Auto Insurance Term » Motorists

Short Term Car Insurance For Holiday Travel

admin — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 07:15:34 +0000

If you will be borrowing or renting a vehicle to take a holiday by car, you can probably expect to pay outrageous insurance fees. Motorists in need of vehicle insurance for these situations now have a new option available online. Through this online alternative, you are able to purchase short term auto insurance for a period of time, from one day up to twenty eight days.

This temporary insurance is available for cars or vans through a variety of online companies. A keyword search using terms such as: day insurance, temporary car insurance, or short term car insurance, or simply typing in the company website address, will allow you to find their websites. The insurance can be prepared and paid for online, with the opportunity to print the policy right on your home printer.

While covered under this temporary insurance, a claim will not affect the annual policy of the vehicle owner, as this is a completely individual policy.

Coverage in the event that you should break down is also included with your short term auto insurance known as an uninsured loss recovery policy. Whether using this in the UK or in Europe, this benefit is especially advantageous.

You can extend your temporary coverage to include other borrowed automobiles, and be covered for travel to France or other locations in Europe.

If your own vehicle does not afford enough room for your holiday travel, this auto insurance option will come in quite handy. It is perfectly acceptable to add a trailer or caravan if need be. Be sure to investigate your insurance options thoroughly, for although these types of insurance are basically fully comprehensive, if your plans include driving abroad, the comprehensive coverage needs to be verified.

Most of these insurers will allow coverage if you have held a UK or European drivers license for at least twelve months, without claims of your fault for three years, and less than six points against your license. Each company is different, however, and the automobiles that they will insure, and their criteria for coverage will vary.

When your holiday plans include borrowing or renting a car, you can find comfort in the fact that the fully comprehensive coverage of your short term auto insurance, will protect your annual insurance no claims discount if you should happen to have a claim.

By: I T Jenkinson

Auto Insurance Breakdown

admin — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:40:27 +0000

Auto insurance is an important, and, in most states, legally required protection for drivers. Auto insurance applies to vehicles such as cars, trucks, and motorcycles, but also applies to boats. It is primarily designed to protect motorists, but also protects individuals, such as pedestrians, who may be injured by an auto, or property owner’s whose property is damaged by an auto.

There are many different types of auto insurance, so I would like to give you a general overview of the available options. Fortunately, the different types of auto insurance can be easily broken down by the level of coverage that they provide. The levels range from the highest possible to the bare minimum required by law.

First of all, there are two basic categories of auto insurance: collision insurance and comprehensive insurance. Collision insurance covers damage to the vehicle if it is damaged in an accident. Comprehensive coverage offers more protection because it applies to a wider range of situations including theft of the automobile.

It is easiest to start with the minimum level, which is know as liability coverage. Liability insurance pays for injuries or damages sustained by other vehicles and people involved in an accident that is caused by the policyholder. For example, if the motorist causes an accident in which both party’s vehicles are damaged, liability coverage pays only for the damage to the vehicle of the driver who was not at fault in the accident, and not to the driver who was at fault.

Liability is required by law in many states because it also covers personal injury protection to people injured in accidents. Thus, it ensures that any person injured in an auto accident, through no fault of their own, is covered by the insurance of the responsible party.

Personal injury protection (PIP) and medical payments (MP) are not included in liability. However, the next level of insurance, collision insurance does covers these two expenses.

Personal Injury Protection covers the policyholder for time and medical expenses required for the maintenance of a vehicle. This covers lost wages should a person need to bring a vehicle to a mechanic and must miss work as a result.

Insurance can also cover medical payments, which refers to the cost of treatment if the policyholder is injured in an accident and the cost of that treatment exceeds the limits of personal injury protection.

Collision coverage includes the liability of the driver to other parties, personal injury protection, and medical payments. It also covers damage to the policyholder’s own vehicle in the event that it is damaged in an accident, regardless of whether the insured is at fault in the accident or not. Therefore, even in a single car accident, the policy of the driver covers the damage that his or her car incurs. In a two car accident, all damage is covered by the person found to be at fault in the accident.

If the policyholder’s vehicle is damaged so badly in an accident that it must be replaced, collision insurance will pay for the value of the damaged vehicle towards the purchase of a new one. However, collision insurance does not cover the theft of the vehicle, damage from a fire, or damage due to weather, such as hail.

Comprehensive coverage offers a higher level of protection for the policyholder. It covers liability, PIP, MP, and damage to the vehicle if it is involved in an accident. Comprehensive coverage will also pay for a new vehicle if the vehicle of the policyholder is stolen or damaged in a fire.

Although both collision and comprehensive coverage can protect the policyholder from the cost of vehicle replacement, it is not perfect. This is due to the fact that the value of vehicles depreciates over time. These types of insurance will only pay for the value of a totaled (destroyed) vehicle, regardless of the cost of the vehicle when new.

However, there is a third type of insurance that can protect the policyholder from this kind of depreciation. GAP insurance protects the consumer from the depreciation in value of a vehicle.

It is obvious that auto insurance is complex, and it is important to understand all of the available options before making a choice. Different states have varying requirements, so it is important to ask question not only about the type of coverage you are purchasing, but about the requirements of your state, as well. Remember, accidents are called accidents because they are not deliberate, and always come as a surprise. Make sure that you have the appropriate coverage for you and your family in advance, to protect against unforeseen events, such as accidents.

By: Gena Woodard

Short Term Car Insurance and Holidays

admin — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:36:35 +0000

There are many reasons why you may not be able to go on the holiday of your choice. Money gets in the way all too frequently, along with the logistics of the arrangements. What we mean by this is when you choose a particular type of holiday which involves driving, only to discover that the car is not up to it.

It is too old, unreliable, too small, cannot take the luggage, trailer, caravan or the family. Up until now your choices were limited to hiring another vehicle or borrowing a car and mid-term adjusting your annual insurance policy to cover it, or changing your plans altogether as the cost of hire or the nightmare of insurance mid-term adjustments were too much to cope with.

Is there an alternative to this? We think we may have stumbled on one, a new insurance product for motorists on the internet. It is short term car insurance which you purchase by the day for up to a maximum of 28 days at a time.

There are several companies which offer this type of insurance for cars or vans. You can locate their websites by either their URL or typing in keywords such as short term car insurance, day insurance and temporary car insurance.

They all offer an internet based booking process and payment, with the option to view and print the short term insurance policy on your printer. All policies issued are registered with the MID.

The advantage of this type of insurance is that you can choose the short term period to insure a car/van and it is a separate insurance policy that does not impact on the vehicle owner’s annual policy in the event of a claim.

You also get the benefit of an uninsured loss recovery policy, which is daily breakdown cover for the same period as the car insurance. That is particularly useful for holidays both in the UK and in the EEC.

If your plans require the use of another vehicle which you can borrow off friends or family, then you can insure the vehicle in it’s own right and this includes extended European cover for those driving holidays to France and beyond in the EEC.

It is particularly useful if you need a more reliable car or more space than you have in your own family transport. You can even tow a trailer or caravan if that forms part of your holiday plans. The insurance is generally fully comprehensive, although you would need to shop around to get fully comprehensive for driving abroad.

The insurance offerings vary, from company to company, on their acceptance criteria and the vehicles they will insure, but generally 12 months holding a UK or EEC driving licence with no fault claims within 3 years and less than 6 penalty points endorsements will enable an on line application to be made for cover.

If your trip is scheduled to last longer than 28 days you can take a further period of cover consecutively, thus providing continuous cover beyond 28 days.

What we liked about the products were their flexibility and the speed of obtaining cover. They are more expensive than an annual policy, but a lot cheaper than hiring a car for your holidays.

All in all there is a place for short term car insurance in your holiday driving plans which will allow you to use someone else’s car with the peace of mind knowing you have fully comprehensive cover, and that in the event of a claim it will not affect the annual insurance no claims discount.

By: Shaun Parker

Is Short-Term Car Insurance Right For You?

admin — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:52:51 +0000

Taking out car insurance on a year’s contract can be wasteful if you only need a policy for a few days a year. However, it is now possible to take out short-term car insurance which can give you the cover you want for just as long as you need it.

What is short-term car insurance?

Driving without insurance is a risky affair – the police have stepped up their efforts to clampdown on offending motorists by working in collaboration with the Association of British Insurers which has found that accidents involving drivers that are uninsured add around £40 a year to an honest motorist’s premiums.

That’s why it’s important to ensure you’re covered no matter how short the term may be that you need a vehicle for. However, most traditional policies need to be taken out for a year – which is why short-term cover was created.

With a short-term policy you can get cover for anything from one day to six months (periods vary depending on the insurer). As you’re only taking out insurance for a short period, it is comparatively low-cost.

Who is it right for?

There are many reasons why you may consider a short-term policy. Some of the most common include:

- Adding a named driver – Perhaps someone needs to use your car, such as a visiting friend or a child returning from university for the summer. Instead of adding them to a policy for the full year, you can take out a temporary policy.

- Car hire vehicles – You may need insurance to cover you while you use a car hire vehicle or a removal van, for example.

- Learner drivers – If the plan is for a teenager to buy their own vehicle as soon as they pass a driving test, then consider taking out short-term car insurance for their learning period so they don’t cause your car insurance premiums to rise substantially. Specific learner driver policies are available.

How can you get short-term car insurance?

Generally policies are defined as temporary (one-28 days) or monthly (one-six months). They are offered by a host of insurers in the UK so it’s well worth shopping around online before you buy.

By: Alex Gregory