CAR INSURANCE LEGAL COVER

What is motor legal protection?

Motor legal protection, which is also known as legal expenses cover, pays your legal expenses if you end up in court because of an accident you’ve been involved in.

If you’ve been in an accident that isn’t your fault, you can use motor legal protection to claim for any expenses that aren’t covered by the main part of your car insurance policy, that might include:

• The excess on your car insurance policy
• Costs associated with making a claim
• Medical costs if you or your passengers were injured
• Travel costs if you can’t use your car
• Loss of earnings if an accident means you can’t work

Motor legal cover sometimes comes included with your main car insurance policy, or it can be bought as an optional add-on.

What does legal expenses on car insurance cover?

Our trained claims handlers seek recovery for any uninsured losses from a third party such as:

• Travelling expenses
• Loss of earnings
• Compensation for personal injury

With our motor legal protection you can also benefit from:

• Unlimited access to motoring legal advice for you and your family via our 24-hour confidential helpline
• Cover if you need to take legal action, defend an appeal, or against a motor trader in a dispute involving the purchase, servicing, or repair of your vehicle
• The option of four hours of driver confidence coaching per policy year to be taken as agreed between you and an instructor of your choice if you need a confidence boost – for example following a motoring accident or if you've been unable to drive due to medical reasons
• Up to £100,000 for vehicle cloning claims
• Up to £10,000 of legal costs in respect of any legal claim to pursue the recovery of illegal clamping or towing fees relating to your vehicle.

Find out more about our car insurance cover levels.

Is motor legal protection worth it?

With Saga Plus Motor Legal Protection is included in your main policy, and it’s an optional add-on to Saga Select and Saga Standard policies that might end up saving you a lot of money.

We include some valuable additional benefits in our legal expenses cover, such as cover for vehicle cloning, illegal towing and clamping, and access to driver confidence coaching, that you might really appreciate if you find yourself in the unfortunate position of having to make a claim.

How often do car insurance claims go to court?

There aren’t any official records kept as to the number of claims that end up in court in the UK, but legal experts estimate that around 5% of car accident personal injury claims result in the claimant going to court, and the number of cases where you need to appear in court may be less than this.

If you do end up going to court, it could be disruptive and expensive, so it’s definitely worth considering if you’d be better prepared and protected with motor legal cover in place before you need it.