Temporary insurance is perfect for borrowing a car, or for insuring a newly-bought car and getting it home from the dealership so you don't have to figure out an annual policy there and then.

If you own a car and have an annual policy, chances are you won't be covered to drive other cars without sorting temporary insurance or being added as a named driver.

In the past, most annual insurance policies included DOC (driving other cars).

But that's not very common these days.

Most policies don't cover DOC, and those that do will typically only include third party insurance on other vehicles. That means you wouldn't be paid out for damage to your vehicle if you were involved in an accident.

So it's important to check your policy documents before driving someone else's car. There's a high chance that you'll need to either become a named driver, or get a temporary insurance policy in order to drive legally.

The good news is that a Cuvva policy allows you to borrow someone else's car, or to share the driving responsibilities on a long trip. In fact, it's one of the most common reasons for using us!

Unlike with some other temporary insurers, you don't have to have a specific relationship with the owner. (You should, of course have their permission before you drive their car!)

If you're buying a book-ahead policy that starts in the future, however, the owner of the vehicle will need a Cuvva account to approve you to borrow their vehicle. This doesn't apply to policies that start immediately.

A Cuvva policy is separate to any other insurance policy on the vehicle. And it's in the driver's name, not the owner's.

That means that the owner's insurance won't be affected even if you do need to make a claim, and they wouldn't lose their NCB. This applies to learner drivers, too.

But it's important to know that we don't offer courtesy cars. So if you had an accident and the vehicle needed repairs, the owner wouldn't have a replacement during that time. We also don't cover legal expenses or uninsured loss recovery.

You can insure someone else's car with Cuvva even if you don't have your own car with its own policy.

Our cover is fully comprehensive. That means that if you were to be involved in an accident or claim, you'd be covered for:

We only offer comprehensive car insurance, so you can't choose a lower level of cover in the app.

All of our policies cover SDP (social, domestic, and pleasure) and commuting. That means you can use Cuvva for leisure purposes, and for driving to and from a fixed place of work.

Most of our temporary insurance policies also include class 1 business cover, which allows you to drive other sites that aren't your usual place of work. For example, going to a work meeting in a different location.

But we don't cover most other commercial or business uses - like hire and reward, or motor trading.

We've gone into more detail in our article on using Cuvva for business.