Should I sign this "No win no fee agreement"

Hi

Can someone please help! Three years ago I was involved in a car accident that was not my fault. My car insurance included free legal cover and the solicitor has been extremely slow at arranging & chasing up medical reports and progressing things so that now they have had to issue legal proceedings to the Court to avoid missing the 3 year time limit on making a claim.

Interestingly, the letter that informs me that they have issued legal proceedings also included a Conditional Fee Agreement (no win no claim) form, which the solicitor urges me to complete as soon as possible.

The letter states that i "already have the benefit of legal expenses insurance and therefore if your claim was to proceed all the way to a trial at Court and you were to lose then we would look to your insurer to pay the costs of the other side. However, if for some reason they refused to pay all the costs then we would have to look to you to fund the remainder of the costs". The letter then goes on to state that by signing up to the CFA i receive extra protection and if the matter goes to trial and I lose then I "would not be liable to provide any costs".

Having read the CFA however, I found the following contradictory line under "Paying us":
If you lose you remain liable for the other side's costs.?! What exactly is signing a CFA doing for me then?

It seems to me therefore that by signing this CFA form, the solicitor will get a success fee in addition to his basic charges if I win, but I would still have to pay the other parties costs if I lose!

An additional worry is the form is blank - no rates are proposed for the success fee if the claim concludes at or before trial!