Legal Protection.

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
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Tue 8 Sep 2009 17:35
Legal Protection. - Sam0409
Hi Guys,

Here are some questions which may sound silly as I am new to the claim area of insurance. So, please forgive me for my ignorance and help me with the following.

1. Does using the motoring legal protection through my insurer to recover uninsured losses such as hire costs also affect the NCD? In other words, the insurer didn't have to pay to any external party but had to provide service for recovering the uninsured losses from the 3rd party insurer. Will this be treated as a claim and affect the NCD?

2. If no claim is made to the insurer but a total loss car is replaced by a similar car on the policy (to get myself going in absence of a courtesy car!!) and the claim is pursued independently (or via a claim management company) with the 3rd party insurer, could there be any issue that the total loss car is not insured anymore? I know this is not an issue if you are claiming your insurer and they inturn recover from 3rd party insurer but not sure of there could be any pitfalls when handling directly with the 3rd party insurer.

Thanks,
Sam.


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Tue 8 Sep 2009 20:30
Legal Protection. - Sam0409
No replies yet so putting this one again.
Appreciate any replies.
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Tue 8 Sep 2009 21:58
Legal Protection. - martint123
(1) I'd have said NO - the legal cover is usually a separate policy with a separate company.
(2) If you aren't claiming off your own insurance then your car need not be a total loss. Normally it is only your own insurer that will write it off and pay out. You have much greater power if claiming from a 3rd party directly.
Your own old car will still be insured, but may not be covered if it is not in a roadworthy condition. If for some reason yoru old car is written off - then it would become the property of the insurer who paid out - insurance would then have to end.

Annoyingly, if your own insurer pays out and writes your car off, the policy is finished and no
refund for any unused priod is payable.
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Tue 8 Sep 2009 23:32
Legal Protection. - Sam0409
Thanks for your reply Martin.

(1) The legal cover is a part of the same policy and of course the same insurer. The answer should be NO anyway as there's no payout by the insurer.

(2) I also thought that once the car is a write off the policy is finished. I wondered how would they reflect my NCD (post claim settlement with the 3rd party) if the policy is not there anymore.

So I had called up my insurer today and found out that the policy will still exist and I can have the new car on it (Change of car is anyway an option available anytime during the year, I read this today in the policy booklet!!).

I will earn 1 year NCD if they recover the cost through the 3rd party and I do not have any more unsettled claims in the remaining months of my policy with the new car. The premimum may vary depending the new car's make, model, value etc.

This somehow makes sense as how would they otherwise add/not add to my current NCD if I don't spend an year with them. At this moment I have 2 years NCD from previous insurers and have spent only 5 months with my current insurer. If I'm not wrong I could excercise 2 options with the new car.

a) Find a new insurer and get a quote with 2 years NCD and 1 no fault claim in last 4 years.
b) Continue with my current insurer, hope that they recover the costs through the 3rd party and hence add 1 more year of NCD on my next renewal.

Clearly choosing (a) sets me back 5 months in terms of additional year of NCD.

This is my understanding but as I am a novice in Insurance claims, this may be wrong.
Any further comments are appreciated.

Thanks,
Sam.
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