Short Term Car Insurance: UK Leads the Way

It’s an interesting fact that the whole idea of insurance was pretty much invented in the UK. In the 17th century it began as a matter of underwriting shipping cargo and it was a great idea. What were the real odds of a ship going down with all its booty? And once they had been calculated, what was the best way of collectively covering the financial risk. The period of cover (or indemnity as it is more accurately known) was simple – how long is the voyage?

It has always been a little like this when you insured your car, the insurance companies tot up the risk, based admittedly on ever more sophisticated data and then they give you a quote and sell you policy of insurance, which is a contract with strict terms that stipulate who can drive your car, why, and when and where they can do it. The contract lasts one year.

Why? Well, probably no good reason really, just that it’s a convenient time period in which to assess changes in risk and circumstances.

Another reason is possibly that one year represents a pretty neat time frame for one to earn what has become central to our appreciation and perception of our car insurance. Once called the ‘no claims bonus’, now the ‘no claims discount’ – why the change? Who knows, it probably just sounds better.

But we are, quite understandably given the current cost of car insurance, fiercely protective of it. One minor touch to somebody else’s bodywork can, let’s face it, have disastrous consequences for your premiums the following year.

It has brought with it a slightly different set of cultural norms. In the UK these days it is no longer considered a small matter to ask to borrow somebody’s car. The implications are horrific in terms of that ubiquitous ‘no claims’ culture and they can pose significant problems if things go wrong.

Interestingly, this is not the social norm in countries where car insurance is relatively cheap, and for just that reason. The cost implications are less of an issue and communal use of the car tends to be regarded with no more trepidation than borrowing a hand drill.

In the UK things are different. The extent to which another driver is covered is, and needs to be considered as a serious issue. The law is quite clear-cut as are the individual conditions of one’s insurance cover.

This need has been recognised and addressed with increasingly more flexibility, short term car insurance UK, as a concept used to be a bit of a joke really. In a nutshell, it didn’t exist and on the odd occasions where it did, it was expensive.

Fortunately, thanks to the demand fostered by online car insurance comparison sites, this is no longer the case and insurance companies have been quick to identify the potential of this market, thus short term car insurance UK represents a significant sector of the insurance market in its own right.

Short term car insurance UK is a contemporary model that can now represent a serious challenge to the car rental market, particularly if you consider that short term car insurance UK can give you access to insurance cover for as short a period as one day.