The Back Room,
An old dear reversed into my car some time ago - she was reversing in road works to let white van man come through.
I had legal protection, so I put it their hands. The front of my plastic clad Rover was damaged - a cracked bumper, bent wing and broken light
I was without a car for two weeks; I had out of pocket expenses too.
The legal protection co. recovered not a penny for me - I had paid them £24.00 for this service when I renewed my insurance.
I will not be paying for this service again.
I have a Volvo 940 estate now; galvanised rubber coated damped RSJs as front and rear bumpers - plus tow bar.
Unless its another 940 that reverses into me next time, then my car will be unmarked in a similar 2 mph collision.
Has anyone else had similar poor experience with such 'legal cover' - is it a con to get yet more money out of us?
Alex
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In my experience, legal protection is worthless. Woman in company vehicle reversed into my Panda and refused to respond to her insurers over the matter. Handed the matter to the legal protection people and after waiting for a year, I had to do their job for them. I know of several other people who have had the same exprience. Totally bloody useless.
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I have used the legal protection part of my insurance twice to recover uninsured losses. Both times I have recovered payment in
full. I wouldn't be without it.
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I too got full recovery after white van shunted me up the bum at traffic lights. The wait was a bit longer than it should have been though.
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I've had it both ways; rear end shunt, got my money; lady, opening door into traffic, just managed to collect left hand mirror at full opening; could have been anybody in a stream, but she said she looked in the mirror and saw nobody - though I at least must have been there to see! I would have put it down to hard luck and paid to fix my damage myself had she just said sorry. Put it to the insurance and their people sat on it for a year, then said they saw no chance of getting my money - 1 knock off the protected NCB, which I'd rather have kept for real trouble. It seems, under suspected pressure from her husband, she just refused to say anything.
Conclusion? Only any good if it's easy.
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Similar experience when a van ran into my son's stationary car (which was on my insurance) and did only £100 of damage to the bumper. I spent about a year and a huge amount of 'phone calls and letters trying to get the legal assistance firm moving. I ended up getting the payout directly from the other party's insurance company myself.
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Classic example of a no fault claim, so if you go to your own solicitor there is no reason for them not to make a recovery of the legal costs therefore saving you £24 per year, also as he (or she) is not paid by the insurance company you will be able to get a comparable hire / courtesy car rather than the standard corsa! If you have not yet found a good solicitor (a) find one!!! along with a good builder, painter.... (b) use a specilist like 3 arrows who can be found in the yellow pages under the large add " It wasn't my fault" and a man pulling his hair out.
I have used 3 arrows and was impressed by there profeesionalisim, but keep good records yourself!
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Sorry ment to add on..
In short legal protection is a waste of money!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I had cover under my parents household insurance which I used against a taxi driver who knocked me off my bike.
In the end I had to advise the solicitor who was put in charge of the case about the loop-holes in the vehicle lighting regulations (you don't need to show a light when stationary in order to allow dynamo powered lights to be legal, but you don't need to have dynamo powered lights fitted. So when you've stopped, you are legal).
A friend used to work for an accident management firm - the cost of hire cars was a big money maker and the injuries that people remembered were also remarkable (are you sure you haven't got £2000 worth of whiplash, it's very difficult to detect...).
Piers
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I was rear ended a couple of years back and the legal protection my insurance covered the recovery of my excess.
At the time the excess was £100. My legal company advised the cost of recovery was £250. Total cost to other insurer £350.
It's a waste of money alright, no wonder our premiums are soaring. However, I don't think I'd have got anywhere by myself.
Lee.
PS - Always carry a camera in the car and go snap happy if anyone wrongs you - difficult for them to deny anything when it's photographic evidence, although sorry Alex, that mightn't have helped you
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Actually it has its uses, but I'd say Tomo summed it up pretty well
"only good if its easy"
It can save you running around and admin time, but if there is anything difficult involved its pretty worthless.
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My cover is through the RAC and when I was overtaken whilst turning right - having clearly indicated my intention in the appropriate manner - they were very efficient at recovering my uninsured losses, I think that there is now a legal requirement to sort things out in 3 months(?). I had to set out all my anticipated losses and quantify them in cash at the outset otherwise they might not be eligible to claim for, which I was a bit concerned about, how can you predict accurately about how may phone calls, expert reports or injuries that may come to light later.
I tend to agree that if it's easy it's useful, but I am still paying for the cover.
Rob S
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My Legal Protection people took on a Court action on my behalf against a Local Authority. It failed but they appealed (and that failed too). At least they tried though, so they're not all bad. And you can't tar them all with the same brush. (As with everything in life)
KB.
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General experience seems to indicate waste of time. Let's face it, for small
claims under £5,000 and no injuries, you can do it yourself. Small Claims Court
procedures are simple, threaten guilty party with summons in 14 days and then
do it! You will be surprised how quickly you will get response/result.
ULR, as it is know in the trade, deserves the bad name it has and is trying to clean itself up but, like all insurance, you have to retain a measure of control
because you never really know whose side your insurer is on - yours or the shareholders'.
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