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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