If car
insurance wasn't so ridiculously expensive short term car insurance
probably wouldn't even exist but a combination of a chronic weakness
in the necks of the average British motorist (causing almost
inevitable whiplash injury after the slightest bump despite vastly
improved head restraining seats), a rampant compensation culture and
insurance companies content to watch excessive claims push premiums
ever higher, secure in the knowledge that we have no choice but to
buy their product if we don't want to lose our licences and see our
cars crushed means that it's not likely to get any cheaper in the
forseeable future. However that is enough ranting for today.
The fact is; short term car insurance has been developed because
there is such a huge demand for it that a number of insurers have
broken ranks and instead of insisting that every policy be taken out
for a year they are happy to cover a car for as little as a single
day. Legislation limits this type of policy to a maximum of 28 days
but there is at least one insurer which is content to allow
motorists to buy insurance on a month by month basis too; making it
a flexible option for people who only need cover for a few months,
or who are not sure how long they will need it for. Both these
options can be bought online with immediate cover so they can be
very useful in the event of an emergency as well as pre-planned
usage.
One to twenty eight day policies can be applied for by motorists on
cars or light vans they own, or which they are borrowing from
someone else (they cannot be used for hired vehicles; except for
mobile homes) and a particular advantage of this type of policy is
that once one has been purchased the documentation can be downloaded
right away, for printing on a home printer. This is very useful at a
time when police authorities are using very sophisticated methods to
trap uninsured drivers and it can be very handy to have proof of
cover available to show any inquisitive police officers! Cover can
be arranged to begin the moment the policy has been paid for or at
any time over the next four weeks which makes it easier to plan
journeys.
There are
other options of course for those who need to drive another vehicle
for a short time. Some annual insurance policies cover the holder
for any vehicle which does not belong to this person and which is
not hired under a hire purchase agreement but there are often a
number of specific exclusions, cover is limited to social and
domestic use only, insurers are very strict on the precise usage
involved (you couldn't use this type of cover for a vehicle you had
just bought, for instance) and this type of cover is almost
invariably third party only, which could cause considerable blushes
if a valuable car was accidentally damaged.
If the car belongs to
you and someone else is borrowing it, however, you need to be
extremely careful and look at the policy yourself to make sure that
the borrower really is covered because if this person was actually
shown to be uninsured you could face a huge fine, penalty points
possibly leading to a driving ban and your car being impounded and
facing the crusher; pleading that you truly believed the borrower to
be properly insured would be no defence against conviction. This is
not scaremongering but a real risk that thousands of people suffer
the consequences of every year. Buying a short term car insurance
policy could eliminate this risk.
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