Have you ever wondered if your electric car comes with a safety net for legal kerfuffles? Graham Hill spills the beans on the ins and outs of legal protection insurance, a topic that's not only crucial but often overlooked by many electric vehicle enthusiasts. With his characteristic clarity, Graham recounts his own experiences with the RAC's Legal Protection Plus, highlighting the substantial benefits it offers for a surprisingly affordable £15 a year. From combating car dealership disputes to challenging those pesky speeding tickets, this episode is your guide to ensuring that when it comes to legal skirmishes, you're never left in the lurch.
As we navigate through Graham's sage advice, it becomes clear that checking your existing policies for overlapping coverage is as important as having the legal protection itself. He points out that your home insurance or even your bank account might already serve as a legal shield in some capacity. Moreover, Graham doesn't just stop at vehicle-related issues; he expands the conversation to include the 24-7 helpline's utility in addressing matters of wills, employment law, and more. Strap in for a session that promises to arm you with the knowledge to defend your electric vehicle investment and keep you cruising with confidence.
To watch this on video click: https://youtu.be/thYZA7GdGVY
To buy a copy of Electric Cars - The Truth Revealed visit grahamhilltraining.com
Hi, this is Graham Hill back again. This is going to be my last podcast on insurance. I'm going to do one more, which is just going to summarize the ones I've covered. Just to cover off the front end stuff. I'm the author of the eBook Electric Cars - The Truth Revealed. To buy a copy of that book, you can go to grahamhilltraining.com. You'll be able to download a copy of the book and pre-order the training course which will be coming out later in 2024. If you pay for it now, then you'll get a very cheap rate as opposed to the hundreds of pounds it's likely to cost when launched as a stand-alone course.
So what we've done with these videos is cover off insurance products, different elements of insurance that you've got to be wary of before you actually get into or even place the order for your electric car. There's one last thing I want to talk about, and that's what's known as legal protection insurance. Now there are different levels of cover. You normally cover it in your insurance policy, but there's other policies out there that will cover a little bit more than you would cover in your normal insurance policy. So I just want to cover that off. The one I use personally is the RAC. It gives you legal protection insurance and it costs 15 pounds a year. It's their Protection Plus and it covers a number of different areas. Now be very careful, because you may find that your home insurance covers you for legal protection and we don’t want to be paying for insurance that you already have. Your normal car insurance may include it free of charge, but at different levels. If you tick the box saying you want legal protection, it may not cover all the things that you might want cover for. There are also certain bank accounts that include general legal cover which includes some car related cover. So if you have an accident which is not your fault, then it covers a lot of extra areas that you wouldn't cover if you didn't have the legal cover in the first place. So check it out beforehand to make sure you're not duplicating the cover. It's only £15 a year for the RAC policy. If you take out the RAC insurance, it's not only one of the cheapest out there, but it covers a number of additional legal areas which I'll go through in a second or two.
So these are the things that you need to make sure you have covered, because with electric cars, there's likely to be more disputes as we are moving into unknown territory. You may have an argument with a garage that's carrying out some repairs on the car or any upgrades that have not been carried out properly and you want to take some sort of legal action against the manufacturer or the supplying dealer or the broker, who supplied the car. So having this legal protection will get you advice on your legal position and action if it’s serious and you stand a good chance of winning the case. It also covers a wide range of other products and services, so I'm just going to run through those now. As I say, if it's a dispute with the suppling dealer, if it's over the purchase of the car or anything to do with the purchase or the sale of the car to you or maybe the part exchange that you've provided, in fact any legal issues that you've got regarding your car, you can call up their 24-7 helpline and they'll give you advice. And if it's a case that they feel they need to take up on your behalf, they will do that. The legal cover also covers things like speeding tickets or parking tickets or other traffic offences. They'll give you some advice on how to handle the tickets. They've also got standard forms that you can use if you're in dispute over a parking ticket or speeding fine, and if it's a specific incident, then they may be able to provide you with legal support. So, yes, I think one of the issues we're going to be seeing as we move forward is the question as to whether electric car garages are sufficiently equipped and qualified to do repairs on the cars, especially when it comes to battery faults. If the repairs aren't up to par, then you might need some legal support. If you need to go to court or at least make a threat that you're not happy with what's been done, you’ll have the legal support if you need it.
They've got 24-7 helpline and that can cover all sorts of disputes. Cover is up to £100,000 normally and provides legal expense cover which covers the purchase of the car, the sale of your old car used as a part exchange or straight sale and any service or repair disputes that you might have. It covers any of that type of car related situation. Also, the helpline will cover you for things like wills, probate, employment law, family disputes and even conveyancing on which they can provide advice. So their experts are there to help you and I think it's quite good to have that in the background so that you've got some clear and independent advice.
If you are having a dispute with someone over whatever it may be, then there's legal support you can use and it doesn't cost you anything because all costs are covered within the £15 you've paid a year. I've used it myself and spoken to a solicitor about probate. So it's quite a useful thing to have. Rather than turning to a solicitor and paying £250 pounds for the advice over a dispute, you get this for free. So I believe that this is something you should have. It also covers you when travelling abroad. It will cover a variety of costs when travelling in Europe. For example it will cover the repatriation of your car, other traveling costs as well as medical examinations up to £1,000. Uninsured loss such as loss of earnings and legal defence are also covered with conditions. A lot of cover for not a lot of cost. Your legal costs are covered up to £100,000 for each incident. As it goes, you can also use them to sort out your car hire and repairs if you've had an accident and you need some support on that front. So they're there to help and using a company like RAC, I believe is quite re-assuring. So that's the last insurance issue I wanted to talk about. Hopefully you won't ever need to call on them but with far too little known about the long term electric car implications it’s good to know that help is there if you need it 24/7. You may have a problem with your home charger or a public charger. You may find yourself drawn into a dispute with anyone in the supply chain and need some legal advice urgently. You now have it for £15 per annum. So that's that. That's the final product I want to talk about under the heading of Insurance.
As I’ve mentioned this is just one subject of 50 that are included in the book. As you have now seen and heard there’s a lot more to electric cars than you probably imagined. And this is key to more people transitioning to electric cars. Having as much information on electric cars – at your fingertips is critical if you are to make a properly informed buying decision. This podcast will cover everything you need to know over time but if your requirements are more immediate then you can but the book now and read everything you need to know.
On the other hand you may have an electric car but feel you don’t fully understand things like the WLTP range and why you aren’t achieving it. Should you change the tyres for EV specialist tyres or cheaper standard tyres. If it’s more information you need then you should buy a copy of the book by visiting grahamhilltraining.com. If you buy it now you will receive a free copy of the eBook Highway Code Changes 2022. Most drivers are completely oblivious to the latest changes to the Highway Code. Do you know what the Dutch Reach is and the penalty for not using it. Or the penalty for splashing a pedestrian when driving through a puddle? It’s all in the free eBook that comes with Elecric Cars – The Truth Revealed. If you want to sign up for this podcast visit grahamhilltraining.com/podcast and let me have your details or simply follow or subscribe wherever you see this podcast appear, we aim to be on them all including Youtube if you want to watch the video version. Okay, that's me finished on this podcast. As I say, the next one will be a summary of what we've covered and then we'll move on to other subjects as we go forward. Thanks for watching or listening. I've been Graham Hill and I'll catch you on the next one. Bye for now.