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• What Is Motor Legal Protection
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Insurance companies are 'ripping off' Britain's motorists by up to £270m a year over 'completely unnecessary' legal expenses insurance (LEI), a controversial new campaign claims.

The Accident Relief Campaign is attacking what it calls the 'claims roundabout', whereby most motorists pay £15 on top of their premiums to cover them against personal injury claims when, they argue, any solicitor would usually handle their case on a 'no win, no fee' basis at no expense to the driver.

The RMV will accept 30 hours of driving supervised by a parent or guardian if the applicant completes a driver skills development program. A parent or guardian must participate in 2 hours of instruction on the driver’s education course (unless they have completed one within the past 5 years). Pass a final exam. From claiming against a negligent driver to helping resolve an employment dispute, legal expenses insurance - often referred to as 'LEI' - offers a lot for a relatively small price. The cost of taking legal action can be prohibitive.

'It is a real rip-off,' says Nigel Mills, a spokesman for the group. The campaign has the backing of many claimant lawyers, who have long taken issue with motor insurance policies.

'It is debatable whether LEI is 'insurance' at all,' says leading costs expert Kerry Underwood, a partner at Hemel Hempstead law firm Underwoods. 'Largely the driver is buying is an introduction to a lawyer, so if there's an accident the insurer or motoring group simply flogs their case on. If motorists knew they were paying £15 to enable an insurer to sell their case for a tidy £700 they'd be appalled. Rightly so.' Some solicitors firms pay £500-£700 in referral fees for individual cases in what the campaign calls 'sleazy kickbacks'. Underwood says it is the consumer who loses out.

Not everyone agrees. The government and Which? (formerly the Consumers' Association) have long pushed for the expansion of legal expenses insurance as a way of providing access to justice, as well as being a safe alternative to 'no win, no fee', which has been accused of enabling dodgy claims companies to swallow up the damages of legitimate accident victims. As well as being offered an 'add-on' with motor policies, LEI is often given away with home policies (see below).

LEI recently won the backing of the Civil Justice Council, an influential judicial reform group. The council noted in a report that 'the case for promoting LEI is even stronger as legal aid becomes more restricted and as more people are becoming aware of the benefits offered by the policies they hold'.

Insurers also dispute the criticisms of motor policies. Paul Asplin, chief executive of LEI company DAS, which has the lion's share of the market, denies any solicitor would do the work on 'no win, no fee' at no cost to the driver. Solicitors would only be interested in cases where they could recover their costs from the other side. 'And that's only 20 per cent of cases,' he argues. 'Some eight out of 10 will not be cost-bearing because they will be below the small claims court limit or do not involve injury.'

Asplin also argues that there are more benefits than simply accident cover for 'minimal premiums', including cover for foreign claims, other sides' costs in lost cases and other expenses, such as replacement car hire. He also defends referral fees, saying they are 'the only source of income we get, and without it our business model would just fall over'.

The Association of British Insurers agrees. A spokesman says: 'Legal expenses insurance is not compulsory. It adds on approximately £15 to a motor policy [average comprehensive cover is £400] and provides peace of mind in cases following legal disputes after a crash. Bearing in mind a that motorist makes a claim once every five years, having this can be useful, particularly in cases where there is doubt over liability.'

John Peysner, a law professor who chairs the Civil Justice Council's costs committee, shares the concerns that motorists are being misled, but adds that it does not necessarily mean they are not receiving a good service,

'They're buying an orange which might be a perfectly good orange, but they thought they were buying an apple,' he says. 'However, they aren't aware that the insurers, having acquired their case, are going to sell it at a lot more money than they ever got from the premium.' He says the referral fee system is 'completely untransparent'.

Neither are insurers and brokers keen to reveal that they are being paid for referrals. A spokeswoman for solicitors Shoosmiths confirmed to The Observer that it pays referral fees to the AA's motor insurance broking arm, adding that the sums involved are 'nowhere near as much as reported'.

But the firm later sent an email stating 'all our commercial arrangements with clients are subject to confidentiality obligations which we honour and therefore we cannot discuss or comment at all on the content of them'. The AA emphatically denied it was receiving payments for referring cases to Shoosmiths.

Meanwhile, the Accident Relief Campaign itself came is under fire last week for offering drivers £250 in 'early financial assistance' through the Motor Accident Relief Society, a charity that runs the ARC as a separate campaigning arm. The Claims Standard Council, an industry watchdog, says that such arrangements amount to 'an inducement to the public to make a claim'.

'I can't see any difference between offering money upfront in this way and someone standing outside a hospital ward waving a wad of cash to accident victims,' says CSC spokesman Andy Wigmore. The CSC has complained in the past to the Advertising Standards Authority about two claims firms offering money upfront. Neither complaint was upheld.

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The headache that became a nightmare

Angie Mckinley was devastated when her plans to marry on Christmas Eve 2004 were derailed over concerns that she may have had a brain tumour. Of course, families and friends were sympathetic when plans for the big day were scrapped; however, the hotel that was to play host to the celebrations was not so understanding.

'The lady at the hotel who had taken our booking had been great,' Angie, a 50-year-old mother of five from Plymouth, recalls. 'It was my birthday the day after the wedding, Christmas Day, and she'd arranged for lovely red flowers to be put on each table and said we could bring our own bits and pieces to make the day more special.'

In the weeks preceding the planned wedding, Angie suffered an alarming series of headaches and passed out three times. Doctors originally thought she had a brain tumour, but after a week in hospital for tests doctors were none the wiser as to what was causing the splitting headaches. So her fiance, Terry, suggested that they delay the wedding to take the pressure off her.

'It had been three months of hell,' Angie says. But the hotel not only refused to refund the £200 deposit, but also held on to £1,000 that had been paid upfront, even though they were aware of her health condition. 'Up until that point the staff at the hotel had been understanding, but then their attitude became terrible. They had no empathy,' Angie says.

The couple had written off recovering their money until Angie's sister-in-law suggested that she re-read her household insurance policy (with Lloyds TSB). Government figures show that 17 million people have legal expenses insurance, often as part of their home contents policies at no extra cost. Many homeowners are oblivious to the range of cover or, like Angie, of their existence. But LEI can be a lifeline, often providing up to £50,000 in cover, access to telephone helplines and legal representation for employment, consumer and personal injury disputes.

'I could never have afforded to have taken the hotel on myself, even though I knew that I was right,' says Angie. 'I wouldn't have known that our household policy would cover the dispute if it weren't for my sister-in-law. I thought that it was for lost jewellery, stolen bikes or your freezer contents after a power cut.'

Angie and Terry recovered the £1,000, plus interest, and married a year later. Her health is now much improved.

What Is Motor Legal Protection

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