Advice on Motor Legal Protection

DullGreyGuy

Your own insurer will cover the cost of a claim made against you... thats not what MLP is for. 

Mazza773 said:

Bit late to the conversation but I thought I'd post my findings in the hope it may help someone. 
Motor legal protection is a rip off in my opinion, Free Motor Legal Ltd. will cover you for a lifetime at the cost of £0. There is an article over on The Complaining Cow that explains how and why in great detail. I'm really surprised ML hasn't covered it as it's a great money saving tip. Maybe he has and I've missed it?

Firstly its not insurance and so if things go wrong there is no access the Financial Ombudsman unlike MLP

Secondly, for non-injury cases you only have 28 days to start the claim with them... there are plenty of cases where people may try dealing with things privately etc and that falls apart after a while and suddenly you are out of time to use their services... MLP doesn't have time limit

Thirdly, they require you to use their services like credit hire... so if you claim is just your £400 excess as you got a CIL settlement they will be trying to oblige you to take a hire car on credit. 

Fourthly, there is no representation for legal prosecutions against you... there is a telephone helpline for England and Wales only but if you want specific advice it states there are extra charges. MLP will provide representation for you in certain circumstances

 Fifthly, solicitors will be acting under a no win, no fee conditional funding agreement which means there are costs for you if you decide to stop the claim

You're basically pre-registering with a Credit Hire company that will pass you to a no-win, no-fee solicitor that doesn't charge a success fee. You can find companies that will pay you to take their services and find your own no win no fee solicitor without a success fee 

The one thing this is slightly better than other similar ones is that it doesn't have a financial viability clause like most the rest do which would effectively eliminate litigation or legal representation on any Small Track cases. MLP wouldn't have this clause either. 

Some MLP covers also deal with broader motor disputes which this agreement doesn't even mention

As to why Martin doesn't recommend them? Could be any of the above or simply they don't offer enough commission.

99iainb

lisyloo said:

I have this one. 4 family members, any vehicle £15

https://www.rac.co.uk/insurance/legal-expenses-insurance

Thanks, after my recent experience with Hyundai:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/hyundai-falsely-accused-22k-car-filling-diesel/
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6498528/rejecting-new-car-due-to-dealer-misfuel/p1

I'm taking this policy out now in case of any future shenanigans!

As regards being covered under home insurance, I did have legal under my home insurance at the time of my "indicent", when I called them they said that "goods" in their policy document generally didn't cover cars, but if their lawyers thought there was a good chance of winning they "may" take it up. They did offer me free legal advice though. In the end it never came to court, thankfully!