Short term Car insurance may have been available in some countries for some time but it is a reasonably recent addition to the options available to Australians. It was probably made available in the northern hemisphere originally simply because for long periods of time they were not able to drive their cars due to the weather conditions.
If the car is unable to be safely or confidently used for four or five months of the year, paying an annual fee was simply too expensive and the insurance companies would have been unable to ask for annual insurance because the drivers or cars insured would not have been able to access their full value of what they had, or been forced, to pay for.
So short- term vehicle insurance was the most viable and fairer option for their customers.
Lately, with the weird weather being experienced all over the world, short- term insurance has become very popular everywhere. There is one warning though that I would like to ask people to consider before changing their policies to a shorter term insurance policy.
Is the coverage that is included in these short-term insurance policies adequate for your needs?
It will depend on the type and level of insurance coverage you have but if your car is not insured for flood damage for example, and you have to leave your car outside of a garage, and it gets damaged in one of these unusual weather events, are you covered for this type of damage? In Australia, where (up until recent events) we have enjoyed the privilege of being able to drive our cars anywhere all year-round; insurance has been an annual necessary vehicle expense.
Today with so many people now working part-time only or working full-time from home, they simply don’t use their cars as much as they once did and have cut down their time on the roads by two-thirds or more.
Many people still need that second car for example, but may only drive it for 15-60 minutes a week. But the vehicle still needs car insurance and people are looking for the cheapest car insurance possible. Car insurance Companies have now derived policies to meet the markets requirements.
The insurance companies have and still are, reacting to people’s needs while still remaining as viable businesses. It is in no-one’s interests to have these companies fail. That is why the US Government supported AIG back in 2008 when they got into financial difficulties. Short term or full term Car Insurance is essential for peace of mind car ownership and can support you through a bad time too if you are ever in need of making a claim.
Getting cheap car insurance is possible with short term car insurance if you don’t need to drive your car every day.