When shopping for vehicle insurance, you normally have the option of adding motor legal protection or legal expenses coverage to your policy. ‘Do I need motor legal protection?’ You may think so, but before you make a decision, you need to know what motor insurance legal protection is, how much it costs, if it’s worth it, and if you really need motor legal protection.Â
What Is Motor Legal Protection?
Motor legal protection is an optional addition that can help pay legal costs if you’re in an accident that wasn’t your fault.
Car insurance claims should be simple and painless in an ideal world. In the event of an accident or damage to your vehicle, you just call your insurance and answer a few questions. If all goes well, you receive reimbursement for any services or repairs.
But what if you get into an accident that you didn’t cause and have to sue the other driver? For example, with the knowledge that you have to pay medical costs. Or what if someone decides to sue you because they believe you caused an accident?
This is where motor insurance legal protection may come in.
What Does Motor Legal Protection Include?
Essentially, motor legal protection covers your legal bills if you need to sue another motorist or road user.
Your car insurance should cover damage to your vehicle, but extra expenditures may necessitate legal action. Uninsured losses.
Uninsured losses include:
- Medical costs: Addressing personal injuries after an accident, such as physiotherapy, can be costly.
- Out of pocket expenses: You may need to hire a car if your car breaks down, or call a toll-free number to get help.
- Earnings loss: if you can’t work due to an accident.
Legal protection may also help pay the expense of personal property loss if there’s no cover for it differently. If you merely have third-party fire and theft insurance, it may also allow you to recover costs if your car is part of an accident you didn’t cause.
Legal protection coverage varies by insurers but typically covers up to £100,000 in legal fees.
This should cover the bulk of claims.
If you choose a legal cover, your insurer may additionally provide a legal advice service line. These are meant to help guide you if you need to act in an accidental incident.
Furthermore, legal protection insurance isn’t limited to only laying claims to other drivers. It can even also be used to defend you in a car accident and might also be relevant in a contract dispute involving the sale or purchase of a car. Or if you have a problem with a mechanic’s work on your car.
In these situations, legal protection insurance may help pay for legal bills.
What Doesn’t Motor Legal Protection?
It helps to know what legal protection does not cover.
- A lawsuit arising from a careless accident
- If the insurer believes your chances of winning a claim are poor,
- Claims, where the cost of a legal dispute exceeds the potential court, payout fees.
Do I Need Motor Legal Protection?
It’s your decision to make!
Unlike car insurance, this form of protection is not a requirement of law. Your choice of having this protection should be based on the expense versus the potential hazards of not having it in place.
Furthermore, legal protection is usually a low-cost add-on to your policy, meaning you’re less likely to need to use it than breakdown cover for instance.
However, as with many insurances, you get to pay for peace of mind also. Having this policy in place means you don’t have to worry about the cost of any legal action in the long run.
And in most circumstances, the value of your auto legal protection is based on the value of peace of mind you want to have.
Is Motor Legal Protection Worth It?
Before deciding whether to add motoring legal protection to your car insurance policy, verify if you already have legal cover:
- If you currently have car insurance, you may already have legal cover.
- Check your banking papers to see if your present account has legal expenses insurance for driving as some current accounts include it.
- check your papers to see if your union membership provides free legal help on motoring issues.
- A designated driver may be covered for legal fees if they are motoring.
Aside from that, you should research motor legal protection to see if it is worth the cost.
Pros And Cons Of Motor Legal Protection
Advantages Include
- In the event of a claim, it might save you thousands.
- It includes auto insurance sometimes
- If not provided, it may be inexpensive to add.
- You might obtain a legal helpline covering family, job, and conveyancing concerns.
Disadvantages Include
- There’s no certainty that an allocated lawyer will take up your case.
- Depending on the circumstances, the court may turn your lawsuit down if the time limit expires, the cost is too high, or the solicitor doubts your claim will succeed.
- Your insurance company will assign you a solicitor – you can’t usually pick one.
Does Motor Legal Protection Only Cover You If A Case Goes To Court?
Although vehicle legal protection will cover you if a court judge determines you have costs to cover, nevertheless most instances never reach this far.
Going to court takes time, effort, and money, therefore lawyers will want to avoid it however possible. The good news is that car legal protection covers you for fees imposed by the court as well as charges negotiated between solicitors.
Motor Legal Protection Insurance
This insurance policy is the same as motor legal protection. It can either be called motor legal protection or car insurance legal cover. This is for clarity’s sake so so that you avoid being confused. Meanwhile, everything you need to know about this policy has been answered in this article.
Conclusion
As already pointed out previously, this type of protection is not a legal requirement. Consequently, you might want to survey different insurers that offer this policy or your insurer to be sure if you truly need it as an add-on policy to your car insurance policy.
FAQs
What is the benefit of motor legal protection?
Motor Legal Protection provides legal assistance to recover the out-of-pocket expenses that you may experience as a result of an accident that was not your fault.
what does motor legal protection includes?
These can include the cost of your policy excess, the loss of earnings, damage to personal possessions, or even personal injury to you or your passengers.
Does motor legal protection cover uninsured drivers?
If you’re involved in an accident that’s not your fault, Motor Legal Protection offers up to £100,000 of legal costs cover and can help you claim back uninsured losses such as excess and personal injury. It also helps defend you from motoring prosecutions and claims against uninsured drivers.
Is car breakdown cover worth it?
It may seem counterintuitive, but paying for breakdown cover can save you money in the long term. With breakdown cover, you wouldn’t have to pay for a mechanic to try to fix your car or for a tow to a garage, but, without cover, getting this emergency assistance could end up being very expensive
