Car insurance helps protect you after a car accident by paying medical bills, property damage, or repairs for your vehicle, depending on the coverage you have under your policy. One thing you may not have considered before is temporary car insurance, which covers you and your vehicle for a shorter time. You may want to look into temporary car insurance coverage for several reasons, and many companies offer this service. If you’re in the market for short-term insurance, you may want to know if GEICO offers temporary car insurance as an option.
What Is Temporary Car Insurance?
As the name implies, temporary car insurance is coverage you don’t intend to have for very long. A typical car insurance policy is for one year, often automatically renewed through your car insurance agent or company unless you take action to change or cancel it. Temporary car insurance is a type of coverage that is usually for six months or less. If you only plan to drive a vehicle for a short amount of time, temporary car insurance would be your best option for coverage.
Why Would You Need Temporary Car Insurance?
Usually, when you purchase a vehicle, you intend to drive it for several years before either selling it or trading it in for a newer model. Your car insurance coverage on that vehicle is intended to cover it for as long as you own it. But what if you don’t plan to keep a car for that long? Here are a few reasons you may want to consider temporary car insurance:
- Visiting another country with your vehicle for an extended period
- Borrowing a friend’s car for a few weeks or months
- Purchasing a vehicle that you plan to turn around and re-sell shortly after
- Shopping around for permanent insurance but need coverage immediately
- Renting a vehicle while on vacation
- Having a college student who only drives in the summer
- Hiring a babysitter who will drive your vehicle regularly
In most states, the insurance follows the driver and not the vehicle, but adding temporary car insurance in these instances can save you from having to cover additional damages.
For example, if you borrow your friend’s vehicle for a few weeks, their insurance will follow the vehicle as long as you have their permission. However, if your friend only carries the state minimum liability requirement and you get into a fender bender that’s your fault, their insurance will not pay to repair the vehicle. If you carry temporary car insurance that includes collision coverage, your insurance will pay for the repairs.
Likewise, if you rent a vehicle and don’t purchase a damage waiver and the vehicle is damaged by hail, you could be liable for damages if you don’t have adequate coverage. If you have a temporary car insurance policy with comprehensive coverage, the hail damage would be covered through your insurance company.
You should also know that you may also not be covered by the vehicle’s insurance policy in the following cases:
- Providing ride-share services in a borrowed vehicle
- Using the company vehicle for personal excursions
- Driving a new vehicle home from the dealership if you don’t already have insurance coverage on the vehicle you traded toward the purchase
- Driving your vehicle into Mexico
It’s always best to call your insurance company before embarking on any of these situations to determine whether or not you’re covered. In most cases, your agent will suggest that you add a temporary car insurance policy to guarantee coverage.
Does GEICO Offer Temporary Car Insurance?
The answer to this question is complicated because GEICO doesn’t offer an insurance policy for less than six months, although you can cancel anytime. Therefore, you could take insurance coverage out on a vehicle and cancel it after three weeks through GEICO without any early-termination fees. However, GEICO offers an excellent alternative to temporary car insurance, a non-owner policy.
If you plan to drive your vehicle into Mexico, GEICO does offer short-term car insurance for Mexico (tourist) policy. Available coverage includes physical damage, medical payments, liability, partial theft, vandalism, roadside assistance, and more.
What Is a Non-Owner Policy?
GEICO’s non-owner policy is insurance coverage available to drivers who do not have regular access to or own a vehicle. It’s important to note that non-owner car insurance does not cover the vehicles of anyone you live with, including a spouse, sibling, or roommate. If you share a home with someone and borrow their vehicle frequently, you should be listed as a driver on their car insurance policy. In many cases, you should be listed even if you don’t have a valid license.
Non-owner car insurance provides liability coverage for the vehicle you are using but will not cover any damages to the vehicle. Many non-owner policies include uninsured/underinsured, medical payments, or personal injury protection in addition to the liability coverage. Non-owner policies do not offer comprehensive or collision coverage.
Purchasing Temporary Car Insurance
If you need temporary car insurance coverage and a non-owner policy doesn’t fit the bill, your best bet is to get a quote for coverage through GEICO. GEICO offers competitive rates on car insurance and has one of the best discounts regarding multiple vehicle policies. Since there’s no early termination penalty or fee, you can cancel anytime. Purchasing car insurance through GEICO allows you to carry the insurance coverage types and limits if you want to protect yourself from financial liability in the event of an accident.
When planning to take your vehicle to Mexico, you’ll want to get a quote on the various Mexico car insurance coverages available through GEICO. GEICO temporary car insurance in Mexico offers daily, six-month, and annual policies. You’ll need to provide your travel dates, destinations, U.S. insurance policy number, and vehicle information, including make, model, year, market value, VIN, and license plate number. GEICO can also insure your ATV, UTV, or watercraft in Mexico if you take the recreational vehicles for your vacation getaway.
If you’d like more information on GEICO temporary insurance options, including coverage in Mexico, a GEICO representative is available at 888-713-3312 Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. or you can start a quote online today from the comfort of your home.
At FIXD, our mission is to make car ownership as simple, easy, and affordable as possible. Our research team utilizes the latest automotive data and insights to create tools and resources that help drivers get peace of mind and save money over the life of their car.
