Do you have motor legal protection insurance?

[E30BeemerLad]

Just curious to know, how many of you have bought this cover when buying/renewing your car insurance?

[FinalD]

No. It is a waste of time and money, it doesn't actually give you anything of worth.

[N00b]

If that's known as Drivers legal protection (or DLP) then no as I have other insurances that cover any legal expenses I may incur.

[fuzzy]

i have no add ons or extras as previous experience shows you still get stiffed by the insurance companies regardless.

[Falkster]

I have personal insurance that covers much more than legal protection would do with my car insurance?

[N00b]

Just curious to know, how many of you have bought this cover when buying/renewing your car insurance?

What's your take on it?
Good thing/bad thing?

[Gortour]

Not got it this years renewal, for the first time. Saved me almost 75 quid on my cheapest quote.

My thought was a no-win--no-fee site (finding a recommended one if needed) if the need arose.

Would be interested in your take Lee.

[E30BeemerLad]

I will have a better solution in a couple of weeks time Gordon, watch this space

[Rav335uk]

Watchin'

[Gortour]

[suchy]

Watchin'

+1...

[Jesus325iTouring]

I've always had it,is it worth it? who knows.

Although when I had a claim against me after I mashed next doors car,every thing was sorted,I recieved just two phone calls,one just to confirm the claim was legit and one to say how much was being claimed and if I thought it was reasonable.

So if that it was that pays for I'm more than happy to pay it. No drama's involved at all.

[Morat]

I'm assuming that the legal cover is what got my wife and I £3k for whiplash when rear ended on a dual carriageway? (And yes, it was a legit claim, it bloody hurt and took months to sort out).

[Gert_8]

Watching. It does strike me as money for nothing...

[Zerotonine]

Watching too...

[E30BeemerLad]

Nearly ready to

[Gortour]

You selling us legal protection?

[E30BeemerLad]

Selling would imply I was charging for it, oh no sir.

[Gert_8]

Come on.......this had better be good!

[E30BeemerLad]

OK then, have a look at this. It is not yet finished/ fully live, there are some typos to correct and the images are not final etc, but I would welcome feedback, good or bad.

What is your general perception?

Do you understand what it is all about?

Most importantly, would you join?

http://freemotorlegal.co.uk/index.html

[daimlerman]

Looks good,I would sign up.

[Gortour]

Looks good to me too. I'd sign up too.

[h7fal]

I'm interested. Always wondered what the small extra charge they add on every year actually covered me for. Just always paid it as an extra tenner on a £200 policy made little difference. Lazy on my part, I guess.

[daimlerman]

Lee will,no doubt,correct me where I am wrong...but my take on this is simple;
Why should I pay some-one to provide this service when I am not to blame?
This looks to be the perfect solution!

[HairyScreech]

I assume its a costs recovered from the other side in non fault claims job?
If so what about fault claims?

Fwiw i have no idea if i have cover for this or not. Think i do but if i do i should probably cancel it.

[E30BeemerLad]

I assume its a costs recovered from the other side in non fault claims job?
If so what about fault claims?

Fwiw i have no idea if i have cover for this or not. Think i do but if i do i should probably cancel it.

Yes, this is for non-fault incidents only, the same as you get when you pay for motor legal expenses cover.

For fault claims, your only choice is pay for it yourself, or use your fully comp insurance.

[suchy]

Just a quick question though Lee, what is your take on fault claims? Would one get unstuck with no Legal Cover on one's insurance if one was involved in a serious accident? Worst case scenario, someone is permanently injured (or worse) because of one's driving??

I'm totally for signing up to your non-fault membership, makes sense and seems legit as it's you. I'd be somewhat more sceptical if it was an advert on TV though but that's just me!

[E30BeemerLad]

On a fault claim you just use your own insurers to claim for your own damage (if fully comp), the third party will claim from your insurers and also any passengers in either vehicle will claim from your own insurer.

Having legal cover makes no difference on a fault claim as your insurer endures the pain for everything

[Morat]

OK then, have a look at this. It is not yet finished/ fully live, there are some typos to correct and the images are not final etc, but I would welcome feedback, good or bad.

What is your general perception?

Do you understand what it is all about?

Most importantly, would you join?

http://freemotorlegal.co.uk/index.html

Good idea!

[cecotto479]

Cool. Pre-emptive ambulance chasing. I like it.

I assume by "non fault" you mean "other party at fault" and where the other party's insurer has admitted liability?

If so, it might be worth making that clear? I can see situations where people may assume that because they think they're not at fault, they're entitled to claim.

Good plan. You're effectively offering people what they already have but don't know they have - you could go into any solicitor's office in the country and say, "If I was involved in a car accident and the other party was at fault, could I call you to deal with the claim?" and they'd bite your hand off.

My biggest concern would be that the dreadful image the whole claims handling industry has generated for itself would put people off. People won't believe that a business in this industry might give them something for nothing - and to be fair, you're not really. I might be tempted to make more of the fact that motor legal expenses insurance is scam, giving you nothing you're not going to get free at your own solicitor.

Providing loads of freebies with your details on - accident packs, tax disc holders, disposable camera etc. might get your details to the front of their mind in the event of an accident - and ultimately that's what you're aiming for.

[Gortour]

Providing loads of freebies with your details on - accident packs, tax disc holders, disposable camera etc. might get your details to the front of their mind in the event of an accident - and ultimately that's what you're aiming for.

A good call, assuming there's any money in the pot yet.

[Gert_8]

This looks very interesting.

Will your service be recognised by the insurance industry? What I mean by this is; presently we are asked to pay, as you say anything from a £10 upwards for the legal service, usually covered to £1M per claim. I presume this service is handled by the insurer, where as your service is acting like a middleman, so you are getting a fee through our "referal"?

How do you provide a "like-for-like" replacement vehicle, as this is usually also an arrangement with the policy cover at additional cost. Does it mean that we can also save on that cost, too?

As I said, looks very good.

[E30BeemerLad]

This looks very interesting.

Will your service be recognised by the insurance industry? What I mean by this is; presently we are asked to pay, as you say anything from a £10 upwards for the legal service, usually covered to £1M per claim. I presume this service is handled by the insurer, where as your service is acting like a middleman, so you are getting a fee through our "referal"?

How do you provide a "like-for-like" replacement vehicle, as this is usually also an arrangement with the policy cover at additional cost. Does it mean that we can also save on that cost, too?

As I said, looks very good.

The reality of legal expenses insurance is this:

Your broker gets the legal expenses policies free from a legal expenses services provider. The broker sells it to you for £20 on average, makes a quick buck.

The company who have provided the product to your broker (they are not the actual insurer) probably pay about 25p per policy from the actual insurer.

When you have an accident, you phone your broker or the telephone number on the legal cover booklet you have and if it's a non-fault accident, they will refer you off for replacement car hire, personal injury claim (if you are injured) etc etc.

Your broker and the legal cover company get kick backs from the hire company and the solicitor for referring you to them = "referral fees"

The claims that have prospects of success are the only ones they are interested in as the insurer never wants to take a hit for your legal fees. If your claim succeeds, the legal expenses insurer never have to pay out any solicitor fees. This is why they are happy to take a poxy 25p per policy as they know nobody will ever come knocking for any legal costs. If your claim succeeds, the motor insurer of the other party pay the solicitors fees you have incurred.

So what has your broker or motor insurer done here? Sold you a "policy" that never gets claimed against as the system is designed to prevent that happening. If legal expenses insurers did have to pay out solicitor's fees, you would be paying a lot more than £20 for a policy as your broker would not be getting it for nowt.

My organisation follows the same principles, except you don't get charged a premium and once you join as a member, you are a member for life. So unlike buying motor legal expenses insurance, you don't have to bother renewing it each year.

I don't charge you as I'm not selling you a policy, you are joining/ subscribing to a service which will do all the same and more that your motor legal expenses insurance does, but without having an actual policy and without you being ripped off for £20+ for cover you will never actually use.

In the event of a claim where there is a dispute as to whose fault it is, my solicitors will protect the individual member by purchasing an "after the event" legal expenses policy. This will cover you for upto £100k of legal costs and you don't have to pay the premium as this will be recovered from the losing party'd insurer. So if you lost your case, you do not have anything to pay. Nothing!

I make commission payments from the solicitors and hire companies and my website is open to that fact - see FAQ section.

Does that make sense?

By the way, please don't register on the site yet as it is not yet fully functional and may have a fair bit of alteration yet.

The purpose of putting it up there was to ask for people's feedback as I want to know if you understand what it is all about. I take this for granted as I have worked in the industry for over 15 years.

I plan on doing a short video which will go on the website to help explain stuff too.

[Kedge]

All seems to make sense to me, I have always wondered what would happen if i didn't have legal cover............pretty sure i've got it anyway! Just about to insure the bike so will definately be unticking the legal box now

[320Touring]

Looks good Lee-

I'll watch with interest!