Motor Legal Expenses.

[Druk]

What's the panels view on add-ons to car insurance policies? I'm thinking: Legal Expenses and Personal Accident Cover for instance. Are they worth the additional premiums or are they just a bit of a 'con'. Has anyone actually used Legal Ex and was it worth it?

I've just had my renewal notice and it's been hiked by nearly £80 more than last year for no other reason than they can. Actually it was £100 but I talked them down £20. Unfortunately they are still competitive so it looks like I'm just going to have to swallow the pill but wondered if I could save myself a bit by refusing the add-ons.

 

[brucemillar]

Derek

All I can say here you probably know. I would get them to explain in some depth what their legal cover is and in what circumstances you can make use of it and when can they bail out of it. Likewise with any breakdown cover.

It often looks appealing until you try and make use of it, only to find, if it's a day with a "Y" in it, or you have the letter "D" in your name it cannot be invoked. Sadly, rather like some warranty offerings out there, that can only be used for things that would never actually be required to use them for, it can be window dressing.

In my experience (maybe biased) Adrian Flux do seem to be good at explaining these ad-ons and in actually delivering them when it counts.

 

[kid-jensen]

Just another way the Insurance companies try to increase their profits..

Save the money till you need it for such things...

 

[flowrider]

I always buy the legal expenses cover even though I have never needed to use it. Same as with travel insurance and any other insurance, if you don't have it but need it you will rue the day you didn't buy it. What if you have to take a third party to court, how will you pay for it, what if you have to defend yourself in court how will you pay for that?

 

[davidjpowell]

I've seen so many negative Adrian Flux reviews I personally would not touch them with a very long barge.

The thing with insurance is it is always very expensive until you need it. Having said that, many moons ago my father pulled out in front of an overtaking biker, or depending on your view point, a biker overtook a traffic queue into a sunday market at too high a speed.

He called on his legal expenses cover who supplied a Solicitor or Junior Barrister... Who turned up on the day with no brief and did a pretty poor job.

 

[Chrishazle]

I've actually had to use the legal cover once, in 2000, when some dippy woman reversed into the 968 coupe in a car park (wife driving) then tried to claim Cora drove into her. Took a year, I very early on offered to settle for the about £220 the replacement indicator and driving light cost, ended up in court, her insurers did not show and I received a cheque for over £600! An add-on I would not be without!

 

[mrmonkeyboy]

As someone who has worked for a few general insurers, legal expenses are pretty much a con, they are so rarely invoked, like a number of the other ancillary extras on offer.
In most cases, if you are hit, the insurer or an ambulance chaser will take your case on for free as they'll expect cash from the other parties insurer.

If you hit someone else, again, the insurance company should step in, as they'll want to limit their losses.

Its only really important to have legal cover if the individuals involved attempt to raise action against you personally in relation to a vehicle incident.

You need to check the fine print for these things as often they won't cover you for contesting criminal convictions such as Drink/Driving, vehicular assault etc etc.....

 

[Piff]

Have got legal cover on house insurance and have reason to claim on it.
Insurer took details then passed it to their claims handling company. They took details but pointed out there was no cover for our particular use until we reached a certain stage of the claim. To reach that stage we are currently into a preferred solicitor for £2.5k + VAT of work. So far the policy is worthless. A few more weeks/months will pass before we find out whether our claim will be resolved at this stage (out of court) or whether it moves on and the insurance may kick in for ongoing costs.

 

[Druk]

Thanks all for the input.

I decided in the end to not go for the add-ons and saved myself about fifty quid. Time will tell if that was the correct decision or not.

 

[trapperjohn]

I binned mine too not long back.

Also after year on year rises in recovery costs I have just binned the RAC. Shopping around now for similar cover bet I get it way cheaper - always though they want me to join annually on credit card and we all know what happens then.

 

[moonloops]

Never had it, never needed it in 30 years of driving

 

[John]

In the early days of my motoring career in the early / mid 90s, I was always TPFT.

I used to buy the legal cover not really knowing if I would ever use it.

As it turns out, I used it 3 times from various non-fault prangs over the first few years.

In each case, I took a visit to my local main dealer body shop who prepared a quote based on what they would charge to fix the damage.

They wrote to the third party and claimed back that sum and sent it to me as closure (usually around a £1000 each time).

I then got our family mechanic to fix the damage at a fraction of the cost as he could do bodywork too.

For the £20, I figure it may come in handy.

Don't bother with the personal injury one though - or anything else.

 

[Bonecho]

I have CSMA memberships which gives me cheap Breakdown cover but also gives me free legal cover by Liverpool and Victoria.

https://www.boundless.co.uk/save-more/lv-motor-legal-expenses?k=legal%20cover&o=2

Eligibility

To be eligible to join Boundless by CSMA and take advantage of membership benefits you must fulfil one of the below membership eligibility criteria:

• Currently employed by an organisation in the Civil Service or Public Sector.
• Have previously been employed by an organisation in the Civil Service or Public Sector.
• Currently or previously employed by an organisation that was originally formed within the structure of the Civil Service or Public Sector. For example, Royal Mail, BT, etc.
• You are a friend or family member of an existing member of Boundless by CSMA.
• Currently employed by Boundless by CSMA.

 

[Piff]

Have got legal cover on house insurance and have reason to claim on it.
Insurer took details then passed it to their claims handling company. They took details but pointed out there was no cover for our particular use until we reached a certain stage of the claim. To reach that stage we are currently into a preferred solicitor for £2.5k + VAT of work. So far the policy is worthless. A few more weeks/months will pass before we find out whether our claim will be resolved at this stage (out of court) or whether it moves on and the insurance may kick in for ongoing costs.

Just for the record and in the interest of fairness to the insurance company.
Our "claim" is still with the other side waiting to see their response to decide whether it can be settled out of court. In the mean time solicitor has again been in touch with insurance company's claims handler. They appointed a barrister to review the evidence and he has advised there is a greater than 51% chance of winning. So the insurance company will pick up the legal bills from the point of issuing proceedings. Solicitor says he will get onto that rather than wait for the other side to get off their ar5es. Still got the option to settle out of court but starting the legal side may prompt the other side to reconsider their position more urgently than the otherwise would have done.

 

[E55BOF]

I have CSMA membership, and can thoroughly recommend it. For under £120 a year I have quite astonishing breakdown/recovery cover (with Britannia) for any and all vehicles with the member and spouse driving (handy if, like me, you have several cars and bikes; six in total at the moment), plus two other nominated vehicles if driven by a family member living at home, plus legal expenses cover which, when I had an accident in 2012, engaged Irwin Mitchell to pursue the claim, very satisfactorily. The legal expenses cover was the icing on the cake, to be fair.

 

[E55BOF]

Never had it, never needed it in 30 years of driving

I'm glad to hear it, and hope you never do need it. I'd never needed it either, until my (entirely no-fault) accident in 2012 after 43 years of driving...

 

[219]

I've actually had to use the legal cover once, in 2000, when some dippy woman reversed into the 968 coupe in a car park (wife driving) then tried to claim Cora drove into her. Took a year, I very early on offered to settle for the about £220 the replacement indicator and driving light cost, ended up in court, her insurers did not show and I received a cheque for over £600! An add-on I would not be without!

Likewise , after the landscape gardners flatbed truck dinged the back wing of my W123 , then when the police came and routinely breathalysed both of us , with the other driver failing and being arrested on the spot , my insurer paid out for the repairs , with the lawyer provided by the legal cover , which I'd paid £15 extra for , chasing them every month for over a year , and reporting back to me , for recovery of both the repair and my uninsured excess ( only £100 ) , I felt like I had someone on my side and it was worth every penny .