Temporary Car Insurance

Traditionally, a car insurance policy lasts for a year at a time. But what if you won't have the car for that length of time? Perhaps you're just looking after a car while a friend is on holiday, and you need to be insured to drive it. You don't want to take out a full years premium for a car you'll only have for a fortnight, and your current insurance policy doesn't cover driving other cars.

So what can you do? Do you drive your friend's car without insurance and risk having it confiscated? You won't have your friend for very long! Or do you just leave it parked up and just hope that it will still run when your friend gets home?

Or do you get insured temporarily on the car? You can get temporary cover of a car or van for between 1 and 28 days, with an option for Third Party or Fully Comprehensive.

One months temporary car insurance will work out more than a months premium on a standard policy, but as you only pay the one-off fee it's an easy way to legally drive another car with no long-term commitment to an insurer.

Temporary insurance is also useful if you've just bought a new car and haven't managed to get full cover sorted out. You can arrange for a day or two of temporary insurance which will cover you driving back from the dealership.

Or perhaps your current policy has run out and you haven't had time to get a new car insurance quote? You can buy temporary cover giving you time to shop around for cheap car insurance at your leisure.

Temporary cover should not be seen as a substitute for a standard yearly policy. It is purely for situations like the ones outlines here, or in emergencies. But it can prove very beneficial, and certainly easier than trying to negotiate a second car on your current insurance policy!

Compare car insurance. Get cheap car insurance online. Find a car insurance quote before you buy.

J Tillotson is a financial author based in the UK