Compare one-day car insurance quotes

As the name suggests, one day car insurance provides cover to drive a car for 24 hours. There are several reasons why you might want to take out car insurance for a day, such as:

Most 1 day car insurance policies will include fully comprehensive cover, although some insurers may be able to offer third party or third party, fire and theft cover.

Comprehensive cover will normally include:

For peace of mind, particularly if you don’t own the car you are driving, fully comprehensive cover may be the best option.

Even if you’re only using a car for one day it’s important - and a legal requirement - to have adequate insurance cover in place. Which cover you choose will depend on why you are using the car and what other car insurance you have.

If you are borrowing a friend’s car you could be added as a named driver to your friend’s own car insurance policy. However, your friend’s insurance premiums could rise as a result and, if you are involved in an accident and a claim needs to be made on their policy, it could affect your friend’s no claims bonus. For this reason, you may be better off with one day insurance. 

Alternatively, if you have fully comprehensive cover on another car, you may have ‘driving other cars’ cover included. However, this is likely to be on a third party basis only, so you might still want to take out temporary insurance. ‘Driving other cars’ cover is not included with all policies, so make sure you check your insurance documents carefully. Don’t assume you’re covered to drive another car.

Daily car insurance can come in useful in a variety of situations in which you only need insurance for a day.

One of the biggest benefits of one day car insurance is that if you’re borrowing a car and have an accident, the car owner’s no claims bonus won’t be affected.

If you need to take out car insurance for a week, a few weeks or even a month or two, you can also buy temporary car insurance. This provides cover on a short-term basis and can be useful if you are borrowing a friend’s car for a week, or your son/daughter is home from university and wants to use your car for the holidays.

If you need insurance for even longer than this, it may be more cost-effective to take out an annual policy and then cancel it when you no longer need it. Keep in mind you’ll need to pay a cancellation fee so it’s worth comparing the cost of this against the cost of a temporary policy to see which works out cheaper. 

Most people can get daily car insurance, but there may be certain restrictions.

The cost of one day car insurance varies depending on the car, your postcode, age and driving experience. But it’s often an affordable alternative to hiring a car or van if you’re able to borrow one.

To get the cheapest one day car insurance it’s best to shop around and compare quotes carefully. Always check both the price and the level of cover provided by the policy.

To take out one day car insurance you’ll need:

And if you’re borrowing a car, you’ll also need permission from the owner before you can drive it.

When considering the cost of one day car insurance it’s also important to remember the excess included on the policy. There will be a compulsory excess, but as with standard car insurance, you can choose to add a voluntary excess.

While you can sometimes cut the cost of your cover by opting to pay a higher voluntary excess, remember you will need to pay out in the event of a claim so it’s best to choose a realistic figure.