Legal Expenses Cover

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PeterBoater

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My boat insurance is coming up for renewal but the insurer that I've been with for many years has stopped supplying legal expenses cover. Shopping around for other quotes shows that every insurer except one have also stopped offering legal expenses cover too. Any thoughts on why this is? In other respects my existing insurer's quote isn't too bad in comparison with the others (except that of course it's gone up significantly); does anybody know of any stand-alone legal cover? I think I have legal cover with my house insurance but don't know whether that will cover boating.
 
Many house policies (can) include it, but the devil will be in the details...

e.g. they cover you for the property issues, but often cover for "you vs others" such as employment and public liability (you to others) etc. You may find that could include "you on a boat" vs others... but only if you drop the ball, not if someone else damages you / your boat.
 
I believe Allianz might still offer ? Most of the insurers in this field operate around Bristol outskirts but I don’t know why this cover might be hard to find currently -do you have an insurance broker as they might advise -speak to navigators for example or as said Haven KJ
 
Beneteau381 said:
No it ain’t as I found out when I had a claim with my car being run in to whilst I was stationary. They used it to provide a hire car and solicitors to enforce the costs
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But you could likely have asked a claims management firm to do exactly that after the crash rather than pre-emptively paying a fee. One of the issues with legal insurance is it is usually based on the discretion of the insurer to determine whether your case has a realistic prospect of success and thus qualifies or not.

Personally I think legal protection insurance might be the next mis-selling scandal. It is often lumped in with other policies without really determining if you need it - eg if you have a home policy, does it cover 90% of the same stuff as a motor or marine policy? most people don’t know that you can actually buy standalone legal protection policies - usually for less than (or better cover than) those bundled with other policies.
 
They will really only act for you in court if there is a very high possibility of you winning your case. Since there is doubt in very many situations (most?) they will not act. I had a matter where I tried to use the legal insurance. The solicitor gave a list of cases which undermined my position. I produced a more recent case report which fully supported my position. She said, "I knew about that one", but I am pretty sure she didn't. It didn't change her mind anyway. I could have got counsel's opinion to outrank hers but decided not to bother.

My feeling was that she was on the insurance panel for that firm and preferred to act for the firm rather than for the client (me). But after all, I was not her client.
 
billskip said:
Well tell him who then, that's what he asked.
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Well he didn’t give us very much information - if I assume he’s in the UK with no weird policy requirements that probably wouldn’t explain why he’s not getting quotes for it from the main marine insurers as it appears most do still advertise this option.

However Quality Motor Legal Protection – £100,000 of cover from only £10.99. would be worth a look (they have a number of variations). DAS are one of the biggest firms and would deal direct but seem to have been bought out and only sell as add on services.

Anyone else who is considering it for their motoring needs might want to take a look the the RAC - they do a standalone motoring legal policy which is roughly half the cost of most policies offered wrapped up in normal car insurance.

The other thing many people miss is professional bodies and unions often have cover for members so they may be buying a product twice. The RYA offer practical legal advice to members - I don’t think that extends to pursuing claims but they may well signpost you to firms that specialise in handling marine claims (whereas the insurers likely do not).
 
It is very low cost (cheap!) cover which suggests that payout for claims is low. I only take it if it is included in an otherwise competitive quote. Most of the £10-15 add ons have very restrictive conditions as described in post#9. The probability of third party claims on boats is already low and the chance of the third party being uninsured is arguably even lower, although the probability in such a case of the third party having no money anyway. So difficult to imagine how it would be worth anything.
 
ylop said:
Well he didn’t give us very much information - if I assume he’s in the UK with no weird policy requirements that probably wouldn’t explain why he’s not getting quotes for it from the main marine insurers as it appears most do still advertise this option.

However Quality Motor Legal Protection – £100,000 of cover from only £10.99. would be worth a look (they have a number of variations). DAS are one of the biggest firms and would deal direct but seem to have been bought out and only sell as add on services.

Anyone else who is considering it for their motoring needs might want to take a look the the RAC - they do a standalone motoring legal policy which is roughly half the cost of most policies offered wrapped up in normal car insurance.

The other thing many people miss is professional bodies and unions often have cover for members so they may be buying a product twice. The RYA offer practical legal advice to members - I don’t think that extends to pursuing claims but they may well signpost you to firms that specialise in handling marine claims (whereas the insurers likely do not).
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PeterBoater said:
My boat insurance is coming up for renewal
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Pretty much your usual wast of pixels...not a helpful post at all...as above, he makes it clear "My boat" and you suggest motor and house stuff....
 
billskip said:
Pretty much your usual wast of pixels...not a helpful post at all...as above, he makes it clear "My boat" and you suggest motor and house stuff....
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Sorry I didn’t realise I had an obligation to spend my time searching for a specific marine policy on behalf of the OP! I responded in general terms to the point that such policies were, in general, poor value and pointed out standalone policies were available to someone who quoted how “useful” it had been for his motoring claim. YOU demanded I provide links - which I did.
 
ylop said:
Sorry I didn’t realise I had an obligation to spend my time searching for a specific marine policy on behalf of the OP! I responded in general terms to the point that such policies were, in general, poor value and pointed out standalone policies were available to someone who quoted how “useful” it had been for his motoring claim. YOU demanded I provide links - which I did.
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....stop wriggling...
 
I cannot specifically comment on BTE cover for marine but a few observations more widely on product;
1 the mark up or commission charged by brokers and indeed insurers who broker other insurers products is very high so from a regulatory perspective not favoured even if sell out price is low. As said you can buy direct or use PCWebsites etc ;
2 the claims incidence is low but for those who claim with a valid claim high success rate;
3 the usual measure as to prospects of success is 60% -not very high really
4generally simplest to accept use of insurers lawyers
Good luck in search but why do you want this in a marine environment ? What’s the concern really if you are covered -I guess an uninsured third party yacht hitting you in marina?
 
ashtead said:
Good luck in search but why do you want this in a marine environment ? What’s the concern really if you are covered -I guess an uninsured third party yacht hitting you in marina?
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That would be a situation where it might be useful if you did not have all risks cover, but probably just as easy to claim on the third party insurer if it is clear cut - such events usually are. If the third party is not insured then even if the claim is successful may be difficult to enforce.
 
nevis768 said:
Legal cover is an absolute rip off, they will sneak out of doing absolutely anything.....
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Is that based upon experience (whether first hand or second hand) and is it also useless for house insurance as well as boat insurance?

I have never read the small print, but for an extra£25 I would hope I had some help if I needed legal action.
 
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