1 day car insurance

Can you buy car insurance for just one day?

Buying one day's car insurance is, crazy though it may seem, even easier than buying a conventional yearly policy. This is because it is all done online through a very simple proposal form and you can have a policy up and running within just a few minutes of clicking on the link.

Policies are available to drivers who have had a full licence for at least a year and who are at least 18 years of age. There are a few conditions; for example the car must be in good condition and worth at least £1500, and the driver must have a reasonable driving record with not more than six penalty points (sometimes eight may be acceptable) and not more than two false claims in any three year period. Beyond these stipulations formalities are kept to an absolute minimum, and it does not even matter whether or not the driver owns the car, or has borrowed it. It is even possible to have more than one driver on the policy.

Getting a quotation for one day insurance policy is simplicity itself; all you will need is the registration number of the vehicle (in other words, the number plate details) and you can have a quote within less than a minute; if this is acceptable the rest of the proposal takes only a couple more minutes and then you can download all the documentation and print it out. You would have the choice of insuring the vehicle for anything between one day and 28 days, with third-party or comprehensive cover.

It is highly recommendable that you carry a copy of the car insurance policy with you throughout the day. As you are probably aware, details of all insurance policies go on to a central database which is accessed several million times a month by the police in the UK to ensure that vehicles are insured; if you buy a policy it takes several days, usually, for those details to be available on the database. If you buy only one day's car insurance these details will not be uploaded until after they are actually obsolete, so if you are stopped by the police for any reason it is advisable that you have some proof that you are insured, such as the insurance certificate which you have downloaded.

Strictly speaking you should be able to tax a car using one day car insurance, although you will not be able to do this online since the Motor Insurance Database will not have been updated in time, and you may may have problems with Post Office staff who are concerned about the fact that it has been insured for only a single day. If you are buying insurance for this purpose, you should get it for at least one week.

Many people stay up late the day before they require the policy in order to book it to come into effect just before midnight; but this is not necessary. When you fill in the proposal form you are given the choice of having it commence immediately, or at some other time within the next 28 days. If you know in advance which day you will need the insurance for it is a simple matter to arrange for it to commence at just after midnight on that day, so that means that you could make your insurance arrangements right now, even if you do not need the policy to commence for several days or even weeks. Come on, go for it.