Car Insurance - Uninsured Losses

If you followed my advice on buying insurance, you will have legal expense insurance. They will undertake recovery of these losses for you, where you have reasonable prospects of winning - but without a guarantee of success. Some now offer a retrospective type of cover but it is expensive.

If you do not have this extra cover but purchased your policy via an insurance broker, they might agree to recover your excess for you. This was a task all insurance brokers used to undertake for their customers but most will now try and sell you legal expenses insurance. (They get extra commission for doing so)

If you have bought your policy from a direct insurer and did not take out legal expense insurance - tough. You are on your own. You might have a go at uninsured loss recovery yourself - talk to your insurers claims staff as they can 'pave the way' for you; or you could approach one of the many firms that have sprung up in recent years who will undertake this for you. Some of these include 'credit hire' and 'credit repair'. This is where you are provided with a car hire on credit or a repair on credit. They will then pursue recover of these losses, and quite often your other uninsured losses, from the third party insurer. If they fail you will eventually have to pay for the hire costs and repair work yourself. But they will usually only undertake work where there is a clear chance of winning.

There are now solicitors who operate on a 'no win no fee' basis. They will take a share of your payment when you win your case. If you have no legal protection insurance, a lot of uninsured losses, perhaps an injury and a case where who is to blame that is not very strong, then it might be worth looking at this option. But will then take you on? The higher the risk of losing, the greater the increase in their fees. They will try to gauge at an early stage what the risk of winning the case is. If it is less than 50%, they probably will not want to help you. Remember, that under English Law, the party that loses an action pays all the costs (except for 'small claims track' where fixed costs apply). Thus, if you have a good case, why give away part of your compensation to a lawyer or one of the new "After The Event" insurance providers? (You cannot have failed to see their advertisements on television!)

If you find yourself without legal protection insurance and need to have a car to keep you mobile - my recommendation is to try speaking to the third party insurers first. If necessary, tell them you are considering credit hire. All sensible insurer now have deals with hire car companies so that they can provide you with a car, at their expense, for the duration of repairs. If they will not assist you, then you could go to one of the credit hire firms

If you have only third party fire and theft cover, then the damage to your car is also an uninsured loss. Again my recommendation is to talk to the third party insurers. They will probably arrange for your car to be repaired by their approved repairer network at their cost. This is of course provided you have a clear cut case to pursue.

Next..... UK Car Insurance - Pursuing A Claim Through The Small Claims Court