travel insurance legal expenses

Travel Insurance Legal Expenses: Claim Compensation For Personal Injury Whilst On Holiday

Find out what travel insurance legal expenses cover is; claiming from the UK for overseas accidents; claiming for UK holiday; finding a lawyer via your policy; other things travel insurance covers; car when dealing with your travel insurer and places to find legal cover other than bespoke travel insurance.

Table of Contents

Most travel insurance policies will include some form of legal expenses cover.

This might be called different names by different insurers, such as legal expenses, legal protection cover, legal assistance, etc.

Legal expenses cover will typically meet the cost of a lawyer (up to the amount specified on your policy) for help from a lawyer for events occurring whilst you are on holiday.

This should include the legal costs in making a claim for personal injury (often criminal injury will be included) that occurs whilst you are on your holiday.

You Must Not Be At Fault
For you to able to claim your legal expenses – typically someone (other than yourself) must be at fault for your personal injury.

Can a claim be made from the UK for injury whilst on holiday abroad?

Some types of personal injury claim for accidents that occur overseas can be made from the UK using UK lawyers, such as package holiday accidents and some European road accidents.

Choosing The Correct Lawyer
Some types of personal injury claim can only be made by lawyers from the country where your accident occurred.
Speak to us – to discuss where your claim can be made.

This will depend on the type of travel insurance you have taken out.

One trip travel insurance

You may have taken out travel insurance for a particular trip abroad – in which case the insurance will only cover you for that overseas trip.

Annual travel insurance

You may not realise that some types of travel insurance can cover you for trips and holidays within the UK.

For example – you may have an annual travel insurance policy with legal expenses cover that will usually cover you for making a personal injury claim on trips and holidays both overseas and within the UK.

Duration Of Your Holiday
There are often some stipulations as to the duration of time you must be on holiday for you to be covered.
For example, some insurers require your trip to be for two nights or more.
However – with an annual policy there will often be a maximum time period that you can spend abroad a year to allow you to be covered.
For example – 3 months in every year.

How do you find a holiday accident lawyer to help you claim compensation?

If you have legal expenses cover on your travel insurance, you should claim on that aspect of the insurance policy and let the insurer allocate you an appropriate lawyer.

Often an insurer will have their own solicitor associated with the insurance – known as a panel solicitor whom they will expect you to use to make your claim.

On other occasions your insurer might have an in-house legal team.

You May Be Able To Choose Your Own Solicitor
Check your legal expenses policy wording. On occasion – it may allow you to choose your own solicitor funded by your policy to help you make your personal injury claim.
holiday accident lawyer
Holiday Accident Lawyer

Many people when they travel overseas take out a limited travel insurance policy for the specific duration of that trip alone.

However, others may take out an annual travel insurance policy or may unbeknownst to themselves be covered on other types of insurance policy, such as:

Household contents insurance will invariably have a clause referring to legal protection cover.

On occasion – it is an optional extra, requiring a small additional payment when you take out or renew your policy.

However – many times it is just included without an additional expense.

In our experience – around 70% of the people we talk to turn out to be covered for legal expenses without even realising.

Check To See If Your Cover Extends To Holiday Accidents
The legal protection cover on household contents insurance will typically cover you for the help of a solicitor in the UK for a UK accident or UK legal issue.
More rarely – it will cover you whilst you are on holiday overseas.
However,always check to see if you have the cover and what is available to you.

Paid premium bank accounts

When you pay an annual fee for a bank account – there are often added extras that come along with that payment. Many times, the added extra is an annual travel insurance policy with legal expenses cover and on occasion standalone legal protection cover.

Credit card purchases

Typically, when you make a purchase using a credit card you will be covered should something go wrong with that purchase. This may extend to purchasing of holidays – such as package holidays.

With the credit card protection – you will often find some form of legal protection insurance.

Hmmm – our experience is that travel insurers don’t often volunteer to tell you that you have legal protection insurance unless you check your policy and ask.

It is all too common that you may have an accident overseas and contact your insurer for compensation, Your insurer may inform you that the type of injury you have experienced is not covered by the policy. What they invariably fail to tell you is that you have cover to pay for a lawyer to make your claim for personal injury compensation.

We recommend – if you have an accident whilst on holiday, check the wording of your travel insurance. You should find some form of a clause referring to legal expenses, legal protection or legal help cover. Contact your travel insurer to explain you wish to action that cover to get legal help. Should your travel insurer be confused, you can simply refer them to the specific clause to help refresh their memory.

Many Travellers Go Without Compensated Unnecessarily
Many travellers, who experience personal injury, go uncompensated as they feel they cannot afford a lawyer to help them claim. However, you may not have realised that you are in actual fact covered for these expenses using your travel insurance legal expenses cover.

“Yes – of course”! Travel insurance is designed to protect you whilst you are on holiday or travelling overseas. Typically, you will receive cover for:

Medical emergencies

The costs of the treatment for medical emergency. This might cover treatment for personal injury.

Personal accident

A fixed amount of compensation in the event of death or certain categorised personal injuries. These types of injury are normally catastrophic injuries – such as loss of sight or loss of limb.

Personal liability

Meeting your liability for accidentally injuring or damaging property of another whilst on holiday.

Abandoned journey

Delayed or missed departure

Holiday cancellations

Personal items that are stolen, lost or damaged.

Lost or stolen passport

Should you lose or have your passport stolen – you travel insurance will typically cover your for a fixed amount for extra travel and accommodation expenses associated with getting a replacement.

Delayed baggage or personal belongings

Should your baggage be delayed by a fixed period of time (often over 12 hours) – you will receive a fixed payment for replacement of essential items.

Check What Your Travel Insurance Covers Before You Take It Out
Always check what your travel insurance covers before you take it out.
Don’t forget the importance of including legal expenses cover.

In this article we have set out what legal expenses cover on your travel insurance is and how to use it to fund a lawyer to help you if you are injured whilst injured on holiday overseas or at home in the UK.

Navigating what you should do if you suffer injury whilst on holiday is a bit of a minefield. Why not take advantage of our free telephone and online legal help options. Talk to a solicitor to find out what your options are, ask a question and have your claim assessed.

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