Just reading about legal Expense Insurance on another site, do you all take out the Legal Protection insurance that is offered with your vehicle insurance
How much do you pay, as some I have been offered range from £20 to £25 each, and as I insure 2 vehicles my car and my motorhome thats £40 to £50 which seems a lot to me.
I don't think you need legal expenses cover on every policy. In fact, a friend of mine who has worked in motor insurance for years insists you don't actually need it at all.
Your friend has a very good point regarding perhaps not needing it at all, I have read quiet a lot of reports and if you have Fully Comprehensive then there are questions as to when you would ever actually need it.
But on the point of cover for every policy, if you purchase it at the same time as you purchase your insurance policy, I have been informed that it only applies to that policy and that you will need another Legal Protection for the next vehicle insurance.
However it appears you can purchase these Legal Protection Insurances from independants and if you do then your friend is correct you only need one for all of your vehicle insurances.
From what I have found it appears the RAC offer one, and certain Household Insurances offer a bolt on to the standard policy, albeit you need to double check as some of these do not cover motor related problems.
If you are a member of The Guild of Experienced Motorists (GEM) then its included in their standard membership, you DON'T need to take out their breakdown cover so its only £17.10, you don't need to be a member of any specific organisation to join, just google Guild of Experienced Motorists
If you use your vehicle in Europe and have already taken out this type of protection, check whether it covers you in Europe as it appears a lot of them only cover the UK and Channel Islands etc.
In general Legal assistance cover bought with a car Insurance co will only cover motoring problems. Legal cover purchased as part of your home insurance usually covers all legal problems. Members of the CC & C&CC have access to legal advice via their membership.Please be aware that some car insurance based legal cover is An "advice" only cover so please make sure what you are buying
I used to work for personal injury solicitors and household cover will certainly cover slipping/tripping accidents but I'm not sure about motoring accidents.
That's a good point about the Unions if you are still a member or a retired member then its certainly worth investigating before spending money perhaps unnecessarily.
I was not aware that the CC and C&CC offered free legal advice so that's got to be a plus, i will check them out, do you know if they will include free solicitors fees etc if you need them ?
I did check our household policy and it specifically excluded any motoring related cover, but some may cover you perhaps we could compile a list as i really do hate paying for something twice.
This does appear to have raised peoples interest, and hopefully may have saved them a few pounds.
As I understand it Legal Expenses insurance only covers you if the incident is not your fault. And the brokers make a huge amount of commission on these policies and that's why they sometimes try and push you to buy it. Prices start from £10. I speak to brokers regularly as part of my job.
I believe you are correct about them making a huge amount of commission on these policies, I've heard they only cost around 50p to £1.
You mention prices starting from £10 are these independent e.g. one policy will cover a multiple of vehicle's as if they are can you post where they can be purchased as they may help some people save a few pounds.
As for only covers if the incident is not your fault, I think you are correct and another point worth noting is that most of them will only provide solicitors etc. if its a better than even chance of success, which i think is similar to the no-win-no-fee that can be found from a number of solicitors without having a prepaid insurance.
But if like most things we want belt and braces as a lot of us do, then £10 to £20 for one single policy that covers all of our vehicles and gives us piece of mind is not a lot of money. I just begrudge paying £20 to £50 for the same thing.
I don't know the details of the policies, I help brokers set their computer systems up with the default premiums and commission rates.
We have two classic vehicles insured on one policy with legal expenses, but I suppose that is different to having more than one car insurance policy. I'm sure if you asked a friendly broker they would explain what the policy covers.
I think that's one of the main points Brokers are there to make money out of selling insurance polices, whether that is Motor Insurance or Legal Protection etc. and while I certainly have no problem with people charging for there services I really want to ensure that I am getting the best value for my money, hence the reason for the original post.
It seems from what research I have carried out that to get best value when it comes to Motor Legal Protection I feel i need to purchase it separately as that way I can utilise one policy to cover all of my vehicle insurances,
From that research the best one for me that meets all of my needs and provides cover while I am in Europe is The Guild of Experienced Motorists GEM at £17.10 the details of the cover etc together with the membership costs can be found at the link I gave above:-
Hi,
like enodreven, we have been reading up on the Legal protection item which was listed as 'Additional cover' option in the SAGA quote we have just received.
When we rang to ask what it was for, we were told it was to cover damage etc from uninsured drivers - Is that what people are taking this additional cover out for, rather than for 'legal advice' as mentioned in some of these posts?
(Just about to purchase, and thought this would be the easy bit!)
It does seem to be a mine field, as from what i have read there are questions for and against, there's also questions over whether its necessary or not and the cost seems to vary from one company to another, some insurance companies give it free others want to charge up to £25 per policy.
I think its really up to the individual to look at from there own prospective, we chose to go with GEM above as we weren't prepared to pay for a separate policy of each of our vehicles, and we wanted some level of cover while in Europe, as not all of these provide this.
Its worth adding that GEM provide it free with their membership, i also believe the CSMA do something very similar, so I can only assume it doesn't cost very much to the companies as otherwise i think they would all make a separate charge.
All I can suggest is compare what on offer and the costs,
Hope you make the right decision, i never do I always find i could have got something better if i had only checked elsewhere LoL
You can get a similar policy to cover general legal matters, but more often they only cover NON Motoring Related problems, also double check you household policies as they often have this provision already covered, or it can be purchased as a bolt-on.
Hi, i had a policy many years ago and i can't remember the exact details, but it was the other fellows fault, it came down to me contacting the insurance company and in the end they refused to act because the other driver said it was my fault, even though i had a witness, spent quite a time on the matter, waste of money, never had one since, by the way i lost my no claims over it.
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Topic: Legal Expense Insurance
