Temporary Car Insurance

Yes, you can. RAC Temporary car insurance policies can be bought for as little as 1 hour up to 30 days at a time. If you need more time, you can always top this up online or take out another policy. You can top up to a maximum of 30 days. Once you’ve reached 30 days, you’d need to buy a new policy.  

The cost of a temporary car insurance policy varies on several things. These include:

• the length of time you take the cover out for

• the type and age of the vehicle

• your driver history

• your location

• where the vehicle will be kept overnight

Yes, that’s not a problem. And if you needed to make a claim on your temporary policy, it won’t affect the no claims discount on your annual policy. You just need to make sure you declare the claim to your annual insurer.

Yes. If you need to insure yourself on someone else’s car for an hour, a day, or even up to 30 days, temporary car insurance is ideal. With us, you get comprehensive cover as standard.

Yes. Someone else can insure themselves on your car with temporary car insurance. It can be useful if you and a friend are sharing the driving on a road trip, or a family member is borrowing your car. They can buy cover for 1 hour up to 30 days.

Also, if the person insured on your car was to damage it, it wouldn’t affect your annual insurance policy.

No. RAC Temporary Car Insurance only covers qualified drivers who have held a full and valid driving licence for over a year. Read our full requirements for temporary car insurance.

If you only have a provisional licence, you can get RAC Learner Driver Insurance for your car or a friend or family member’s car. Cover is available from 2 hours to 5 months.

Yes. Just keep in mind that, if you’re taxing your car online, you’ll have to wait for the Motor Insurance Database (MID) to update. We notify the MID of all new insurance policies within 24 hours. It’s still legal for you to drive during these 24 hours – but it’s always worth double-checking that you’ve received and checked your insurance documents.

Yes, even though our maximum policy length is 30 days you can purchase multiple policies. If you require annual cover then get a quote for RAC Car Insurance or call us on 0330 159 1019.

To be eligible for a temporary car insurance policy, you’ll need to be aged between 18 and 75.

Yes, as long as you’re not using your vehicle for transporting goods or people for hire or reward (for example, a taxi service or courier).

Our short-term cover is ideal if you’re insuring a car for a few days away at another office or business conference. It’s also a good solution if you only travel for business now and then, as it can be more cost effective then adding business cover to your annual car insurance.

No. RAC Temporary Car Insurance is a flat-rate policy for a short, fixed period. This means you won’t build up any no claims discount on this policy, even if you don’t make a claim.

Only if you buy our additional cover for Europe (this is an optional extra). Journeys must start and finish within Great Britain, Northern Ireland or the Isle of Man, and cover is only available for cars registered in the UK.

Yes. For full details on the requirements for Green Cards, please see the detailed list of FAQs on our Brexit page.

If you drive under 6,000 miles a year and are over 21 Pay by Mile car insurance may save you money. Every driver and vehicle combination is unique so we can’t promise it'll be cheaper but you could be paying as little as 4p per mile. If your mileage increases, then you can cancel the policy at any point. Don’t worry, there are no cancellation fees. Find out if you could save.