Temporary Car Insurance

What Is Temporary Car Insurance?

If you only have a car for a short time and want temporary car insurance, you will have to buy a policy that lasts at least six months. Unfortunately, none of the big insurance companies will let you buy a policy month-to-month, but you might be able to cancel your policy before the six-month term is up and get your money back for the rest of the term.

If you don't own a car but will be renting or borrowing one, or if you need proof of insurance, there are many ways to get temporary car insurance without buying a traditional policy.

In these situations, the car's owner's car insurance policy, rental car insurance, and insurance for people who don't own cars can help cover you temporarily.

Car insurance companies sell policies that cover a car for a year or six months. Insurance companies don't have short-term plans for people who only need coverage for a day, a few weeks, or even a month.

A website search will bring up companies that say they offer car insurance for a day or a week, but these are usually car insurance scams or will connect you to someone who will sell you a six-month policy.

Depending on your situation, there are different ways to get temporary car insurance.

Read on to find out how to get the best car insurance if you only need it for a few days, weeks, or months.

How does Temporary Car Insurance work?

• If you own a car and need coverage for less than six months, you'll rarely need to buy a traditional car insurance policy for a short time. You can get temporary car insurance by buying a six-month policy and then canceling it early, but you might have to pay some fees.
• Your current auto insurance coverage already covers anyone who borrows your car with your permission if you own it. Obtaining a new policy is not necessary.
• Rental car insurance is usually a good idea if you don't own a car but need temporary coverage because you're renting. You might look into non-owner car insurance if you rent cars often. Neither is a traditional car insurance policy, but each will better meet your needs.

If you are in the second or third group, you should learn more about how to protect yourself without buying traditional car insurance.

If you only have a car for less than six months, which is rare, you can get a six-month policy with no down payment and pay for it over time.

You can get rid of the insurance when you no longer need it. For example, if you paid for the whole policy up front, the insurance company would give you money back for the months you didn't use.

Keep in mind that if you cancel your car insurance and plan to buy it again, the time you go without coverage could cause you to pay more. This is because insurance companies give discounts to drivers who have had insurance coverage for a long time.

What Does Temporary Car Insurance cover?

Depending on the state you reside in (or where you require coverage), the kind of insurance you select, and the firm providing the policy, temporary auto insurance may give different types of coverage. However, short-term auto insurance often includes liability, comprehensive, collision, uninsured motorist, and medical protection.

Although you can opt for less coverage, you must still meet the state or national minimums.

What Does Temporary Car Insurance cost?

The price of temporary auto insurance varies depending on several criteria, such as

• How frequently do you drive?
• Type of car
• Driver's license
• Duration of protection Place where the car is kept
• Where will the car be driven and how?

Short-term insurance is typically a better option if you require insurance for fewer than one month. For example, you might have to pay a few dollars, maybe even $100, to insure a car temporarily. However, the cost increases if you use it for longer than a month.

Best Temporary Car Insurance Companies with No Cancellation Fees

Some firms charge you a fee if you want to cancel your insurance. While some businesses may cancel right away, others will have you wait for up to thirty days. The top short-term auto insurance providers are listed below. You could save money by requesting car insurance quotes from these and other reputable businesses.

Allstate: Six-month insurance is available from Allstate, which also doesn't impose cancellation fees. They provide multiple offers that can help you save money.

Nationwide: You can cancel your insurance with Nationwide and receive a prorated refund. They provide several different deals. Making a call to an agent is the quickest way to cancel.

State Farm: State Farm offers a variety of discounts to responsible drivers. There are no cancellation fees if you cancel, and you will receive a prorated refund. Phone cancellations usually take effect right away.

The Best Temporary Car Insurance Companies by State

Way.com has determined the price of temporary auto insurance in each state under the assumption that you will keep the policy for one to three months, receive a full refund, and avoid cancellation fees. Using this technique, purchasing an insurance policy could only cost $51 for a month of coverage.

For additional information on obtaining temporary auto insurance coverage where you live, click on your state from the list below.

Tips To Getting Car Insurance For Temporary situations

Changing your auto insurance policy makes sense in a few brief situations. Following are some frequent short-term scenarios where you should get in touch with your insurer to check if your policy can be modified:

Temporary coverage for student drivers

Your child needs continuing car insurance, not just one-time coverage if they regularly travel to and from college or university. However, if they only drive during the winter or summer breaks, you might wish to update your insurance coverages to reflect those changes temporarily.

Depending on the student's age and driving history, you can reduce your premiums by $1,000 to $2,500 a year by temporarily suspending a college-age driver's auto insurance coverage by removing them from your policy during the semester. Then, to avoid penalties or jail time, temporarily add them back when they return from winter and summer breaks. Driving without insurance is against the law.

Suppose a student at college leaves their car at home for the semester. In that case, their insurance should be reduced to the minimum permitted by their state and then temporarily increased when they return. When the car is not being used, this will lower your rates.

You are temporarily adding someone to your car insurance

Are you lending your car to a friend or roommate for a single errand? You most likely don't need to update your auto insurance to include this temporary driver. A permissive user clause, often known as a policy that protects your car when another driver occasionally uses it, is likely to cover temporary occurrences of car sharing on your insurance policy.

Have a frequent short-term driver for the car, such as a family member, friend, or babysitter? You should include this person in your auto insurance policy.

To temporarily add someone to your auto insurance policy, you must contact your insurance provider and provide the following details:

• Name
• Date of Birth
• Social Security number and gender
• Occupation
• When did they get their license?
• Any recent traffic infractions or mishaps?

You can drop the friend, nanny, or relative from your policy if they stop often using the car. Temporarily adding someone to your auto insurance will raise your rates, but it's well worth ensuring your car is protected if this individual is involved in an accident.

Temporary car insurance for rental cars

For your weekend rental, do you need auto insurance? Although purchasing temporary car insurance from the rental business may seem like a good idea, you should verify with your insurer first.

Many credit cards also offer some form of coverage when you use the card for your rental, and your auto insurance policy can be adequate to protect you while operating a rental car.

Be aware that your auto insurance coverage may not cover a car rented for business purposes. Therefore, if you are traveling for business, you might want short-term auto insurance from the rental company.

Short-term international car insurance

Considering taking a road trip to Canada or up to Mexico? Your auto insurance may need to include some temporary international coverage.

Many large insurers, including Farmers, and Progressive, extend your U.S. coverage to Canada but not Mexico.

Before driving across foreign borders, ensure you have coverage by checking with your insurance. If you were to take a brief road trip across Ontario, your auto insurance might protect you, but it wouldn't in Mexico.

Are you visiting the United States from another nation?

All foreigners are obliged to have temporary car insurance. You can acquire short-term auto insurance from a rental car business if you are a transient foreign visitor. However, you might need to purchase insurance from an American insurer if you intend to stay longer.

Placing a car in storage

If you intend to store a car for several months, temporary insurance might also be wise. The comprehensive component of the insurance contract may provide coverage even if you aren't driving the car because it is still susceptible to theft or damage.

Depending on your state's laws, you might also need to have your car insured, at least with liability protection, or you'll have to unregister it and give up your license plates.

There are a few situations where you might question if you require temporary auto insurance.

What you should do in their presence is as follows

One-day temporary auto insurance for the driving test

If you have a permit and are still learning the road rules, you should be insured by your parent's, spouse's, or significant other's policy. There should be no need to acquire a separate, temporary coverage for just one day as the car you use to take the test must be insured.

Temporary car-sharing insurance

Ridesharing insurance is more complicated than you may imagine. Insurance companies treat your car differently than they would if you were using it only for personal purposes since you are temporarily transforming it into a business car. To be sure you are insured when driving for ridesharing businesses like Lyft and Uber, check your state's regulations and insurer's policies.

Temporary insurance from car dealerships

Even if you already own the car, you cannot drive it from the lot of a car dealership without proving that it is insured. (When you test drive a car, the dealer's insurance will protect you.)

Your existing policy's maximums may apply if you already have insurance on another car to cover you for a brief period. Even if a car dealership sells such insurance, you are not required to acquire it from them.

If you don't have auto insurance, compare rates from other providers rather than getting it through a car dealership. Even if it takes more time, you'll probably save money.

Temporary Car Insurance Alternatives

What can you do if you only need auto insurance temporarily? It is very simple to get car insurance coverage online and cancel it when you no longer need it. In addition, you may want to investigate usage-based, non-owner auto, or rental insurance choices.

Standard Car Insurance Policy

The most straightforward substitute for a temporary car insurance policy is a conventional policy. You don't typically have to wait long for coverage to start after you make the initial payment on a car insurance policy.

Check to see if the auto insurance coverage you're thinking about has cancellation penalties, even though many do not. However, purchasing a month's worth of auto insurance can be more cost-effective. Forfeit the deposit, and pay a small cancellation charge.

Non-owner Car Insurance

If you frequently drive cars you don't own; a non-owner auto insurance policy may be a viable option instead of temporary insurance. Perhaps you frequently drive a friend's car or utilize a car-sharing service when you're out and about. Major providers offer non-owner insurance in increments of six or twelve months.

A non-owner coverage has the advantage of being less expensive than regular auto insurance. This is because, if you cause an accident, it often only offers liability coverage for injuries and property damage.

If any of the following apply to you:

• Use car-sharing services
• Don't want to pay for rental insurance because you frequently rent cars
• Use a friend's or relative's car quite frequently.
• Speak with an insurance agent to obtain non-owner coverage.

Permissive Use Coverage

Most auto insurance contracts provide coverage for both primary and potential secondary drivers. Thus, if you were to operate someone else's car, you would be protected. If you intend to drive someone else's car frequently, you might want to add to their insurance policy if you share an address or purchase non-coverage.

Rental Car Insurance

You can purchase insurance through the rental business if you are driving a rental car and do not have your insurance. Although it won't be the cheapest option, rental car insurance will protect you while you use the car and keep you from purchasing a full insurance policy. In addition, you might avoid paying a deductible if you choose additional insurance from the rental car company.

Usage-based Car Insurance

Utilization-based programs like Progressive's Snapshot or State Farm's Drive Safe & SaveTM offer discounts to safe drivers. These telematics insurance programs monitor driving behaviors such as braking, cornering, acceleration, and the time of day. They also keep track of distance, which frequently contributes significantly to the final score.

Accordingly, usage-based insurance systems can result in greater insurance cost savings for persons who rarely drive than those who commute daily.

Car Insurance Based on Mileage

Usage-based insurance is a subset of mileage-based insurance for cars. However, with this selection, your mileage is the only factor that matters. Since you don't put many miles on the odometer, you could save a lot of money if you drive sometimes.

Here are a few instances of this coverage:

• Metromile
• Allstate Milewise
• Nationwide SmartMiles

With these plans, you frequently pay a modest monthly base charge plus a rate per mile. Daily mileage charge caps are also included in pay-per-mile schemes, allowing you to take a road trip without losing a fortune.

You should be aware that some pay-per-mile insurance plans may need you to drive your car, or at the very least to move it sometimes, to maintain the sensor's functionality.

Use Student-away-at-school Discounts

Most providers will give you a discount on your family insurance plan if you leave your car at home and commute more than 100 miles to school as a college student.

Store Your Car

You might be able to receive a comprehensive-only policy from your insurance company if you park your car when it's not in use. This includes incidents like hailstorms and vandalism that can harm your car while parked in one place. However, you can't drive your car because it doesn't cover accidents. To qualify for this coverage, you might have to store your car with some firms for at least a month.

You can discontinue your insurance if you keep your car for an extended period after removing the registration. However, before canceling insurance, contact the DMV to remove your registration to avoid a coverage gap.

The downsides of Short-Term Auto Insurance policies

In almost every state in the United States, it is the law for drivers to have auto insurance. Unfortunately, the short-term solutions mentioned above may not always provide the necessary protection. Without adequate protection, you face the danger of being involved in an accident and will probably have to pay for the damages out of pocket.

Continue reading to find out more about the drawbacks of temporary auto insurance.

Most insurance providers do not offer short-term auto insurance

The two most common policy term durations offered by insurance firms are six and twelve months. A company that offers insurance wants to keep its customers for as long as feasible.

Drivers who desire insurance for a brief period are less than ideal clients because they are unlikely to renew. In addition, an insurance company's administrative expenses are not justified by its short-term auto insurance contract premium.

If you only have a temporary insurance policy, you risk losing your down payment

Most policies need a down payment of 30 to 45 days of the total premium, though this varies by business. You're not always guaranteed to get your full down money back if you cancel your policy five days into the period. Drivers who believe that a temporary policy will enable them to save money may discover that this isn't the case.

Keep in mind that certain insurance companies charge cancellation costs as well

If you choose short-term insurance, you can't use the coverage immediately. Most businesses have a grace period policy for auto insurance coverage. Within 30 days of the start of a contract, many insurance companies restrict collision usage and comprehensive coverage. You might be unable to choose some coverage options if you want an insurance policy for two weeks.

Most states have laws requiring insurance

To operate or register a car, you must comply with the legal liability coverage maximum unless you reside in New Hampshire. Your driving privileges could be suspended if you are found driving without insurance.

Your lender would typically require you to carry state-minimum coverage, as well as comprehensive and collision — and not in a temporary capacity — if you are leasing or financing a car. Driving without insurance puts your car at risk of being repossessed if your lender finds out.

Your coverage will be incomplete with temporary auto insurance

Before accepting a client, many insurance firms need at least six months of prior, uninterrupted coverage. The insurer may conclude that an applicant was driving without insurance, which is a sign of a high-risk client if the motorist had an active license but failed to maintain insurance coverage. Insurance history gaps can result in a nearly $15 monthly premium increase.

In the event of a collision, you won't have coverage

You risk driving a car without protection if your temporary insurance solution has expired and you haven't secured a more long-term kind of protection. If you are determined to be at fault in an accident but don't have insurance, you could get a ticket, have your license suspended, and possibly face legal action for the property damage or personal harm you cause. You won't have any insurance if you are hurt in a hit-and-run.

Your car's property damage would be your responsibility to cover.

Who shouldn't Get Short-Term Insurance

Most people who don't own a car and only drive sometimes should avoid purchasing a typical auto insurance plan. It won't be cost-effective to purchase temporary auto insurance and then cancel it before the six-month period is over.

But getting covered without purchasing temporary auto insurance is possible in several ways. You can purchase insurance from the rental car business if you're renting a car. The owner's policy will provide coverage if you borrow a car. In addition, we advise non-owner auto insurance as a possible solution for those who frequently drive but do not own a car.

The sections below explore some situations when you can obtain short-term insurance without purchasing a standard six-month auto insurance policy.

What is Non-Owner Car insurance?

Non-owner auto insurance protects those who drive but do not own a car. Compared to maintaining a conventional policy, it is less expensive. According to Way.com, a sample non-owner policy had an average annual cost of $585, which was $180 less than an equal owner policy.

A non-owner policy includes liability car insurance coverage, which is required in almost every state. It is crucial to be protected in case of an accident to shield yourself from the cost of damages, even if it is not required. Your car will not be covered for damage under non-owner coverage.

Most auto insurance providers provide non-owner coverage, but most demand that you contact for a quote.

How We Choose the Best Temporary Car Insurance

You cannot purchase auto insurance monthly since it can only be purchased in six-month or one-year increments. Instead, you must consent to purchase six months of auto insurance, which you can either pay for in full upfront and receive a refund or on a month-to-month basis.

In either case, remember to cancel your policy before it expires by setting up a reminder. Ask for a refund if you made an upfront payment in full.

Take note of the time, date, and representative you spoke with, and obtain a cancellation confirmation number.

Car insurance providers frequently reimburse new monthly charges and rarely impose cancellation costs. Additionally, the insurance will send you a due balance notice if you decide to terminate coverage after six weeks, but you've only paid for four.

Even after cancellation, payments may still be processed, and refunds may take some time.

To ensure you're obtaining the lowest car insurance rates, get quotes from several firms to find inexpensive car insurance for a short-term situation. Make sure you compare insurance using the same coverage, limitations, and duration.