When you think of car insurance, you think of a 1 year long plan which you have to renew every year. But that is not the case in reality. To provide short term financial protection to their car, vehicle owners can opt for temporary or short term car insurance policy. Short term car policy provides the vehicle owner with flexible coverage, without having to get into any long term commitment with the insurance company. Read on to know all about temporary car insurance in detail.
As the name suggests, a temporary car insurance provides short term coverage to the policyholder. With this type of insurance being temporary in nature, the validity of the coverage is for a few minutes or few days depending on the insurer. In case you are not looking to purchase car insurance for an entire year then you can choose to buy short term car insurance to avail temporary coverage. The concept of short term insurance is not very popular in India, but in foreign countries.
In India, insurers offer two types of coverage I.e. comprehensive and third party coverage offered for a period of 1 year. Temporary car insurance comes into the picture when the requirements of the car owner are time bound or limited. This may include scenarios such as driving the car for a few hours, relocating to a new city, learning to drive, etc. when you do not require coverage for more than 12 months.
To buy short term car insurance, a vehicle owner has to provide the below details.
As per your requirements and the tenure offered by the insurance company, you can choose to buy short term car insurance for a period of 1-9 months. In comparison to a standard car policy, the premium for this type of insurance is less. Given below are the benefits of short term car insurance.
Short term car insurance provides a host of benefits including coverage against man made calamity, natural calamity, personal accident, accidental damage, etc. You can choose to purchase a short term car insurance policy in the below given scenarios.
Compared to comprehensive car insurance, the coverage offered under short term insurance is not wide. Only a limited number of insurers offer short term car coverage in India. Few of the types of short term car insurance available in India are:
Rental Car Insurance: Under rental car insurance, coverage is offered for rental cars. Damages caused due to accidents, accidental injuries, man made calamities, etc are covered.
Gap Insurance: This type of insurance provides coverage for cars that have been purchased on lease or on loan. Under this type of insurance, the car is financed by the third party and compensation equal to the market value of the car is provided to the car owner. In case of total loss, the coverage is provided.
Non Owners Insurance: Similar to rental motor insurance, non owners insurance coverage is offered for private cars. For instance, you can purchase this type of insurance for a car you are borrowing from a friend or relative.
Yes, the vehicle owner should meet the below eligibility criteria to purchase temporary car insurance:
An individual should be above the age of 18 and should have a valid driving license
If borrowing car from friends or family then the individual should be above the age of 17
Yes, few insurers in India enable policyholders to add multiple cars to their temporary car policy.
Yes, with temporary car insurance, you can insure the car for less than a month.
When buying short term car insurance, it is important to keep a check on the policy terms and conditions, exclusions, coverage offered, etc.
No, it is not mandatory to inform the existing insurance company in case you do not buy short term insurance from them.
Temporary car insurance can be purchased for 1 week- 6 months, varying from insurer to insurer.
No, temporary car insurance is not expensive compared to comprehensive car insurance.
