How Temporary Insurance Works for Vans, Cars, and Borrowed Vehicles
When most people think of car insurance they think of yearly insurance. You buy it, you pay it monthly or up front and you’re good to go—at least until the renewal period rolls around. Not everyone needs insurance for that long, though. You might need insurance for just a day, a couple of days, or even just a week. In that case, you’ll want to look into temporary car insurance.
Temporary insurance is good for more than just the usual kind of car. You can get temporary car insurance for vans and the most common use for temporary insurance may be for vehicles that aren’t even yours. If you need to borrow a friend’s van to move some stuff, if you plan to drive a friend’s car while they are away, or if you need a vehicle for a short trip, temporary insurance can make it happen.
What Temporary Insurance Really Is
Temporary insurance is short-term car insurance that lasts for varying periods of time. In most cases, you can purchase temporary insurance that covers you for from a few hours to a few weeks. Most companies that offer temporary insurance allow you to pick the coverage length from 1 day, 3 days, 7 days and even up to a month.
The insurance works just like any other policy. You usually get third party fire and theft as a minimum, but you can also purchase fully comprehensive cover. The main difference is that the policy has an expiry date. In that case, there’s no renewing the policy, no learning curve regarding cancellation fees, and no long-term commitment.
Temporary car insurance doesn’t just work for cars, though. It also works for vans and cars that you don’t own yourself. If someone is kind enough to lend you their vehicle, getting temporary insurance is super easy.
Why You Should Get Temporary Insurance For These Vehicles
Cars are the most obvious vehicle you can purchase temporary insurance for, but they’re also the most common. You might have someone’s car in your name for repairs; they might be letting you borrow their car while yours is in the shop; or you might have another use for a vehicle like test-driving a car you’re thinking of purchasing.
Temporary insurance can be especially useful for vans. Hiring a van may be one of the most common uses of temporary insurance. Hiring vans can be expensive when it comes to insurance fees. Most hiring companies will cover your vehicle for damages, but the excess can be so high that it’s not worth claiming.
Instead of paying an extreme fee for excess and having to worry about claiming against your hire agreement, insurance from a temporary vehicle insurance provider gives you peace of mind without having to commit to one or two week’s worth of normal insurance.
Borrowed cars are another common situation where temporary coverage makes perfect sense. You might think you’re covered under your friend’s or relative’s car insurance policy but it’s not always so simple. Even if their policy says they cover other drivers there are always special considerations and potential limitations to who they’ll actually cover. It’s best to keep it simple and get your own temporary coverage.
How Fast You Can Get Covered
One of the main reasons people opt for temporary car insurance is due to the speed at which it can be arranged. Normal car policies involve getting quotes, comparing policies, and then waiting for the cover to begin—in some cases, the next day.
Temporary insurance is intended for situations where you need immediate cover. Most companies allow online agreements in just a few minutes. You’ll have to provide details about the vehicle; confirm your driving history; choose an amount of time you want coverage for; and your policy will begin as soon as you request, or as soon as you get around to it.
When Temporary Cover Isn’t Just Adding Someone as A Driver
Temporary insurance is often viewed as an alternative to adding someone else as a named driver to an existing car policy. This can work if someone plans on driving your car often—but for emergency situations it might be more of a headache than it’s worth.
Adding someone as an additional driver increases the premium; that’s hardly ideal if someone is only going to require your car for two days.
Adding someone takes time as well—time contacting the company, time waiting for them to process details, time paying fees associated with adding someone onto a policy.
Even worse? If something happens and the person that you added as a driver gets into an accident after having driven your car then your no claims discount suffers—that’s assuming you’re not even there to manage the incident in the first place!
What To Consider Before Buying Temporary Insurance
Not all temporary insurance policies are the same. Make sure that if you’re buying a policy you check:
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The level of cover
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The excess
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The actual type of vehicle covered
Most temporary policies cover standard vehicles like cars and vans but always check if you’ve got an unusual vehicle.
When Temporary Insurance is a Wise Option
If you’re going to be driving a vehicle regularly over a long period, a traditional annual policy makes more sense. But for those one-off situations where you need cover quickly and don’t want to commit to anything long-term, temporary cover gives you the flexibility to get insured on your terms.
