The world of car insurance is a complicated one, and also an unavoidable one. Insurance is a legal requirement for driving a vehicle, with the law unequivocal over the importance of ensuring you have the right coverage to drive. There are various plans and policies available on the insurance market, with different provisions for different situations.
Between the fully-comped and third-party agreements, though, is a form of insurance plan known as temporary car insurance. This is a short term car insurance plan that allows people to insure themselves on a vehicle for a customisable length of time. When would this kind of insurance plan be useful to take out?
Borrowing a Car
Perhaps the most common reason for which anyone might need temporary car insurance is when borrowing another car. Typically, car insurance plans do not track a given driver, but instead a specific vehicle. As such, a driver insured with their own car will not be insured to drive another car – unless they have a specific, and costly, kind of comprehensive car insurance.
Temporary car insurance can be a simple and inexpensive way to render oneself legally permitted to drive another’s car. Without doing so, the car lender in question would be liable financially for any damages arising from a road traffic collision – and both of you could be prosecuted for driving uninsured, and allowing someone to drive uninsured respectively.
Learning to Drive
Of course, there are different scenarios in which temporary car insurance can be effective. Another common instance relates to someone who is learning to drive. Many driving instructors will have a special form of third-party insurance, that insures learners in their fleet. But there are learners who might wish to learn in their own car or practice with a chaperone between lessons.
Temporary car insurance can be used by learner drivers to insure their car before they pass their test proper, enabling them to legally take their personal vehicle on the road for practice purposes – providing they continue to adhere to the law surrounding learner drivers.
New Car Admin
Temporary car insurance can also be a useful stopgap for people on the hunt for a new car. If you wish to test a vehicle before you buy it, and your insurance does not cover you to drive other people’s vehicles, you can use temporary car insurance to make a road test legal. You could also use it to cover your new car between insurance policies, while you hunt for the best deal.
Managing a Car Collection
Lastly, temporary car insurance is an effective way to bring costs down for car collectors and hobbyists. If you have your own personal fleet of collector cars, insuring them all can be a prohibitive cost – especially if many only see a few outings a year. Temporary insurance means you can insure your cars as and when you wish to take them for a spin.