Graham Cutbill-White
Last updated: 04/06/2025
There are a lot of misunderstandings when it comes to legal cover and car insurance. If you have car insurance, you may not even understand why you may need additional legal cover.
In the event of an accident, motor legal protection could safeguard you against an array of extra costs and help you claim back expenses.
In this guide, we’ll look at all the key terms and explain what legal cover car insurance is, how it works, and why it is so important.
Legal cover car insurance was created to prevent motorists from suffering financial losses if they were involved in an accident that wasn’t their fault. It does this by covering costs such as loss of earnings, policy excesses and the expense of making a personal injury compensation claim.
Your standard car insurance policy alone can’t help you claim these back. If you don’t have legal cover, you will have to hire a solicitor to try and make these claims. That’s an expensive outlay with no guarantee you will get anything back.
You can get legal cover as an addition to your car insurance, but it doesn’t always come as standard. If you want legal protection, ask your insurer to include it when setting up your policy.
Also known as motor legal protection, legal cover can help with:
Legal costs can be quite high if you’re involved in an accident. The main reason to get legal cover is to safeguard you against financial losses if you’re involved in an accident that isn’t your fault.
Some policies also cover legal costs for accidents or motoring offences which you have been blamed for, as well as other disputes. Legal cover can help give you peace of mind.
This will vary between insurers, but generally speaking, legal cover car insurance can include the following:
The exact details of cover will be different between insurance companies, so be sure to shop around, compare prices and look at what different packages offer. The list above is indicative, but packages can vary. It’s always a good idea to compare deals.
Legal assistance on car insurance is essentially legal cover. Alongside protecting you against losses from accidents that weren’t your fault, motor legal assistance also helps cover legal costs if you’re facing prosecution for a motoring offence which you are disputing.
Legal protection car insurance would also cover legal costs relating to consumer disputes. This can include:
Some insurance companies also offer 24/7 legal advice as part of their legal cover package.
Although there is no legal requirement to have legal protection, there are many reasons to consider adding it to your car insurance policy. Sometimes it’s included with a standard policy, but if not it can usually be added for an additional cost.
It’s worth considering the reassurance of having extra financial support, but ultimately the decision is up to you on whether it’s worth adding legal cover to your policy. Check your policy documents carefully to see if you need it.
While some car insurance policies will include legal cover, many do not. It’s often classed as an additional extra and you’ll need to discuss setting it up directly with your insurer – either when you take the policy out or as an upgrade later on.
You can normally add legal cover by agreeing to pay an extra amount each year, although the details and what it covers will vary between companies. You’ll agree to these with your insurer before purchasing your legal cover with your policy.
Some of the extra details legal protection can offer include:
Legal protection can cover up to £100k of legal costs when pursuing a third party for damages, but it could be worth considering covering up to at least £50k as you never know when you might need it.
Accidents can happen to anyone. Anyone who drives – whether regularly or on an occasional basis – can potentially face the same issues and disputes following an accident. This means it’s always worth considering whether to add legal protection cover as it can help protect you from unexpected legal costs.
While some car insurance policies will include legal cover, for many others it is not a standard feature and will be classed as an additional extra. It will need to be discussed and set up directly with your insurer, either when you first take out the policy, or later.
Usually, you can add legal cover by agreeing to pay an extra amount each year, although the exact package, and what it covers, can vary between companies and will need to be agreed with the individual insurer.
Whenever you’re taking out car insurance, one of the golden rules is to only pay for the amount of cover and length of cover you actually require. There’s no need to pay for expensive annual cover if you only need a car temporarily. Instead, why not consider a cost-effective, flexible and short-term alternative and compare temporary car insurance?
Temporary car insurance is time-limited cover that’s ideal for when you need to borrow a car, pick up a new vehicle or just share a long drive. Whenever you need to use a car that you’re not already insured to drive, temporary car insurance is the flexible and affordable option.
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Temporary Car Insurance