Legal Assistance Policies

[DaveA1]

As others do, I insure both car and caravan, fully comprehensive. Both have the optional legal assistance policy attached.

My Questions are,

Do I need both?

Say I drop the one on the car policy, would the one on Caravan policy cover any legal assistance I need on the car or visa-versa, or are the assistance policies just for that particular vehicle?

Would my house insurance cover both?

Know point in paying for cover I don't need.

 

[ProfJohnL]

I'm sure Raywood can offer more assured advice, but it seems to me that the legal advice on the car policy will cover for when teh caravan is being towed. The legal advice on the caravan is when the caravan is sited, and you home policy may cover other times.

 

[DaveA1]

Same as the main policies then. but for legal assistance.

 

[RayS]

Some years ago I wa seeking legal assistance with a potential claim under consumer protection legislation relating to faulty build quality of a new caravan. Sorry to say I got no help whatever from the 'cover' included with caravan, household, or general legal cover (Total 5 sources) and not from the Law Society either.
it seems that a solicitor dos not have to accept a case if he/she doesn't want to and none I contacted wanted to get involved with consumer rights issues. This made a complete farce of the advice in magazines and on consumer programmes on radio to follow though with complaints. I put a lot of effort into this, but ended up completely frustrated and disillusioned. For me, it just did not work.
So please don't have unduly high expectations of the practical cover such policy extentions may provide.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Whilst Ray S may have had difficulty with the claim he wished to pursue, it does not mean all policies or solicitors would be as non responsive to a request. It will depend on the nature of the claim involved.

If you want to know what each policy would cover you would need to read the policy terms and conditions. Never assume always check.

 

[Raywood]

Generally legal assistance policies will cover claims relating to the product sold but the wording varies so you do need to check them. I am afraid that while there may be some overlap, it will mean that all three are needed if you want more complete cover but even then there may be gaps in the cover.
The main overlap would be the car and caravan policies if you are looking at claiming against another driver after an accident on the road. At that point only one solicitor could be used so generally the car insurance would take the lead, although the caravan insurer might be required to contribute to any costs incurred.
I did look at the C&CC legal cover for their caravan policy and it is for legal costs following an accident, so the claim by RayS would not be covered by that policy if his had the same wording, the car policy would be similar although the house policy would be wider but probably excluded claims relating to road going vehicles, although some would limit the exclusion RTA accidents. You can buy after the event legal cover now to cover you if a claim fails but the insurer will look at the case and judge each on its merits and it is not cheap. Not sure this was available to RayS.
Solicitors do have the right to turn down any work they do not want which in very specialist claims can make life difficult.

 

[Buckman]

We had legal cover for our home, but when we tried to use it all sorts of obstacles were put in our way. To this day we are convinced that we were shunted into a department name "Fob them off". Now we prefer to rely on legislation and Which Legal Services.

 

[Dustydog]

The insurer takes the view that if success is 51% plus then they will refer it to one of their panel solicitors. In essence they only want cases where they are confident of a win and thus recover their costs. That has never sat comfortably with me for years.

I agree with the others each aspect of legal expenses cover is specific to the subject matter of the insurance. No way will a caravan legal expenses insurance cover your car and so on.
Also most Legal Expenses Insurers now use and own their own legal firms.
If you want you can still go for no win no fee. There are plenty out there who will take your case where the win chance is less than 50%.

 

[otherclive]

The insurer takes the view that if success is 51% plus then they will refer it to one of their panel solicitors. In essence they only want cases where they are confident of a win and thus recover their costs. That has never sat comfortably with me for years.

I agree with the others each aspect of legal expenses cover is specific to the subject matter of the insurance. No way will a caravan legal expenses insurance cover your car and so on.
Also most Legal Expenses Insurers now use and own their own legal firms.
If you want you can still go for no win no fee. There are plenty out there who will take your case where the win chance is less than 50%.

I’m in the process of pursuing a No Win No Fee CFA for Continuing NHS Nursing Care. The litigant still has to take care of how they deal with the matter as things can go awry. Best to read the Legal Ombudsman guidance if anyone is thinking of pursuing such an approach.

https://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/publications/no-win-no-fee/report.html

 

[Dustydog]

The insurer takes the view that if success is 51% plus then they will refer it to one of their panel solicitors. In essence they only want cases where they are confident of a win and thus recover their costs. That has never sat comfortably with me for years.

I agree with the others each aspect of legal expenses cover is specific to the subject matter of the insurance. No way will a caravan legal expenses insurance cover your car and so on.
Also most Legal Expenses Insurers now use and own their own legal firms.
If you want you can still go for no win no fee. There are plenty out there who will take your case where the win chance is less than 50%.

I’m in the process of pursuing a No Win No Fee CFA for Continuing NHS Nursing Care. The litigant still has to take care of how they deal with the matter as things can go awry. Best to read the Legal Ombudsman guidance if anyone is thinking of pursuing such an approach.

https://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/publications/no-win-no-fee/report.html

Good point Clive.
Yes, no win no fee only applies to your own Solicitor. If you lose you will be liable for the other sides costs! Not very good all this litigation.

 

[DaveA1]

]Generally legal assistance policies will cover claims relating to the product sold but the wording varies so you do need to check them. I am afraid that while there may be some overlap, it will mean that all three are needed if you want more complete cover but even then there may be gaps in the cover.[/color]
The main overlap would be the car and caravan policies if you are looking at claiming against another driver after an accident on the road. At that point only one solicitor could be used so generally the car insurance would take the lead, although the caravan insurer might be required to contribute to any costs incurred.
I did look at the C&CC legal cover for their caravan policy and it is for legal costs following an accident, so the claim by RayS would not be covered by that policy if his had the same wording, the car policy would be similar although the house policy would be wider but probably excluded claims relating to road going vehicles, although some would limit the exclusion RTA accidents. You can buy after the event legal cover now to cover you if a claim fails but the insurer will look at the case and judge each on its merits and it is not cheap. Not sure this was available to RayS.
Solicitors do have the right to turn down any work they do not want which in very specialist claims can make life difficult.

I rang my car insurance up and asked the question and where I've highlighted is basically what he said, that they were policy specific. That took some pushing.

 

[Buckman]

I rang my car insurance up and asked the question and where I've highlighted is basically what he said, that they were policy specific. That took some pushing.

Thing is that when you take out Legal Help cover nowhere is it stated that it specific to the insurance policy i.e. specific to the insured vehicle. I am wondering if it is illegal and something similar to the PPI as both PPI and Legal Cover are basically an insurance policy.

 

[Raywood]

Unless it says that it is specific to the vehicle it is not. The policy could refer to the insured vehicle and that would be specific. If it simply says cover while traveling in a car or other road vehicle it covers that and if it is any road traffic accident you would be covered if hit by a car while a pedestrian.
Insurers cannot suggest a policy is specific to a vehicle and that not be clearly stated in the literature and policy itself. Most should cover you when in any vehicle but there may be exceptions.