairers normally provide a Courtesty Car whilst repairs are undertaken.

I assume the repairers charge for the Courtesy Car, if any, are included in their total bill presented to the Insurance Provider for payment.

Therefore, by buying the Courtesy Car add on, policyholders are in effect, paying a fee in advance for a Courtesy Car, which we may never use and will be available regardless via the Auto body repairers at no additional cost.

Motor Legal Protection is more often than not, an add too; which provides assistance to recover uninsured losses/out of pocket expenses.

However, it's ironic that one of the examples to tempt a policyholder to purchase Motor Legal Protection is the recovery of car hire cost ?

Therefore, if selecting Motor Legal Protection, surely the Courtesy Car add on is not required ?

I've also discovered, that once the insured vehicle is declared a Total Loss or a settlement payment received, the Insurance provided Courtesy Car must be relinquished immediately..... that's hardly being place back into the position prior to the accident.

It's much more difficult to find and buy a replacement car without transport.


Opinions and experiences of the above required

Silver-Surfer_2

It's annoying how you pay for a courtesy car in case you need one and the first thing they do is sell your claim onto a credit hire company.

facade

I never bother with either. (I have access to another car anyway)

I work to the rule of thumb: If you can afford to replace it, don't insure it.

I can stand to lose my £250 excess if I have to, so I'm betting the certainty of paying out £30 a year against the possibility of being down £250.

No contest.


You can buy independent Motor Legal Protection that covers you in any car for about £15, worth it if you have 2 cars I suppose.

OnanTheBarbarian

Courtesy cars are not guaranteed andx often have T&C's before you will get one, such as your car must be repairable. So punters with a written off car won't necessarily get a courtesy car.

They are also subject to availability.

So by purchasing the courtesy car cover you guarantee getting a car (usually for a 14 day maximum period) when it is a fault accident or a theft claim etc.

On non-fault accidents, you will usually end up being referred to a credit hire co by either your insurer or legal protection providers or an accident management co if you instruct them directly.

Legal cover with home insurance often won't deal with motor accident claims. So a nice excuse for the insurers to sell many more policies. The home legal expense insurance is more worth having as it does cover areas where funding of a lawyer can be expensive, like employment appeal tribunals etc.

I will keep my beak out of the debate on motor legal cover as I have an interest in such a company that operates as a free alternative competitor in that industry and it always turns into a bun fight.

facade

If you are claiming direct off the third party, you won't be down your excess anyway.

sillygoose

In some cases it may not be possible to get the car into a repairer immediately even if un-driveable, most shops are over-run with work, the extra cover means your kept on the road straight away which is important if you have kids to get to school, get yourself to work etc.

I do however switch insurer each year and usually manage to get these add-on's free (introductory offers for new customers) and cashback. my insurance has only ever remained the same or gone down year on year like this.

demonted

Silver-Surfer wrote: »

It's annoying how you pay for a courtesy car in case you need one and the first thing they do is sell your claim onto a credit hire company.

Yeah, I had motor legal protection but when I made a non fault claim, Insurance passed me onto a No Win, No fee Solicitor.

demonted

OnanTheBarbarian highlights...... Courtesy car and faults claims:

So during a fault claim, when a Courtesy Car add on is purchased and, the insured car is repairable or at least until it's declared a total loss, a Courtesy Car is still provided.


However, do Auto Body Repairers rarely have courtesy cars available?

I've not had many reasons to have "uninsured" body damage repaird but on the 3 occassions when I have and on the many occasion when different partners have, we've always been able to acquire a courtesy car from the body shop.

scotsbob

Legal protection is usually cheaper if you deal directly rather than take the add on offered by your insurance company.


Driver Guardian charge £15 for annual protection


http://www.driverguardian.co.uk/1-Years-Legal-Protection-Insurance.aspx

demonted

scotsbob wrote: »

Legal protection is usually cheaper if you deal directly rather than take the add on offered by your insurance company.


Driver Guardian charge £15 for annual protection


http://www.driverguardian.co.uk/1-Years-Legal-Protection-Insurance.aspx

I'm wondering whether it's worth paying for a Courtesy car add on, when it can be had at no extra cost from a auto body repairer?

Alternatively, do we need a Courtesy car add on with Legal protection, when car hire expenses can be recovered via Legal protection, however, I never considered the need of a courtesy car during a fault/blame claim.

Buying Legal protection elsewhere for £10-15 less, although a saving, it's just not enough; for myself, it doesn't justify the introduction of another company into the claims process, although I have considered it.

afzaal1988

demonted wrote: »

I'm wondering whether it's worth paying for a Courtesy car add on, when it can be had at no extra cost from a auto body repairer?

Alternatively, do we need a Courtesy car add on with Legal protection, when car hire expenses can be recovered via Legal protection, however, I never considered the need of a courtesy car during a fault/blame claim.

Buying Legal protection elsewhere for £10-15 less, although a saving, it's just not enough; for myself, it doesn't justify the introduction of another company into the claims process, although I have considered it.

If your car is write off then you will be without a car unless you had courtesy car add on.