Often with car insurance policies you can pay a bit extra for legal protection. Many people do not even realise that this is something they can opt in and out of and they pay the extra for it without really realising what it means. It can add between ten and fifty pounds on to a policy and so it is a significant amount of money, but what does it actually do for you?

If you have an accident that is not your fault there may be damage to your vehicle that your insurance does not cover. The legal protection will cover the cost of the solicitor so that you can make a claim from the other driver to get compensation to cover the cost of this uninsured damage. The sorts of things that will not be covered by car insurance include compensation for death or injury, the excess, costs of repair if you do not have comprehensive cover, damage to items in the car if you insurance does not cover it, costs of a hire car and loss of earnings.

Some of these things can be covered in a comprehensive insurance anyway and so this may mean that it is not worth taking out this extra insurance. There are also legal companies that do not charge fees and so it is possible to get a solicitor without paying in advance if you need to make a claim for personal injury or death. Damage to personal possessions may be covered in your home insurance.

It is worth weighing up all the pros and cons, thinking about what you are already covered for in your policy and what additional pluses there are from taking out the legal protection. Think about the cost and whether it is worth paying for the peace of mind or whether it is something that you would rather leave and risk.

If you have savings then you can probably afford to take more risks because if you do have expenses to cover then you can find the money to pay for them. However, if you have no savings then you may not manage to pay any costs involved if you have an accident and so it could be better to pay the extra money so that you get all of the financial help you need if necessary.