The injured feel they are right
In most cases, anyone who suffers damage feels right. This applies to tenants who struggle with constant mold growth on the walls in their apartment. This also applies to the driver of a rented car who was involved in an accident through no fault of their own. Or someone would like to build a house and cannot start because the neighbors keep objecting and delaying the start of construction.
At first glance, the injured party is right, but the insurance company simply does not want to pay! Now it is not uncommon for a court case to be sought that is about the case law. But anyone who has ever had something to do with a trial in court knows that being right and being right are two different things. Legal proceedings are expensive and can quickly run into several thousand francs.
Even if the injured party is right, he still has to make an advance payment for the costs of legal proceedings, whereby the advance payment alone can quickly end up in the four-digit range. The advance payment will vary depending on the amount in dispute and the canton. But it will always be expensive! If processes are carried out through all three instances in Switzerland, CHF 100,000 or more can quickly come together.
Even those who win the process have to bear a high share of the costs, because the difference in costs that the loser cannot pay is usually passed on by the court to the other parties involved in the proceedings. So it is not surprising that many Swiss take out legal expenses insurance and henceforth believe that they are above all safe from costs. But this is not the case.
Legal protection insurance is more likely to mediate
It seems understandable that legal expenses insurance does not want to pay immediately. After all, the premiums for this insurance usually cost less than a single hour a year with a lawyer. Therefore, disputes that occur particularly frequently are often excluded. Examples of this are disputes in family law or inheritance law, these tend to get out of hand and lead to lengthy and, above all, cost-intensive disputes in court.
Personal and tax law are also not covered by legal insurances, although there are usually a few providers who cover these areas, sometimes at very high sums.
Legal protection insurance is offered as individual private legal protection or as traffic legal protection or as a combination of both types of insurance. Usually the package is cheaper, so it is also taken out more often. Traffic legal protection insurance can also be important for pedestrians or cyclists, because they are also considered road users.
In view of the fact that so many areas are not covered at all, legal protection insurance makes only limited sense. Experts advise that the existence-threatening risks such as death, disability, household effects and liability should be covered, and only then should legal protection insurance be considered.
However, this not only prevents disputes by, for example, only paying for mediation, but also the free choice of a lawyer. There is now no longer any insurance in Switzerland that allows a free choice of lawyer.
In addition, insured persons must observe the waiting period: Anyone who is already involved in a legal dispute can no longer take out legal protection insurance and claim its benefits for an ongoing case.
This is precisely what the waiting period is intended to prevent without disputes between the insured and the insurance company.
Conclusion: Legal protection insurance does not always ensure justice
The insurance companies are happy to sell special products within the legal protection insurance, which are intended to ensure that the insured person gets his or her rights in individual cases. In most cases, however, this will not be the case and the insured will at most get the first hour of advice from the lawyer replaced by the insurance.
Many areas of law are excluded by the insurance, these are precisely those in which disputes occur particularly frequently. In this respect, legal protection insurance is certainly one of the most easily dispensable types of insurance.
Personal liability insurance is also a kind of passive legal protection insurance, it at least fends off unjustified claims by third parties. In addition, many areas of law are already included in other insurance policies, so legal protection insurance is only recommended to a limited extent.
