I'm sure I'm not alone in this, for years I have been saying "Yes" to the additional "Motor Legal Protection" or "Motor Legal Cover" that insurers offer with your policy.
Previously I have accepted it as being something I may one day need, believing it offered me some sort of additional protection. Now being ancient, sceptical and owning several cars the £27.50 x 3 started to nag on me a little. So I dug out my policy document, read a few articles relating to what its actually for and decided to do something about it.
My initial thoughts were to find an independent company to offer me one policy to cover all my cars. Firstly such companies do exist, charge far less for multi car policies than most insurers seem to charge for one. However the project snowballed and I dug deeper into what Motor Legal Cover really was.
IMPORTANT!: I AM NOT AN INSURANCE ADVISER / BROKER / LAWYER / IFA ETC.
What I am sharing is my experience and I would urge you to look into your own existing policy, take advise and do some research on the subject. I will detail my findings so you can use them as a starting point and as something to consider.
1. Starting Point - My Policy
So here is where my story began, what am I actually getting for my money each year?
The wording of my policy is below, check your policy document for details:
Cover Provided
We will pay the costs of recovering from the party at fault uninsured losses which directly arise from any non - fault road - traffic accident involving your car causing:
- your death or injury;
- damage to your car;
- damage to any property in your car which you are legally responsible for;
or
- any other uninsured losses you suffer
The most we will pay is £100,000 for any claim or claims arising from one incident.
Subject to the exceptions and conditions of this section of the policy we agree to provide this cover if:
- at the time of the incident, your car is being driven or used by a person identified in, and for the purpose allowed by, your certificate of motor insurance;
- the incident happens within the territorial limits, and after cover started
- any legal proceedings will be carried out within the territorial limits by a court which we agree to; and
- we and your solicitor agree that it is more likely than not that you will be successful with your claim for damages.
Sorry about the boring waffle but its important to read what your policy says, most of us, myself included are terrible at reading the terms of anything we sign up for.
So what does all the above mean? Why am I, and why should you be concerned?
My first worry is the word "Uninsured", so lets start by looking at what my uninsured liabilities may be.
My death or injury, scary stuff, but I have separate life and personal injury insurance? Hmmmm not sure that this part helps me much, especially if I am dead!
Damage to my car, I have fully comprehensive insurance; damage to my car is insured anyway so I claim that direct from my insurer and its up to them to claim from the third party insurance. That or take somebody to court if they are uninsured. Also I have cover including excess and no claims protection against uninsured drivers hitting me so my insurer is going to sue them without me doing anything else.
Damage to any property in your car that you are legally responsible for again my policy in general already covers me for a certain amount of losses to items in the car. Anything of serious value that I am likely to carry around like phones, cameras, laptops is covered by other insurance or my home insurance. In my case I am struggling to see where I would have any uninsured losses that this would help with.
Any other uninsured losses well I'm not self employed, I get sick pay at my full salary rate which my employer is insured for. My excess is covered, my NCB protected, can I claim for a new magic tree?
In summary I am getting cover for up to £100,000 (Sounds good doesn't it) of legal fees and expenses. But that's only if I have a claim to pursue for an insured loss, as broken down above there is not much I can find to claim for.
2. What happens if you do claim on "Motor Legal Cover"
Next I went looking for what other people had documented as their experience of trying to claim using this section of their policy. What happens when you do? Its quite simple, if you read further down the pages of your policy document you will find a section relating to appointing a solicitor, probably a note from your insurer like the following:
Appointing a solicitor
- We have a chosen panel of law firms to provide legal services. While you are responsible for any costs they charge, your policy will cover them as long as you keep to the policy conditions.
- You have the right to choose a solicitor to safeguard your interests from the time you have the right to make a claim under this policy. This includes the right to choose the solicitor to serve your interest in any enquiry or proceedings or if a conflict of interests arises.
So that's all very lovely, I have the legal right to pick my own representation and certainly the above example implies they will pass you on to somebody else. If you take a wander round the web you'll find various discussions of peoples experiences of making a claim for losses, or failing too. I'll summarise some examples:
- No Chance: Even though a person has paid for legal cover, their insurer as described has the right to turn down their claim. Some do, it happens. I found a few examples where an insurer turned a motorist down, they subsequently made a claim via a "No win, no fee" company who took it on and won the case.
- No Legal cover: So you phone up to make a claim, the operator asks if you have cover, you say no, they then offer to act as though you did. Hmmmm fishy to say the least, feel free to insert your own conspiracy theories about referral fees from claims management or other such companies here. On other occasions your claim my be so obviously winnable that your insurer may want to cash in. Either way, you have in effect claimed through motor legal cover.
- One of our approved law firms will be in touch: Depending on who you insure with you may get representation from your own insurer. However much of the information I have seen would seem to imply you have been passed on to a claims handling company who specialise in these matters. This in itself is fine, I'm sure many of them are excellent, however you probably have a good case and the chances are you may have been able to get "FREE" representation from them anyway.
So far I am failing to see much benefit in the additional services this "Cover" seems to provide. I'll stop waffling now as I am sure you get the idea, read your own policy in detail. Yes it will be boring and i'm sure the wording is constructed to make your mind wander off, but get a good idea of what you are actually getting for your money.
After you have this information you can make an informed choice about what to do. You can ask the relevant questions of your insurer or broker to ensure you fully understand the policy terms and decided what is best for you.
3. What are the other options?
So having decided that it was all nonsense and a bit of a con, I looked at what I could do to cover myself should I actually ever need the services "Motor Legal Cover" apparently provides.
- Have no Motor Legal Cover: To be honest from my understanding I dont think this is likely to be much of a problem, however I am by nature cautious so what else can be done.
- Use a free service: Yes they do exist, companies that offer to give you exactly what it says, free cover. Quite possibly the same company that could manage your claim via your insurer anyway! freemotorlegal.co.uk Is an easy example, but have a google and see what you can find.
- Use a paid for third party service: There are a range of companies who provide Single / Multi car / Household motor legal cover for small annual fees. If you feel the need for a contracted agreement of some sort this may be a good option to investigate. driverguardian memonline . A couple of example companies for you to look at, no recommendation as I have never used them but it will give you an idea of whats out there.
4. Am I already covered..................
So now we are probably reaching the most important part of this post, I guess the section title gives it away. I've been paying for years, on 3 seperate policies, additional money for cover that I already had,
FREE with my R.A.C. Membership!
R.A.C. Members Legal Cover
Yes, thats right, I was paying three times for cover I already had. I felt somewhat silly to say the least.
5.Conclusion
So the real lesson from my experience is not just to read your Motor Legal Cover documents and make sure they are right for you, but to read EVERYTHING you sign up for. Otherwise like me you could end up wasting money on something you may not want / need or be duplicating something you already have.
I am sure its not just me, have a look at allt he various cover you have, the freebies that come with banks accounts, breakdown cover, car / life / house insurance and ensure you are not duplicating things that cost you money.
Please take the time to understand what companies are offering you, and make sure it fits YOUR needs!
