Protected no claims and legal cover - worth it?

egyptiancotton

My insurance is coming up for renewal. I've always had protected no claims and legal cover but I'm starting to wonder whether these extras are worth it. Protected no claims will cost £21 and legal cover will cost £28. I've recently converted to shedding, so I'm not concerned about the car, but the extras apply to me as a driver which I'm more concerned about. Would be grateful for opinions and experiences. Thanks in advance.

AdrianC

Protected NCB - how much is your premium, how many years NCB?

Legal - it seems very cheap when you need it... But you can buy legal cover separately.

Car_54

About £28 will get you a year's membership of Boundless (which used to be CSMA). This gives free legal cover, plus lots of discounts and other goodies.

AdrianC

Car_54 said:

About £28 will get you a year's membership of Boundless (which used to be CSMA).

https://www.boundless.co.uk/landing/who-can-join
"We’re now a club for all employees and previous employees of the Public Sector and Civil Service"

That's me and probably a majority of the population out, then.

Arklight

I was involved in a prang and had legal cover and I would neve not have it now. 

egyptiancotton

AdrianC said:

Protected NCB - how much is your premium, how many years NCB?

Legal - it seems very cheap when you need it... But you can buy legal cover separately.

13 years NCB.

Base premium with cheapest insurer is £185. Legal cover is £31, protected NCB is £22 and car hire is £20. The core policy includes a courtesy car, so I can still get around if my car needs to be repaired. However, a repair is unlikely as I now drive a shed. So if the car is written off, I will need a hire car - I'll have one for up to 21 days.

What got me spooked about legal cover is a post I read on a different forum. Driver and cyclist involved in a collision - deemed 50-50. Cyclist refused police attendance and ambulance. Both parties agreed not to involve insurers. Driver repaired incident to the police a few hours later, to which the police told the driver that the cyclist had already reported the incident, admitted themselves to hospital and told the police that the driver refused to call for police attendance an ambulance, and therefore the driver could find themselves being prosecuted. Driver said they were told by their insurer that as they weren't claiming on insurance, and if they were going to be prosecuted or taken to court, then without legal cover they would have to pay for legal representation themselves.

Bigphil1474

Legal cover is a no-brainer IMO. Whether you get it with your car insurance, or house insurance, or some other way, doesn't matter. I get it through my membership of a union so I'm covered. Don't forget that legal cover is not usually limited to motoring issues. If you already have suitable legal cover elsewhere, no need to get it again. 
I've always had protected no claims. You will save more than £21 if you do have an incident and lose some of your NCB, so why wouldn't you. For that amount of money, another no-brainer IMO.

GrumpyDil

Car_54 said:

About £28 will get you a year's membership of Boundless (which used to be CSMA). This gives free legal cover, plus lots of discounts and other goodies.

This interested me but legal cover only applies if you joined before 14 November 2018 so isn't available for new joiners or people with more than a six month gap in renewal after that date. 

YellowCarBlueCar

RAC legal cover is £15 per year, and covers up to 5 people (in the same family and address) for as many vehicles as they drive.  Fortunately I've not had to use it, so can't vouch for the quality of cover.

Sandtree

lloydyyy said:
Driver said they were told by their insurer that as they weren't claiming on insurance, and if they were going to be prosecuted or taken to court, then without legal cover they would have to pay for legal representation themselves.

Legal Expenses insurance is predominately about recovering your uninsured losses from the third party in the event of an incident that wasn't totally your fault. If your losses include injury then you could naturally go with a conditional funding agreement (aka no win, no fee) however these will often take 25% of your award.

Most will also cover criminal prosecution under LE however standard policies even without LE normally include terms that they will represent you at their discretion if there is a third party claim... ie if getting you off a driving without due care charge increases the chances of liability being settled more favourably etc.

Insurers aren't silly, they normally make different LE covers mutually exclusive and so you cannot get Home LE and therefore not buy Motor LE.

egyptiancotton

Renewal sorted. Called Direct Line and told them the prices I found elsewhere with and without PNCB and legal cover. They offered £178 without said optional extras, or £224 with said optional extras. I went for the latter.