Short term car insurance - why so expensive??!!

PWFZ12

I need short term car insurance for 3 weeks. But the premiums are coming in between £350-£500! What on earth??! Why is it so expensive? It'd be cheaper to insure the vehicle for a year at £250. 

Sandtree

Niche market with little competitive pressure to drive costs down.

Cost of advertising etc is virtually the same however for an annual policy they'll defer the costs as most aren't one year policies but temp insurance rarely get materially extended so all has to be expensed immediately. 

Many temp covers are on vehicles not owned by the insured and so claims frequencies are probably higher (speculation) both because more likely to misjudge something and less likely to think they'll just live with a modest dent when they have to give it back to a friend etc.

Flight3287462

If you have insurance on another car I have paid around £28 for a month on an additional car (Direct Line).

yessuz

Pay for a year 250. Cancel when not needed and get premium balance refunded

jimjames

yessuz said:

Pay for a year 250. Cancel when not needed and get premium balance refunded

Minus admin charge which might be significant. Probably still a cheaper option than short term policy though.

Day insurance is very reasonable, once it gets into weeks it ramps up a lot.