In the past when purchasing car insurance for me, the buying the extra of Legal Expenses Insurance (LEI) was just as important has having a courtesy car.
However, my life in legal practice has provided me with the truth about LEI and the scam that thousands are caught by each year.
In May 2009 I was injured in a car accident which involved four vehicles. After the accident my instinct thoughts were ‘thank god I have bought LEI on my insurance policy’. Unbeknown to me and thousands of others, I was another victim of the Legal Expenses Insurance Scam.
After my accident, my insurance referred me to a Solicitor who was on their panel. I was glad that there was no charge for me to claim for my injury. However, I received a poor service from my Solicitor – I never received one phone call, and I only ever received two pieces of correspondence, and my case lasted over a year.
Not until I began work in legal practice did I discover what really happened, and why I received such a terrible service. I was informed that my insurance company received a referral fee purely for passing my injury case to the Solicitors in question. Therefore, I was horrified and shocked that by paying my extra premium for LEI, I had assisted my insurance company in receiving up to £800.00 for my misfortune.
As a result of the high premium referral fee for my case, it seems that the Solicitors in question could not afford to provide me with appropriate service; otherwise they would not have made enough profit from my case. This commonly results in unqualified individuals dealing with cases, cut down service standards, and lower compensation.
The LEI has now been brought to the attention of the Law Society and the Bar Council who have both disapproved of those Solicitors involved in the scam. I hope that this disapproval will start the end of LEI due to Solicitors distancing themselves from the insurance companies.
I have been studying law since 2004 and I had never come across the Legal Expenses Insurance Scam. Therefore, if I was not aware of LEI, any other ordinary person will not have any idea until they become a victim. The Legal Expenses Insurance Scam needs to brought to the attention of the general public immediately to demise the effect it can have on the victims involved.
