Temporary car insurance
Temporary car insurance is a clever way to insure your car or get cover to drive someone else's. You don’t need to get added as a named driver, or rush into a long-term deal.
Policies are fully comprehensive and last hours, days or weeks. Sign-up takes under 5 minutes, policies can start instantly, and everything is sorted from your phone.
12 million+ policies sold
2 million+ cars insured
How long does temporary car insurance last?
Policies can last from 1 hour to 28 days, so it’s totally up to you. You'll get fully comprehensive insurance for as long as you need, whether it’s hours, days or weeks.
Hourly car insurance
Hourly car insurance is perfect for sharing a long drive, moving a car, test driving a car, borrowing a friend's car for a short period, or driving one home from the dealership so you’ve got more time to sort an annual policy.
Daily car insurance
Daily car insurance is great for when you’re moving house, taking stuff to the dump, or for those all-important trips to IKEA (meatballs not included). It's also a quick and easy option if you're visiting family and want to borrow a car from a family member. Broken down by hour, they’re much better value than hourly policies.
Weekly car insurance
Weekly car insurance might be good if you’re borrowing a car or van regularly. It’s also perfect for using your parents car when visiting home, sharing a car on campus or even driving the North Coast 500. The best value, when broken down by hour.
How much does temporary car insurance cost?
The price of temporary insurance depends on a lot of different factors, like your age, job title, the car you drive, and where you live. So your price will be unique to you. But we know it can be helpful to get a ballpark figure, so here are some quick ones: 1 hour policies start from £11.90, 1 day policies start from £17.90 and 1 week policies start from £45.11*.
But every journey is different, so here are some other examples, using average pricing data from the past 3 months (as of February 26, 2025).
What's covered by temporary car insurance
Cuvva's short term car insurance policies are fully comprehensive when driving in Britain, so you can have total peace of mind. Here’s a little more info:
What you're covered for
Damage to your vehicle up to £60k
Damage to third party property up to £2m
Accident, theft, attempted theft or fire
Social Domestic and Pleasure (SDP), commuting, Class 1 Business use and Carriage of own goods
Up to £500 for after-fit audio equipment and £100 for your things
£150 for a child seat
Driving in the EU, plus Andorra, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Serbia and Switzerland. This is third party cover only (which covers damage to the other person’s car), and policies must start and end in Britain.
What you're not covered for
Insuring rental cars
Putting the wrong type of fuel in your car
Impounded car release
Driving vehicles under fleet policies
Racetrack or rally day driving
If the car is stolen with keys left in the ignition
Someone else driving your car uninsured
The expert's view on temporary car insurance
Adam Kent is our Senior Underwriting Lead and Insurance Expert. He joined in 2022 and has a 19 year track record helping insurtechs, brokers, and direct insurers.
When it comes to temporary car insurance, he says: “In the past, if you needed to borrow someone’s car, it meant tedious phone calls, an expensive insurance policy for longer than you need, or more often than not, just staying where you were because you couldn’t get insured in time.”
“Temporary car insurance has changed all that. It’s now practical, affordable and easy to drive a car for a short time.
“There’s another upside, the big rise of short-term policies may even help bring down the cost of insurance. £500 million is paid out in claims relating to uninsured driving every year. And we all end up paying for this in higher premiums. Open the app, get yourself covered, and sorted in minutes.
How to get temporary car insurance fast
How to get Cuvva’s award-winning car insurance in less than 5 minutes:
1
Download the app
It just takes a few clicks
2
Find your car
By entering the number plate
3
Check your cover and pay
Get insured from 1 hour to 28 days
4
Extend with a few taps
If you need more time than you thought
Check your eligibility for temporary car insurance
Want to check Cuvva’s eligibility criteria for temporary car insurance? Here’s everything you need to know:
Driver eligibility
For full UK driving licence holders, you’ll usually need to be aged 19-70 to use Cuvva, and have held your licence for over a year if you're a newer driver
If you’re a provisional licence holder you’ll need to be aged 17-50 and not have held your licence for over 15 years
To use Cuvva, you can either use a UK licence or use a full driving licence from Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, the Republic of Ireland, or Spain
Your car must
Be at most 40 years old (if you're driving a car on a full licence) or at most 20 years old (for learner licences, or vans)
Be worth less than £60,000 (cars), or be worth less than £40,000 (vans/commercial vehicles)
Meet our modification rules. We accept lots, including any to aid a disability, but there are some we can't insure
Meet our insurance group requirements
Not be scrapped or impounded temporarily
Not be a company car, a hire car or a vehicle on a fleet policy
How temporary car insurance works
Flexibility
Buy an instant policy in minutes or book one in advance so you’re ready to drive later
Extend your policy instantly if you need more time on the road
Choose a policy length from 1 hour to 28 days, all sorted via the app
Get your policy docs (your car insurance certificate) sent straight to your phone - no waiting around for paperwork to arrive
No deposits, interest, tie-ins or credit checks
Peace of mind
Fully comprehensive cover - the highest category of insurance available
Car owner's no claims bonus is protected because the driver’s policy is completely standalone
Cover for damage to the vehicle, damage to other people’s vehicles, personal injury plus more
Add 24/7 breakdown cover for an additional 90p for a 1 hour policy, £3.96 for 1 day, or £11.10 for 1 week
365-day help from our tireless customer support team
Insurance for all
Learner driver insurance to nail those manoeuvres as you practice for the driving test
Temporary van cover to lighten the load
Test drive insurance for checking out a potential purchase before you buy
Drive away insurance to get that new car home without having to worry about sorting annual cover right away
And you can borrow a car or lend out your own whenever you want
Temporary car insurance FAQs
Is temporary car insurance legal?
It’s completely legal. Like annual insurance, temporary policies are listed on the same askMID database that the police use for their ANPR detection technology. It's all fully legit and regulated (our FCA number is 690273, if you want to look it up). Learn more about Cuvva (including our milestones, press coverage and staff profiles), do some more research, or check out our Trustpilot page.
Can I tax a car with temporary car insurance?
Absolutely, you can use temporary insurance to tax your car or van once your policy details are reflected on the MID (Motor Insurance Database). While it can take up to 24 hours for these details to appear for the tax process, your insurance coverage is effective immediately if you book it to start instantly. For planning ahead, the app allows you to book your coverage weeks in advance - but a day’s cover should do the job when it comes to taxing the car.
Does the car need an underlying policy?
You can use temporary insurance to borrow or lend a car, but the car must be covered by an underlying policy - even if it's just parked up outside your house or in a garage in-between rides. Put simply, you can't just insure a car when you want to drive it, and leave it uninsured otherwise.
Can you get temporary car insurance on someone else’s car?
Yes, Cuvva is perfect for insuring yourself on someone else’s car, whether you’re borrowing a vehicle, ride-sharing, learning to drive with a provisional licence, or just want to get car insurance on a friend's car. Just remember, the policy is tied to the vehicle, not the driver - so you'll need to get a separate policy for each car you want to drive.
Is it better to get temporary car insurance or be added to someone’s policy?
It depends on how often you want to drive. If you plan on regularly using their car (let's say several times a week), it’s maybe worth crunching the numbers to see if it's cheaper to get added to their policy as a named driver. But this might make the owner’s premium go up, and puts their no claims bonus (NCB) at risk. If you are driving more occasionally, or want to protect the car owner’s premium or NCB, temporary insurance could be a better choice. It depends on your circumstances.
Can I use temporary insurance to drive my car to a MOT?
You can drive a car to a pre-booked MOT using temporary cover.
What do I do if I have an accident while I have temporary cover?
You should report all incidents within 24 hours of them happening, even if you're not going to claim. Here’s how.
How can you keep your insurance price down?
While personal factors like your age and claims history are most important, you might get a cheaper quote with a car in a lower insurance group or by timing your trip for when roads are quieter. The "Pricing Breakdown" tool in the app has more, or you can check out our top tips for cheaper car insurance.
I don’t have a UK licence, can I still get temporary insurance?
To use Cuvva, you can either use a UK licence or a full driving licence from Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, the Republic of Ireland, or Spain.
Any questions?
Got a question? Our tireless customer support team is on hand every single day of the year, between 9am and 9pm. Let's have a chat.
*Price paid by 10% of Cuvva customers. Terms apply.