For many Brits, festival season is one of the highlights of summer – but festival travel, not so much. From boarding buses at the crack of dawn, relying on notoriously flaky friends to coordinate a convoluted and expensive train journey, or risking your sanity on other overcrowded, overhot public transport options – the travel is usually the only downside to a musical getaway.
Whether you’re looking to save money, avoid lugging a huge backpack around, or simply can no longer cope with a stressful journey, driving yourself directly to the festival is often the best option. If you don’t own a car, or feel anxious at the prospect of being behind the wheel for hours, we’d recommend investing in short-term car insurance. Our policies can be tailored to an hourly, daily, weekly or monthly basis, to suit your exact needs, and afford you the flexibility to arrive at your festival of choice in style.
Why Driving is the Best Way to Travel to Festivals
Travelling to festivals by car offers a range of benefits – especially when compared to other means of transport. Bring an entire wardrobe’s worth of festival looks with you, safe in the knowledge that you can store your belongings in a locked car, and get to your favourite act on time, looking fabulous. These are some of the perks of driving to a festival using temporary car insurance…
Convenience and Flexibility
When you drive to a festival using your own car (or a car you’ve borrowed and insured), you get to set your own schedule. From the time you set off, where you refuel, to when you take a snack break, travelling directly to a festival is much easier than adhering to the timetables of the coach and train services available. Of course, planning your own route allows for rather more fun pit stops than you’ll get on an 8 hour bus, too.
Keep in mind that unless you’re travelling down early, road services are likely to be busy – especially as you get closer to the festival site – so plan accordingly to make sure you don’t miss the headline act.
The good news is, if you don’t have a car, but can convince a friend or family member to lend you theirs for the journey you can easily sort out cover for the festival duration, even if it’s last minute. Short-term insurance is incredibly easy to purchase, and taking out a policy can be completed in just minutes – giving you a great deal of flexibility in your festival travel.
Comfort and Space
Travelling in a car provides an extra layer of comfort to your festival experience. Carrying your camping gear, food supply, and glitter is no mean feat – and sprinting around train stations to navigate platform alterations with a bag the size of the West Holts Stage strapped to your back is rather less rock and roll than most of us aspire to.
Exhausting yourself before you’ve so much as pitched your tent is no way to start the festivities. Instead, borrow a spacious car from your parents, friends or neighbours, and ensure that you and your fellow festival goers are comfortable from the get go. Whack on a road trip playlist to arrive feeling fresh and ready to enjoy the festival. Plus, if the driving gets particularly tiresome, you’ll be able to switch seats with a suitable passenger by purchasing them short-term cover – allowing you to take a break from the long drive, swapping out the designated driver as and when you need to, each of you fully covered.
Saving Money
Another bonus of sharing a car for your festival travel is how much money you can save – meaning you’ll have more money to spend on cider and falafel. Glastonbury 2024 cost £69 for a return coach ticket from London, and £104 from Manchester. In comparison, sharing a car with 3 friends*, travelling from London and Manchester, would cost approximately £16 and £18 respectively – including both fuel and insurance – meaning you’ll be able to splash more cash at the actual festival. For those who live furthest from the festival, car sharing is likely to be a popular travel option. The pricing of our car insurance is based on the same factors as traditional insurance, such as your age, car model and driving history, but as the coverage is short-term, it’s typically cheaper to take out a temporary car insurance policy than rely on other transport options, like trains.
The Importance of Temporary Insurance
If you’re planning to share the driving duties with friends, it’s crucial to have the right insurance in place. There are several reasons that short-term insurance is the ultimate solution for festival travel…
Legalities
Car sharing is not as simple as simply handing your friend the keys. You must be properly insured to legally drive someone else’s car, which our short-term insurance covers. Driving without insurance is illegal, and can result in hefty fines and penalties of up to £300 and 6 penalty points on your licence. Opting for short-term cover is a great way to quickly and easily protect yourself and the vehicle you’re borrowing from any mishaps on the road – and as we cover drivers from as little as one hour to 28 days, our policies provide the perfect amount of flexibility for festival travel.
Peace of Mind
Temporary insurance is the best way to drive with peace of mind on the roads – especially if you want to avoid complicated claims on the main driver’s policy. If someone is not feeling up to driving home from the festival or just needs a break to re-caffeinate, you’ll be able to insure another individual with ease – meaning you won’t get stuck in limbo on your way back.
Financial Benefits
With affordable cover available in less than 90 seconds, our short-term insurance presents a highly practical solution for festival-goers who’d prefer to spend their cash on merch, chips and pints, instead of transport.
Borrowing a Better Car for the Journey
Using short-term insurance can also enable you to temporarily upgrade your vehicle. Should you require a more suitable – or downright fancier – car for the festival, such as a vehicle with a higher MPG, more boot space, or aesthetic appeal – borrow one! Temporary insurance allows you to borrow a car from a friend, relative, or neighbour affordably and without hassle.
Short-Term Insurance Makes Festival Travel Easier Than Ever
Driving to a festival can’t be beaten for the convenience, comfort, and cost-efficiency it offers – especially when compared to the chaos of an over-packed train, or the coach only leaving at an ungodly hour. With our temporary insurance, you can ensure that everyone planning to drive the car is properly covered, so the festival road trip can be split accordingly. Make your festival travel easy with short-term cover and enjoy your journey. Do remember your car sharing etiquette, though – rid the car of mud and coffee cups to return it clean and in the same state you received it in. A full tank wouldn’t go amiss either.
Temporary insurance from GoShorty means that festival travel has never been easier – so get covered and hit the road for the most memorable festival experience yet.
*These figures are based on sharing a Ford Focus Estate with a miles per gallon (MPG) of 45 and petrol costing 148.80 per litre. Across a respective 137/208 miles petrol costs would come to £20.56 and £31.25. Meanwhile, a week’s worth of short-term insurance costs roughly £42.02 on average, so we’ve added these figures and divided them by four for the total amount.