Things To Understand If You Need Temporary Car Insurance Coverage
If you ever experience a time in your life when you must borrow or rent a car for a few weeks or months, you might want to purchase a temporary car insurance policy, simply so that you have coverage in case something happens while you are driving the car you rented or borrowed. If this is something you need, you should realize that finding a policy that offers temporary coverage is not a simple task, and here are three things to understand about finding a temporary car insurance policy.
Many car insurance companies will not offer temporary coverage
Car insurance is not typically something you can purchase for a few weeks or months. Instead, almost all insurance companies sell car insurance policies for six-month terms. In other words, if you need coverage, you might need to purchase a six-month policy, as you might have a hard time finding a company that will insure you for only a few weeks or months.
There are good reasons agencies do not offer this
Insurance companies base everything on risk levels, and a person who only needs a couple of weeks of car insurance coverage is often viewed as a big risk. Additionally, it is often not really worth the insurance company's time to write up and create a policy for a person for only a couple of weeks. Insurance companies want long-term policyholders, not those who need coverage just for a short amount of time.
Most policies have a waiting period
Another thing to understand is that most car insurance policies have a waiting period for new customers, especially those who did not previously have car insurance coverage when purchasing a policy. This waiting period means that even if you buy coverage, the coverage might not kick in right away. You may have to wait a month before you actually have coverage for a claim. If this is the case, buying a temporary policy really would not offer the protection you need.
You could purchase a longer policy for coverage
If you are in this position, you could choose to purchase a six-month policy from an insurance company, and you could purchase a policy known as a non-owner policy. A non-owner policy would protect you if you borrowed or rented a car, and it would cost less than a traditional type of policy. Plus, it would protect you against a lapse in coverage, which is highly beneficial for the rates you pay.
Buying temporary car insurance is not an easy task to accomplish, but there are other options. If you would like to learn more about car insurance options, contact a car insurance agent like Hayes McDowell Insurance Agent.
