Even if you don’t own a car, there may be times you need to drive one for a short period. Perhaps you’re heading off on a road trip with a partner or friend and want to share the driving on their car. You’ll need to be insured, but an annual policy is probably overkill. A good alternative is temporary car insurance, which can cover you for up to a month – or even longer with some insurers. Our guide will help you work out if one month car insurance is right for you, and how to choose the best policy.
One month car insurance provides you short-term cover that lasts only as long as you need it, so you don’t need to spend money unnecessarily on an annual car insurance policy. Many temporary policies last a maximum of 30 days – hence “one month” car insurance. But you can actually take out temporary car insurance for as little as a day, or even a few hours. And some providers offer policies that last up to 3 months.
All drivers are required by law to have at least third-party car insurance to be on UK roads. It covers you financially if an accident you cause injures other people or damages their vehicles or property. It can also protect you financially if your car is vandalised, stolen or damaged by fire.
This legal requirement does not change whether you need use of a car for a day, a month or a year, and applies whether you’re driving a car you own or someone else’s.
But if you’re only planning to drive a car for up to a month or so at a time, one month car insurance could be a financially better bet than taking out a full year of cover. This might apply, for example, to:
You might also consider one month car insurance if you have a second car that you only drive every now and then. But bear in mind that, during the times you’re not driving your car, if you don’t have insurance you’ll need to officially declare it off the road (SORN), and won’t be able to park it on a public road.
One advantage of short-term policies is that they are completely independent of any annual policies held. So, if you need to make a claim on a one month policy, it won’t affect the no-claims bonus on annual policies held by you or the owner of a borrowed car.
Different providers will have different restrictions and conditions for the purchase of their temporary car insurance cover. The following are examples of some of the possible driver criteria, but it’s not an exhaustive list so check the terms of your shortlisted policies.
Depending on the insurer, there may also be conditions relating to the car you’ll be driving – such as maximum value or maximum size requirements. Again, the devil is in the detail, so read that small print carefully.
The detail of one month car insurance policies varies from one provider to the next, but most will offer:
Beyond the obvious point that you won’t be covered outside of the specific period of insurance (so don’t forget exactly when this ends), one month car insurance will have similar exclusions to annual car insurance. Some of the most common reasons that risk your cover being invalid are:
There are a number of insurers that specialise in car insurance policies that last a month or less. Use the table at the top of this page as a starting point to compare cover from a selection of one month insurers.
Per day, one month car insurance is usually more expensive than a month’s worth of annual cover. But a month of temporary cover will still usually work out cheaper than paying for a full year of insurance you don’t need.
As with all car insurance policies, there are lots of personal factors that will affect how much you’ll pay, including:
Experienced drivers are more likely to find cheap one month car insurance cover than young drivers. And if you’re looking to borrow a powerful sports car, expect to pay more than for a safe family car.
If you need short-term cover instantly, opting for one month car insurance is a straightforward choice. If you’ve got a bit more time to research your options though, there are a couple of options that are worth checking out.
The first may seem slightly counterintuitive, but could save you money: taking out an annual policy and cancelling it after a month. If you cancel an annual car insurance policy part-way through the year, you’ll usually get a refund of the remaining premiums (check this is the case before you go down this route). So, if the per-month cost of an annual policy is substantially cheaper than a one month policy, this option could be worth considering.
Bear in mind you’ll almost certainly need to pay a cancellation fee of up to around £60, so you’ll need to take this into account. Plus you’ll want to weigh up whether the savings warrant the extra hassle of remembering to cancel an annual policy at the right point.
The other option involves asking a favour of the person you’re borrowing a car from, and seeing if they’re up for adding you as a named driver on their policy. This can be either temporarily or for the rest of their term. Becoming a named driver will give you the same cover as the main driver. It may add to their annual premium and there may be an admin fee, but you can pay them back for these and it may still be cheaper than taking out your own policy. On the down side, any claims that a named driver makes are likely to affect the policy-holder’s no-claims bonus.
One month car insurance is a simple, flexible option if you only need to drive a car for a few weeks. On a per-day basis, it’ll usually work out more expensive than an annual policy. But it will almost certainly be cheaper than paying for a full year of cover that you don’t need. To keep costs down, always shop around, and compare premiums against alternatives such as buying and then cancelling an annual policy or being added to the car owner’s policy as a named driver.
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