Temporary car insurance

Short term car insurance is completely flexible, not only does it allow you to drive the car of a family member or friend, it allows you to choose the exact amount of time you need to use the car for.

You can insure a car for as little as one hour to 28 days.

Yes. Temporary car insurance is added to the Motor Insurance Database (MID), which is the UK’s official record of insured vehicles. Because temporary policies are short-term, there can occasionally be a short delay before the MID updates. As long as you have your insurance certificate or confirmation email, you are legally insured and safe to drive

Yes, you absolutely can insure yourself on someone else’s car with temporary insurance, that is one of the main reasons people get it. Just make sure you have the owner’s permission.

Yes you can take out multiple temporary policies in a year, but there will come a tipping point that it would make more sense cost-wise to take out an annual policy.

No you can't take out temporary insurance on a hire vehicle. Short term insurance allows you to borrow a car and insure it, rather than insure a hire car.

You cannot legally drive a car home without insurance.

If you have an accident you won't be insured and the excuse that it's a new car and you haven't had chance to insure it yet, wouldn't cut the mustard.

You can use temporary car insurance or drive away insurance as it can also be referred to, to get a new car insured.

This way you can give yourself more time to find a competitive and suitable annual car insurance policy.

Yes you can use temporary insurance to tax a car - this is one of the beauties of short term cover. Remember that a car needs an MOT in order to tax it.

You can take out a temporary car insurance policy to get your car insured on the MID (Motor Insurance Database) then tax your car (as it has to be insured to tax).

You can MOT a car without tax. but the journey must be purely to and from the MOT test centre.

Brand new drivers ie you passed your test two days ago, unfortunately cannot get temporary insurance. But new-ish drivers can.

You need to have held your full UK driving licence for at least six months. So, if you've just passed your test, congratulations, but you'll need to wait for six months before you can get a temporary insurance policy.

Temporary car insurance is perfect for short term needs, but if you require cover for a longer duration, an annual policy may be more cost effective.

It doesn't cover you for driving a rental or hired car; you'll need a specific hire car insurance policy for that.

Short term cover also is not suitable if you're planning on using it to be a cabbie - you'll need proper taxi insurance to do that. It's also not to be used for deliveries or courier work.

Temporary car insurance is also not suitable for releasing a vehicle from a Police or Local Authority impound, learning to drive, driving outside of the EU/EEA and for importing / exporting cars; the vehicle must be in the UK at the start and end of the policy.

With annual insurance you pay for the full 365 days of cover on your car insurance, whereas with temporary insurance you only pay for the time you need. That is why it's worth checking to see if a short term policy is cheaper for you.

There are also a few ways that you can try and get the cheapest temporary car insurance.

- Don't purchase adds ons you don't need; for example, you may have breakdown cover with your bank account

- Have a choice of cars to borrow? It might be worth getting quotes to see which car produces the cheapest quote for you

- Build your experience; the longer you've held your licence claim-free, the better

Temporary insurance UK is important as it can help drivers get emergency insurance to make sure they are legally covered whilst on the road in the UK.

If you drive a car that you are not insured on there could be big consequences if you are pulled over by the police.

The consequences could be even worse if you have an accident and are not covered by any insurance.

You could be left with severe consequences, such as large bills if you are found liable for any damage or injuries caused by you if you're at fault.

If you crash a car in the UK without insurance, you're breaking the law and could face serious consequences.

Driving without at least third-party insurance is illegal, and even if the vehicle is insured, you must also be personally insured to drive it.

If caught, you could receive a £300 fixed penalty and 6 points on your licence.

In more serious cases, you could face an unlimited fine, a driving ban, and the police may seize or even destroy the uninsured vehicle.

After purchasing your policy from us, you'll receive a set of important documents to view and download.

These include your Insurance Certificate (proof of cover), Policy Schedule (key policy details), Statement of Fact (information used to create your policy) and the Policy Wording (full terms and conditions).

You’ll also get an Insurance Product Information Document (IPID) for comparison purposes, our Customer Terms of Business, and the Covertime Contract, which outlines our role in arranging your policy and the admin fee payable.

There is no hard and fast rule for the cheapest cars to insure on a short term basis. As a rule of thumb within the UK insurance industry, smaller, cheaper and low powered cars usually command the lower premiums.

Therefore, used cars and cars with smaller engines are worth getting quotes for it you're looking for the cheapest temporary car insurance as a UK driver.

Cars that fall into this category could be the Hyundai i10, VW UP, Skoda Fabia, Kia Pacanto, SEAT Ibiza, Ford Fiesta, Fiat Panda or the Toyoto Aygo X to provide just a few examples.

Due to the fact that you can only insure a car for between one hour to 28 days on temporary car insurance, you do not earn No Claims Discount (or what some may call No Claims Bonus) with short term cover. No Claims Discount is earned after you have had a full year's worth of claim free driving on an annual policy, so this is why you don't earn it with temporary insurance in UK.

There is no standard approach for using security to get lower car insurance premiums and this is still the case with short term car insurance in the UK.

The best way to stop your car being stolen is to use multiple layers of security, as no single method of stopping your car being stolen is guaranteed or a 'silver bullet' solution.

You can use a car alarm, an immobiliser to stop the car being started, a tracker which can help you to find your car in the event of it being stolen, steering wheel locks or physical security such a bollard on your drive or keeping your car locked out of sight in a garage.

All security solutions can be got around if the thieves really want your car, but the more layers of security you have then better chance you have of stopping them or putting them off!

There's no doubt that keeping your car locked out of sight in a garage overnight is the best method of keeping it out of the hands of car thieves. Not only does it keep it from being spotted by opportunists but also put a barrier between them and your car that they'll need to get past without making a noise!

If you can't store your car in garage, then your drive is your next best bet; there isn't usually a physical barrier, but it'll be close to your home and will allow you to be nearby to hear any suspicious activity.

If you don't have a garage or a driveway, the final option is to keep your car parked on the road, which is the least desirable overnight storage location from an insurance perspective, as your car will be out of sight, won't be behind any sort of locked door and potentially not within as close a proximity to your house as a driveway.

When you get a temp car cover quote with Covertime, we use a registration look up which automatically passes us the information about your car. This means that you don't have to spend any time looking up details or working out its current value with depreciation since purchase, our clever system does all of the work for you.

Forget the days of calculating what was originally paid for the car, how old it is, the depreciation due to mileage, condition, demand etc. with Covertime you can get a temporary car insurance quote in less than 60 seconds with minimal input!

Most temporary insurance providers offer cover from one hour to 28 days; therefore, six months is a little past that.

Be aware that cancelling an annual policy part way through may incur a cancelation fee, you won't earn your year's NCD, plus your refund probably won't be for six months' worth of remaining cover.

Always check with your annual insurer before making these types of changes or cancellations; to find out what implications and costs are associated with it.

You can only obtain short term car insurance from us once you have a full licence. We will also require at least six months on your licence to be able to provide you with a short term car insurance quote.

Here at Covertime we required you to have a full UK driving licence to be able to take out temp cover on our car insurance. We cannot currently provide short term insurance for non-UK driving licence holders.

You can't drive a car on public roads without insurance. If you were to drive a car without insurance, it would be illegal, and you could see points on your licence or fines if you were caught.

If you're buying from a car dealer, then they may have cover for test rides included on their motor trade insurance, this could cover accompanied demonstrations or unaccompanied demonstrations cover.

For private sales, temporary car cover can be really useful to make sure you can test the car that you're considering purchasing but ensure that you are properly insured to do so and not driving it illegally.

Yes, you can insure yourself on a friend's car with temporary insurance for a car in the UK! If you want to drive a friend's car, then you can get a short term car insurance quote from us today and get on the road in minutes; it doesn't take very long at all to get a quote, most people do it under 60 seconds when you have all the relevant details to hand such as your driving licence and car registration!

By using short term car insurance UK, you can absolutely insure yourself safely and legally on a car you don't own.

The biggest benefit to this is that you only have to insure yourself on it for the time you need, so you can potentially save money by insuring only for the time you're driving.

Should you need to drive the car for a little longer than expected, then you can simply purchase another new temporary insurance policy and get to your destination, insured comprehensively.

We will send you a policy expiry email ahead of your policy finishing, so you can follow the link back to our site to obtain a new policy if needs be.

You cannot transfer temporary cover to another car or person. As temporary insurance is so easy and flexible, you would just take out another policy for the other car or other person on a short term basis.

If your previously policy is no longer needed and the inception time hasn't started, then you can contact us for a potential refund if no cover has commenced.

Unfortunately, you cannot insure a modified or custom car using our temporary insurance. This is because a modified car could have performance enhancing modifications which are unacceptable to our insurer panel for their short term policy underwriting criteria. Modified cars can have a different value or power to their manufacturer specifications that our premiums are calculated on.

You can insure more than one vehicle with temporary insurance, but you will need to insure each vehicle on its own policy.

Therefore, you could have one temporary policy on one car and then have another temporary policy on another car.

It may well be a pretty unusual situation where this would occur, but it is possible.

We try to make everything so easy to do here at Covertime you don't actually need to speak to us.

However, we are available on Live Chat and email and if that doesn't suit your needs, then you can get in touch with us.

We can call you via telephone, but we will not be able to administer the policy for you.

You’ll need to get a quote for your temporary insurance online; our quote journey takes less than one minute to get a price!

When you take out a short term car insurance policy with us, we will send you all of your insurer documentation via email immediately.

If you’re involved in an incident that may result in a claim, contact your insurer directly as they will handle the process.

Claims should be reported as soon as possible. If you need help, our team is here to assist.

There are various different advanced driver courses in the UK that you can attend. These include various courses offered by IAM Road Smart including their Advanced Driver Course, Young Driver Assessment and Mature Driver Review; you can also use other providers such as the Pass Plus Scheme or RoSPA Advanced Driving Course.

These courses could be of great value to improve your driving and keep you safer on the roads, but unfortunately, they won't provide a discount for your short term car insurance.

As a new company, we are concentrating on our main offering which is temporary insurance.

However, we have various optional extras for our temporary insurance policies in the pipeline.

These may include Legal Expenses which would help to cover uninsured losses in the event of a claim where you are not at fault, such as reclaiming the costs of your excess payments.

We are also looking into providing breakdown cover for your temporary insurance, to help you get back on the road or to your destination if you have issues with your car.

Temporary insurance UK may be a cheaper solution because you're only paying for the exact time you need cover. Whether it's for an hour, a day, or a few weeks. Unlike annual policies, you’re not tied into long term contracts or paying for unused cover.

Many temporary insurance providers in the UK use streamlined digital platforms to reduce admin costs, making policies more affordable and flexible for drivers.

There are a number of insurers in the who underwrite temporary car cover policies in the United Kingdom.

These include, but are not limited to: Allianz, KGM, Eridge, Somerset Bridge, First Underwriting, ERS, Haven, Granite and Aviva.

Yes, of course you can absolutely insure a car for occasional usage. It's why we exist and probably why you're on our website!

Yes, you can insure a car without road tax in the UK because insurance and vehicle tax are separate legal requirements. However, the vehicle cannot be legally driven or kept on public roads until it has both valid insurance and road tax in place.