Temporary Car Insurance

Most car insurance companies (like Geico and Progressive) don’t sell temporary or short-term car insurance for less than six months. Some websites may try to lure you in with the promise of a weekly or monthly auto insurance plan at a low cost. 

However, submitting your information online for a car insurance quote or calling will likely route you to an auto insurance agent who will offer you a longer policy.

Can You Get Daily, Weekly or Monthly Car Insurance?

If you hear of a company offering a temporary car insurance policy that lasts one day, one week or one month, it’s probably not legitimate and may even be a scam. A six-month policy is the shortest term available.

Luckily, signing up for standard auto insurance coverage is easy and it can be used temporarily. For example, you can purchase a six-month policy and cancel it after a couple of months if you sell your car or when you’re done driving. Your car insurance provider won’t charge you for the remaining months after you cancel, though you may have to pay a cancellation fee.

In addition, if you only drive your vehicle occasionally, you should consider signing up for a pay-per-mile insurance plan. You could be rewarded with lower rates or only pay for what you drive.

When Would You Need Temporary Auto Insurance?

While temporary auto insurance policies don’t exist, there are several situations where you might find yourself in need of short-term coverage. These include:

• Being home from college for summer break
• Visiting a location where you need a car
• Staying with friends or family members and borrowing their car
• Living abroad but driving while visiting the U.S.
• Driving your car seasonally
• Buying a car you plan on reselling soon

If you only need car insurance for a short time, what can you do? Actually, it’s fairly easy to get a car insurance policy online and then cancel it when you don’t need it anymore. Your options could include trying non-owner car insurance, getting rental insurance or trying usage-based coverage options.

Standard Car Insurance Policy

The simplest alternative to a short-term car insurance policy is a standard policy that you only use temporarily. Most car insurance policies take effect after you make the first payment, which means you don’t have to wait long for coverage to kick in.

While many car insurance policies don’t come with cancellation fees, check into whether the policy you’re considering does. Still, it may make more sense to get a car insurance policy for a month and pay a small cancellation fee or lose a deposit than to figure out other transportation.

Non-Owner Car Insurance

A non-owner car insurance policy can be a good alternative to temporary insurance if you often drive vehicles you don’t own. Perhaps you travel around and use a car sharing service or regularly use a friend’s car. You can get non-owner insurance from major companies for six- or 12-month increments.

The nice thing about a non-owner policy is that it’s cheaper than standard car insurance. This is because it usually only includes liability coverage for injuries and property damage if you cause an accident. Non-owner insurance is useful if you:

• Use car sharing services 
• Don’t have your own car
• Want to save on standard car insurance costs
• Rent cars often and don’t want to pay for rental insurance
• Drive a family member or friend’s car often

To get non-owner coverage, you’ll need to speak with an insurance agent.

Permissive Use Coverage

Most car insurance policies cover a primary driver along with anyone who might drive the car occasionally. That means you’d be covered if you drove someone else’s vehicle. However, if you plan to drive another person’s vehicle often, consider getting non-owner’s coverage or adding yourself to their insurance policy if you live at the same address.

Rental Car Insurance

If you’re using a rental car and don’t have your own insurance, you can get coverage through the rental company. Rental car insurance won’t be the cheapest option available, but it will cover you while you use the car and help you avoid getting an entire insurance policy. If you opt for extra insurance from the rental car company, you might not need to pay a deductible if you get into an accident.

Usage-Based Car Insurance

Safe drivers can get discounts with usage-based programs like Progressive’s Snapshot^® or State Farm’s Drive Safe & Save™. These programs, also known as telematics insurance, track driving habits like acceleration, cornering, braking and time of day. They also track mileage, which often makes up a large part of the overall score.

That means people who don’t drive often can save more on insurance costs with usage-based programs compared to people who commute every day.

Mileage-Based Car Insurance

Mileage-based car insurance is a subset of usage-based insurance. But with this option, the only thing that matters is your mileage. If you only drive occasionally, you could save a lot of money since you don’t put many miles on the odometer. A few examples of this coverage include:

• Metromile
• Allstate Milewise^®
• Nationwide SmartMiles^®

With these programs, you often pay a low monthly base rate plus a rate per mile. Pay-per-mile programs also have daily mileage charge caps so you can take a road trip without paying a huge amount of money.

Be aware that some pay-per-mile insurance programs may require you to drive your car or at least move it occasionally to keep the sensor active. This is the case with Metromile.

Use Distant Student Discounts

If you’re a college student leaving for school, most companies will give you a discount on your family insurance plan if you leave the car at home and go to school more than 100 miles away.

Store Your Car

If you store your car while you aren’t using it, you may be able to get a comprehensive-only policy from your insurance provider. This covers events that could damage your vehicle while it’s parked in one location, like a hailstorm or vandalism. But it doesn’t cover accidents, so you can’t drive your car. Some companies may require you to store your car for at least a month to get this coverage.

If you’re storing your car long term, you can remove the registration from your vehicle and then stop insurance entirely. Contact the DMV to remove your registration before canceling insurance or you’ll have a lapse in coverage.

When you’re looking for temporary car insurance options like the ones listed above, there are a few things to keep in mind. These include the following:

Avoid a Lapse in Coverage

However you decide to solve your temporary insurance requirement, make sure to avoid a lapse in car insurance coverage. This happens when you have a vehicle registered in your name and don’t have insurance. Car insurance companies report directly to the DMVs in each state, so your state will know if you drop insurance but still have a registered vehicle.

Ask About Cancellation Fees

Some providers charge cancellation fees of up to 10% of your car insurance premium, but it varies by company and state. If you’re looking for temporary insurance, it can be worth paying a small fee to avoid the expense of future premiums. 

However, if you’re shopping around for a new policy you intend to cancel, know what fees you may have to pay when you decide to terminate your contract.

Consider All Options for Temporary Insurance

While temporary insurance doesn’t exist, there are still plenty of other options to choose from. When you decide what kind of coverage you want and need, take into account how much coverage you’re actually getting for the price.

While you can’t get a legitimate insurance policy that lasts less than six months, you can cancel coverage when you don’t need it if you don’t own a car. You can also try options like non-owner car insurance or rental car insurance to get you through unique situations.

Best Temporary Auto Insurance

If you decide to get a standard auto insurance policy for a while, we recommend comparing car insurance quotes from reputable companies that don’t have cancellation fees. Geico and State Farm are our top picks for easy cancellation.

Geico: Best for Budget-Conscious Drivers

Our rate estimates show Geico is one of the most affordable car insurance companies — it offers full-coverage policies about 24% below the industry average. Low premiums plus no cancellation fees make it a good option for temporary auto insurance.

Geico received a rating of 4.1 out of 5.0 for customer satisfaction in our 2022 survey of nearly 7,000 car insurance customers. About 16% of the survey’s participants were Geico policyholders.

Keep reading: Geico insurance reviews

State Farm: Best Customer Experience

State Farm also offers affordable rates without cancellation fees for most policies. According to our estimates, State Farm’s average rates are about 14% cheaper than the national average. The company’s Drive Safe & Save™ program helps people who drive infrequently save money. State Farm scored a 4.2 out of 5.0 for customer satisfaction in our survey.

Keep reading: State Farm insurance reviews
Compare: State Farm vs. Geico

Below are frequently asked questions about temporary auto insurance.

Because consumers rely on us to provide objective and accurate information, we created a comprehensive rating system to formulate our rankings of the best car insurance companies. We collected data on dozens of auto insurance providers to grade the companies on a wide range of ranking factors. The end result was an overall rating for each provider, with the insurers that scored the most points topping the list.

Here are the factors our ratings take into account:

• Cost: Auto insurance rate estimates generated by Quadrant Information Services and discount opportunities were both taken into consideration.
• Coverage: Companies that offer a variety of choices for insurance coverage are more likely to meet consumer needs.
• Reputation and experience: Our research team considered market share, ratings from industry experts and years in business when giving this score.
• Availability: Auto insurance companies with greater state availability and few eligibility requirements scored highest in this category.
• Customer experience: This score is based on volume of complaints reported by the NAIC and customer satisfaction ratings reported by J.D. Power. We also considered the responsiveness, friendliness and helpfulness of each insurance company’s customer service team based on our own shopper analysis.

Our credentials:

• 800 hours researched
• 45 companies reviewed
• 8,500+ consumers surveyed

*Data accurate at time of publication.