Is legal protection on car insurance a good idea for everyone?

Quentin

Reputable claim handlers will not take any money from their client. All their fees will be charged to the thrd party.

However there are also no win no fee claim handlers. These do exactly that - only charge you a fee when you win the case. Thay take a cut of your compensation, and are best avoided.

Joey122

Quentin wrote: »

Reputable claim handlers will not take any money from their client. All their fees will be charged to the thrd party.

However there are also no win no fee claim handlers. These do exactly that - only charge you a fee when you win the case. Thay take a cut of your compensation, and are best avoided.

THIS IS WRONG - They do not take a cut of your compenstaion.

Comp + Legal fees are costed and it does not make a difference

Quentin

Why do you think they are called "No win no fee" - these types DO charge you a fee when they win!

Joey122

Quentin wrote: »

Why do you think they are called "No win no fee" - these types DO charge you a fee when they win!

NO WIN NO FEE means if you lose you dont pay anything

If you win you get your comp and leal fees are costed seperately.

Your comp is not affected!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quentin

There are two types of "conditional fee" claim handlers.

Those that do not take a cut of any compensation you receive, and those that do.

See this report from the CAB:

http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/no_win_no_fee_no_chance-2

Consumers are misled into thinking the system will be genuinely ‘no win no fee’ but can often find that costs are hidden and unpredictable

.

lilac_lady

Thanks for the replies. After reading your posts I decided to pay the legal protection fee.

slh4283

I think the main thing to point out is that most solicitors will only take on a no win no fee case if there is an injury element.

In relation to taking up legal expenses cover this really depends on the individual. Personally if you have TPFT cover I would recommend that you take out LE cover as the insurers will not be fighting your corner if the third party was at fault for an accident and you have damage to your vehicle - therefore all of your costs are uninsured so to speak. It is quicker to deal via your own insurers rather than finding a company to do it for you.

In the case of comprehensive cover, if you have a non injury incident and the third party is at fault then you would still have an excess etc to pay. The LE cover would help you recover this from the third party, however it is quite easy to send a quick letter to the other person's insurers requesting your excess and out of pocket expenses.

One point to note though - if you use the LE part of your cover, although they will generally appoint their own solicitors, you do normally have the right to use whoever you want, as long as you get their approval.

V_tricky

One other point worth mentioning is because of the very nature of it, a lot of solicitors who use ATE (after the event insurance) or CFA's (Conditional Fee Agreements) will only take on cases that are very low risk.

IE an injury case where someone has hit you in the rear and has accepted liability.

Many will not want to touch cases that are disputed, very low value, or may have an element of contributary negligence (ie split liability cases).

THIS PREVIOUS THREAD gives more debate on whether legal cover is worth it, and worth a read for anyone considering their policies.