Short term car insurance

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Short Term Car Insurance

If you only need to use your car for a fairly short period, have you considered using short term car insurance? This is a type of policy which has become very popular over the last couple of years and it allows you to apply for insurance for as little as a single day, and up to a maximum of 28 days. It is a very simple policy and so in order to avoid excessive costs the companies that issue them tend to favour just the safer drivers only; they will not for instance I accept people under the age of 21 (25 in some cases), or those with a bad accident or convictions record. Bearing that in mind the vast majority of drivers would qualify quite easily and one of the main joys of short term cover is that you can not only insure your own car but also someone else's, and you can arrange the policy online to come into effect immediately if you wish which makes it ideal if you want to borrow a vehicle for something like a holiday, cover for your own car whilst it is being serviced or repaired, to get a car home when you have only just purchased it, etc.

Advantages

If you need cover for just a few days it is a very economical way of obtaining it, whereas adding a vehicle to your existing insurance policy for a short time can be extremely expensive and many insurers would not even consider it in any case. It's quick and easy to a set a short term policy up, you can do it online and either arrange for the cover to start at a date and time in the near future, or immediately if you so wish. Documentation can be downloaded and printed off on your own home printer so that you have proof of cover You can then legally drive the insured car right away.

Disadvantages

Short term insurance companies are fond of letting you know that if you have an accident while covered by one of their policies it would not affect the no claims bonus of any existing conventional policy you have for your main car. Whilst this is strictly correct, you would be obliged to inform your usual insurer of any accident that you had had and they may well increase any future premiums as a result.

If you compare the cost of short term car insurance on a day to day basis against your normal annual policy you will find, surprise surprise, that it works out more expensive by a considerable margin so this is not a product to use instead of normal car insurance but for those special occasions for which it is suited. The premiums are, in any case, far less than what it would cost you if you were to take a risk and drive without insurance!

To sum up then, short term car insurance is a specialised product which is not designed in any way to replace conventional twelve-month policies, but which could be extremely useful for the right purpose on the right occasion.