Drive Away Insurance: Everything You Need To Know

What Is Drive Away Insurance?

So, what does drive away insurance mean exactly? It’s a type of temporary car insurance, or short-term van insurance, designed for the first few hours or days after you purchase a vehicle.

It acts as a quick, flexible bridge between buying your car or van and setting up a long-term annual policy, ensuring you’re covered from the moment the vehicle is yours.

Instead of being forced to commit to a 12-month policy while standing in a cold dealership car park or on a stranger’s driveway, drive away cover provides the immediate protection you need to get your new wheels home safely. You can get covered for anything from an hour up to 28 days, making it the quickest way to get insurance when you’re buying a car.

When Do You Need Drive Away Insurance?

You need drive-away cover if you’ve just bought a new vehicle and don’t yet have insurance. You can’t rely on driving other car’s cover to be able to get behind the wheel, as the vehicle will technically be uninsured.

Insurance is mandatory not just whenever you’re driving, even if it’s just a ten-minute trip home from the dealer, but at all times. Your vehicle always needs to be insured unless it’s officially declared SORN, so even if it’s just parked on the road outside your house, it still needs to be covered.

According to the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB), there are 300,000 uninsured cars on the road daily. If you’re caught, you could face a fixed penalty of £300 and 6 points on your licence. The police even have the power to impound and potentially destroy your brand-new purchase.

While it’s exciting to get a new car, driving it without a valid policy isn’t worth the risk. Using temporary drive away insurance gives you the breathing room to get your car or van home and keep it insured whilst you shop around for the best annual deal at your own pace.

Do You Get Drive Away Insurance With A New Car Or Van?

Drive away insurance from dealers is often offered as part of the sale. Some larger franchised dealerships provide a few days of cover to help you get home, but this isn’t a universal rule. Even when they do, the admin process can be slow, and you might be pushed into taking out cover for longer than you actually need.

Many independent dealers and van specialists don’t provide this service at all. If you can’t get drive away insurance from the dealer, you’ll need to arrange your own insurance before you set off.

Buying Privately Or At Auction

While people often associate drive away cover with dealerships, it’s actually one of the most helpful tools for private sales. If you’re buying a car from a neighbour or someone you found online, you’ll absolutely need to sort your own cover, as the seller’s policy won’t protect you once the keys have changed hands.

Temporary insurance is also a brilliant solution for private test drives. Most standard policies won’t cover you to drive a car you don’t own. Taking out a policy for just an hour or two allows you to test the vehicle properly and legally before you part with your cash, protecting the seller’s No Claims Bonus and giving you peace of mind.

How Long Does Drive Away Insurance Last?

The beauty of buying your own drive away insurance is that the duration of your cover is entirely up to you. While 5-day drive-away insurance used to be the only option many people knew about, and the one often pushed by dealers, our temporary policies are much more flexible.

With us, you can choose the exact amount of time you need for drive away cover, plus easily buy another policy to stay covered for even longer if you need it:

• Hourly: If you’re going to be sorting annual cover as soon as you get home, a couple of hours might be perfect for you. Just make sure there are no gaps between your policies.
• Daily or Weekly: A few days of cover, between one to two days, is our most popular choice for driveaway, but a week of cover can also be a good option. It gives you breathing room to find the best annual deal without rushing. Plus, by using temporary cover now, you can set your annual policy to start in a few days rather than immediately, which can often help you secure a lower insurance premium.

Most drivers find that a policy lasting between 1 and 7 days provides the perfect window to get everything else in order.

How Much Is Drive Away Insurance?

When you’ve already paid out for a new vehicle, you don’t want a massive extra bill. The cost of drive away insurance depends on a few factors, such as your age, driving history, and the type of car or van you’ve bought.

As a guide*, you could get drive-away cover from £16.40 for 3 hours, £22.57 for 1 day, or £34.35 for 4 days.

Is Drive Away Insurance Worth It?

The main benefit of drive away insurance is that it puts you firmly in the driving seat. Rather than relying on a dealership’s potentially slow admin or being forced into a long-term policy that isn’t right for you, temporary cover gives you the headspace to get things sorted properly.

• Comprehensive Protection: You get comprehensive cover as standard, so your new wheels are well protected against mishaps on the way home.
• Avoid Rushing: Finding the best annual insurance takes time. Drive away cover buys you a few days to compare quotes and avoid making expensive errors by rushing into a 12-month contract.
• Instant MID Update: We update the MID four times a day. Our cover is designed to show up on the Motor Insurance Database (MID) quickly. This is vital for taxing your car at the point of sale (temporary insurance can be used to tax vehicles) and avoiding being pulled over by ANPR cameras.

It’s all about making that first trip home as stress-free as possible while keeping you on the right side of the law and your new wheels well protected.

Why Drive Away Insurance Is Great For Dealers

Temporary cover isn’t just a win for buyers; it’s a lifesaver for dealers too. Since 2023, we’ve been partnering with hundreds of dealerships across the country to provide thousands of policies a year of essential drive-away insurance for their customers, helping get cars off the lot.

Whether you’re selling small city cars or large transit vans, our service is an excellent solution that keeps the forecourt moving by allowing for:

• Increased Conversions: On average, 60% of a car dealer’s clients purchase their vehicle after getting a quote from us. Our simple and quick quoting process and wide acceptance criteria ( an 83% acceptance rate), avoids any bumps along the purchasing road.
• Same-Day Collections: Dealers can close sales faster when customers can get insured and taxed instantly. Our broad acceptance criteria and user-friendly system allow drivers to get covered in minutes.
• Valuable Revenue Streams: Our partnerships enable dealerships to earn commissions when their clients use our insurance, creating a helpful extra revenue stream through referrals.
• Test Drives & Courtesy Cars: Our dealer partners can also utilise our services for test drive insurance and courtesy car insurance, ensuring drivers are protected at every stage of their purchasing journey.

The feedback from our car sales partners has been overwhelmingly positive, with thousands of policies issued to drivers taking home their new vehicles. If you’re in the automotive industry and interested in partnering with us to provide drive away cover, get in touch.

Get Drive Away Insurance With GoShorty

At GoShorty, we offer a streamlined way to get your new car or van insured in under two minutes. Get a drive away insurance quote today, online or on our app, and you can get your new vehicle covered in a matter of minutes.

*Prices shown are based on the lowest sold prices over the period 10/24 to 03/25