My car has been garaged and off the road for the last few weeks, because I didn't need it until next month. It's still taxed (so no SORN problems), I just didn't renew the insurance when it expired, and planned to renew it later next month.
However, I now find that it would be really useful to have the car this weekend, starting saturday midday, and I wondered what my options were for getting cover at short notice. It would probably suit me best just to have a few days coverage, if that is possible, because I won't need the car again for another month.
AFAIK, some insurers say that a policy is not valid until a cover note has been received, and I wondered if that was the case with all of them? If so, does anyone know of any insurers who could arrange cover to start the next day?
I am hoping that something will be possible, and that one of the backroom's car insurance experts might be able to give me some pointers on how to go about this (or alternatively to tell me that there is no chance of doing it!)
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Try this:
www.norwichunion.com/short-term-insurance/index.htm
No idea what it costs, but they promise immediate cover.
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Had I spent another two mins looking before posting that last link, I would have found the tab outlining the costs:
Ins Grp 1-17: £10.50 per day for first two days, £4.20 per day for subsequent days to max of 28 days.
Ins Grp 18-20: £21 per day for first two days, £8.40 per day thereafter as above.
Documentation is printed out yourself, so obviously you'll need access to a printer.
Quite a handy thing to remember, Norwich Union seem to be pioneers in flexible insurance, if I recall correctly, they're the ones who often allow you 7 days free insurance when buying a new car from certain dealers and auctions.
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I think the AA may offer something as part of another service (e.g. car inspection??). So I was told this week....
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I use the Norwich Union service all the time to insure my Mondeo, there is even a website that allows you to use the short term certificate to tax the car although you can't do that with NU.
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Many thanks for those very helpful replies. It turned out in the end that the train will be more practical for this journey, so I didn't take up this option, but it's very good to know how to do it if I ever need it again.
At those rates it's a lot cheaper just to keep the car insured all the time, but it's handy to have this option if it's needed, as I thought I would this w/e.
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If you are using your car so little, it might be better to register with one of the six or so companies that maintain a car for you! You just register with a fee - about £75 - they send you an access card, book one and then off you pay-as-you-go. This is one of them:
www.streetcar.co.uk
That way you don't have tax, insurance or servicing to worry about - back to Nowheels!
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You have to be careful with letting insurance lapse now. If the vehicle isn't SORNed then I think there is now (or soon will be) a requirement for continuous insurance so you have to have it insured regardless of whether you use the car. If you do really use it that little then I think a hire car/car share would be better as sitting around in a garage all the time doesn't do a car much good.
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There isn't a current requirement in place, I leave my Mondeo lying around with no insurance without legal fifficulty as long as it stays on my land. I've got to admit that I always print the covernote off whenever I short-term insure it in case I get pulled.
I know that the NU site inform the database very quickly, I was pulled over for "spirited driving" two days after insuring it and they had it on file...
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I quite agree that it's not a good idea to keep a car just lying around, and thanks for the reminders on that, However this was just exceptional circumstances for the last month or two.
My car is generally quite well-used, and it will be again soon -- I'll be putting 5000 miles on it in the next few months
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