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.

No. Driving without insurance is illegal at any time. If you need insurance to cover you while you drive the car home, you could take out a short-term car insurance policy. That would allow you to get the car home and arrange an annual policy when you have more time.

Yes, if you need to tax a car you can use short-term car insurance to do this. It’s illegal to drive a car without it being taxed and insured. So, if you’ve just bought a new car and need to drive it home, taking out temporary cover is a good way to get this sorted. Your car insurance details need to be recorded on the Motor Insurance Database (MID) before the car can be taxed. But when you buy temporary cover, most insurers will update the MID on the same day.

Yes, temporary cover is a good option for new drivers if they’ll only be driving occasionally - for example, to cover students driving their parent’s car while they’re home from university. Plus, if you’re a young driver, it’s often cheaper to be insured on someone else’s car than to buy and insure your own. However, be aware that some insurers will have minimum age limits for temporary car insurance, and you may need to have been driving for a certain length of time first.

If you have an accident, you’ll need to tell your insurer as soon as you can. And if you need to make a claim, you’ll need to follow their claims process and pay the excess amount that’s outlined in your policy. The good news is that claiming on temporary car insurance won’t affect your NCD or the car owner’s.