Short-term car insurance can be useful for lots of situations, whether you own a car or not. It’s handy if you need car insurance to borrow someone else’s car, drive one home after buying it, or for occasional use of a vehicle you keep off the road: Borrowing a friend or family member’s car – If you don’t have your own car, short-term car insurance lets you get behind the wheel of someone else’s Learner drivers practising before their test – You can get short-term cover for learners, so you can practice in your parent’s car without having to be added to their policy as an additional driver Collecting or delivering a vehicle – It’s a quick way to arrange cover to go and pick up a car you’ve just bought, for example, or take one to someone else Test driving a new car – If you’re buying from a private seller but don’t have cover to drive other cars, short-term cover will let you legally have a test drive Splitting driving duties with friends and family on a long journey – You can all share the driving if you get temporary policies Occasionally driving a classic or sports vehicle – If your pride and joy is usually kept carefully garaged, short-term cover will let you take it out just for special occasions In an emergency – You can borrow a car in a hurry by quickly arranging a temporary policy instead of having to be added to the owner's annual car insurance

Your temporary insurance policy is entirely separate from your annual car insurance policy, so it won’t affect your NCD if you need to make a claim on the short-term cover. If you’ve borrowed someone else’s vehicle, their NCD won’t be reduced either.

If you need to insure a car multiple times in a year, it’ll usually be cheaper to compare quotes for annual car insurance instead. You’ll also build up a NCD this way – something you’ll miss out on with short-term car insurance.