Insure yourself on a car for as little as an hour or as long as 30 days, without touching anyone’s annual policy.
Not every driving job needs a 12-month policy. Covrly’s short term car insurance gives you fully comprehensive cover on a car for a set period, then simply ends, with no renewal and nothing to cancel. It’s a separate policy in your name, so the owner’s own insurance stays out of it.
Choose a start time and any length from 1 hour to 30 days, so you’re not paying for months you won’t use.
If you need to claim, it goes on your policy, not the owner’s, so their annual cover and No Claims Discount are left alone.
Quote online in around 3 minutes. Your documents are emailed straight away and your details are added to the Motor Insurance Database.
Short term car insurance, sometimes called temporary car cover, is a policy that insures one named driver on one specific car for a fixed stretch of time. You decide when it starts and how long it runs, and when that time is up the cover stops by itself. There’s no automatic renewal waiting for you next year and no cancellation call to make.
With Covrly, that stretch can be anything from a single hour up to 30 days. Every policy is fully comprehensive, so it can respond to damage to the car you’re driving as well as injury or damage you cause to other people and their property, subject to the excess and the terms set out in your policy wording.
Because it’s a standalone policy, it sits completely apart from any annual insurance the car already has. The owner doesn’t need to phone their insurer, and a claim on your temporary policy won’t appear on their record.
Annual insurance is built for a car you drive week in, week out. Short term cover is for the gaps: the times you need to drive a car that isn’t normally yours, or a car that isn’t normally on the road. If the need has a clear end date, a temporary policy is usually worth comparing.
Here are some everyday situations where people reach for short term cover:
Getting short term car insurance quotes with Covrly takes around three minutes. You enter the car’s registration, some details about yourself and your licence, and the date, time and length of cover you want. We then show you a price for that exact window.
Prices aren’t one-size-fits-all. Like any motor policy, the quote reflects how likely a claim is and how much it might cost. The things that tend to move the number most are:
Once you’re happy, you pay online and your certificate and policy documents land in your inbox straight away. Your details are added to the Motor Insurance Database (MID), which is what the police and the DVLA check to confirm a car is insured.
No, and that’s one of the biggest reasons people choose it. The usual alternative is asking the owner to add you as a named driver on their annual policy. That works, but if you then have an accident, the claim goes on their policy and could dent a No Claims Discount they’ve spent years building.
A Covrly policy is entirely separate. If something goes wrong while you’re covered, you claim on your own temporary policy and the owner’s insurance isn’t involved. They also don’t have to change their policy mid-term, which some insurers charge an admin fee for.
It’s still worth an honest chat with the owner before you borrow their car. They should know you’re driving it, and it’s sensible to agree up front how things like the policy excess would be handled if you did need to claim.
Temporary cover is designed for social, domestic and pleasure driving, such as visiting people, running errands, days out and personal trips. It isn’t built for business use, and it won’t cover delivery work, taxi driving or any other form of hire and reward. Your policy wording sets out exactly what is and isn’t included, so give it a read when your documents arrive.
Cover is for UK-registered cars, and eligibility and underwriting criteria apply to both the driver and the vehicle. Insurance and breakdown cover are also two different things: a temporary policy won’t send a recovery truck if the car won’t start, so check whether the car already has breakdown cover or arrange it separately.
Finally, the car itself must be road legal. That means it needs to be taxed and, if it’s old enough, have a valid MOT. A car without a current MOT may only be driven to a pre-booked MOT test, and you still need insurance for that journey.
With Covrly you can buy cover for as little as 1 hour. That’s handy for quick jobs such as moving a car, a short test drive or a one-off trip across town.
A single Covrly policy can last up to 30 days. If you need to keep driving after that, arrange new cover before it ends, either another temporary policy (subject to eligibility) or an annual policy if the arrangement has become long term.
Yes. Covrly policies are fully comprehensive, covering damage to the car you’re driving as well as your liability to other people. An excess applies to claims, and your policy wording explains the full terms.
Yes, as long as you have the owner’s permission and both you and the car meet our eligibility criteria. The policy is in your name and runs separately from the owner’s own insurance.
Yes. Once you’ve bought your policy, your details are uploaded to the MID, which the police and the DVLA use to check whether a car is insured. Your documents are also emailed to you so you have proof of cover.
No. Covrly cover is for UK-registered cars being driven in Great Britain and doesn’t include trips abroad. Your policy wording confirms the exact territorial limits.