There are many reasons why you may not be able to go on the holiday of your choice. Money gets in the way all too frequently, along with the logistics of the arrangements. What we mean by this is when you choose a particular type of holiday which involves driving, only to discover that the car is not up to it.
It is too old, unreliable, too small, cannot take the luggage, trailer, caravan or the family. Up until now your choices were limited to hiring another vehicle or borrowing a car and mid-term adjusting your annual insurance policy to cover it, or changing your plans altogether as the cost of hire or the nightmare of insurance mid-term adjustments were too much to cope with.
Is there an alternative to this? We think we may have stumbled on one, a new insurance product for motorists on the internet. It is short term car insurance which you purchase by the day for up to a maximum of 28 days at a time.
There are several companies which offer this type of insurance for cars or vans. You can locate their websites by either their URL or typing in keywords such as short term car insurance, day insurance and temporary car insurance.
They all offer an internet based booking process and payment, with the option to view and print the short term insurance policy on your printer. All policies issued are registered with the MID.
The advantage of this type of insurance is that you can choose the short term period to insure a car/van and it is a separate insurance policy that does not impact on the vehicle owner's annual policy in the event of a claim.
You also get the benefit of an uninsured loss recovery policy, which is daily breakdown cover for the same period as the car insurance. That is particularly useful for holidays both in the UK and in the EEC.
If your plans require the use of another vehicle which you can borrow off friends or family, then you can insure the vehicle in it's own right and this includes extended European cover for those driving holidays to France and beyond in the EEC.
It is particularly useful if you need a more reliable car or more space than you have in your own family transport. You can even tow a trailer or caravan if that forms part of your holiday plans. The insurance is generally fully comprehensive, although you would need to shop around to get fully comprehensive for driving abroad.
The insurance offerings vary, from company to company, on their acceptance criteria and the vehicles they will insure, but generally 12 months holding a UK or EEC driving licence with no fault claims within 3 years and less than 6 penalty points endorsements will enable an on line application to be made for cover.
If your trip is scheduled to last longer than 28 days you can take a further period of cover consecutively, thus providing continuous cover beyond 28 days.
What we liked about the products were their flexibility and the speed of obtaining cover. They are more expensive than an annual policy, but a lot cheaper than hiring a car for your holidays.
All in all there is a place for short term car insurance in your holiday driving plans which will allow you to use someone else's car with the peace of mind knowing you have fully comprehensive cover, and that in the event of a claim it will not affect the annual insurance no claims discount.
Their parents have usually committed significant financial resources to supporting them in higher education which, in most instances, does not leave enough to assist in the purchase and running costs of a car for the student. That can lead to a dilemma when the returning student asks for permission to borrow their parent's car.
They must have proper insurance which entails the parents contacting their broker or insurer direct to carry out a mid term adjustment to their annual car insurance policy to include the student as a named driver.
That takes a lot of time and effort, not to mention the additional premium for the adjustment. The worse bit from a parent's perspective is that any claim whilst the student is driving usually impacts on the parents no claims bonus, resulting in increased premium at annual renewal. Now you can see why it presents parents with problems.
Short term car insurance can, in certain circumstances, provide a solution to the parent's dilemma. The basis of the temporary car insurance is you can take out separate short term cover for up to 28 days by completing an on line, simplified application and making payment for the period selected.
The process is through the internet searching against the companies URL or search terms such as short term car insurance or temporary car insurance. The day insurance certificate can be printed off at home and the policy is registered with the MID.
In addition, most short term car insurance providers offer uninsured loss recovery as part of the insurance and one company offers dayresQ which is daily roadside recovery. The most important feature of temporary insurance, from a parent's perspective, is any claim under the policy does not affect the parent's annual policy no claims discount.
The policy is separate car insurance in the name of the student. It is flexible and can be taken out as frequently as desired even just for the odd day every now and then.
It cannot be all good news can it? Unfortunately it is not, there are strict age restrictions on most policies with the youngest age that is eligible of 21 years of age. The driver must also have had their UK or EEC license for a minimum of 12 months. Clearly this would exclude a lot of returning students from being able to take out the insurance.
However, it does leave most students in their later university years eligible and that may not be such a bad thing as they are able to borrow the car with a little more maturity under their belt. After all would you trust your 19 year old student with the keys to your car, I know my parents did not trust me to drive safely at that tender "I'm bullet proof" age.
So in answer to the question posed by this article, short term car insurance is a great solution to the problem of returning students wanting to borrow the parents car to take all their mates to Glastonbury, provided they are over the age of 21 years.
However there will still be the need to undertake mid term adjustments on the parents annual car insurance policy to insure younger students under the age of 21 years. As they say, you cannot have it all.
Shaun Parker has sinced written about articles on various topics from Online Marketing, Auto Insurance and Wedding Bells. Shaun Parker has been at the forefront of the industry for the last 10 years. For more information visit. Shaun Parker's top article generates over 246000 views. to your Favourites.