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We have multi car insurance where my husband and I are each named drivers on the other’s car. It makes life easy if on the odd occasion we need to swap cars. Mine is our family car so he drives it frequently at the weekends. As it happens, I very rarely actually drive his car.

Which got me thinking that we are probably over-paying for the policy because I am covered to drive his car all year round which we just don’t need.

As well as the situation which we are in, there are other occasions where short term car sharing insurance would likely be more cost effective than simply putting another named driver on to an annual insurance policy.

For example, a student coming home for the holidays; they are at university for a large part of the year so it doesn’t make sense to pay for a full year of insurance. However, with parents who quickly tire of being a taxi service, giving them the freedom to use the family car on a short-term basis when at home is a win-win all round.

Thinking back, I’ve had a couple of experiences where it would have been great to have had a friend insured on my car on a short-term basis. When I couldn’t drive for six weeks after my cesarean section and my husband was back at work, I would happily have had a friend drive me to the shops and to appointments in my car, with my child seats, for ease.

Another great example that springs to mind is the spontaneous weekend mini breaks with friends we used to enjoy before we had children. We’d all hop in one car and head off to different places to eat, drink and be merry. This was especially great when we lived near the wine regions in Melbourne.

The only problem was that one person ended up less merry than the rest because they had to do all the driving as it was their car. If we’d have had more than one named driver for the weekend, we could have shared around designated driver status. And the hangovers.

Car Sharing Insurance

Car Sharing Insurance is the obvious answer to this conundrum.

Car sharing insurance is a standalone product that sits alongside a car’s annual insurance policy, allowing the insured party to borrow a friend or family member’s car on a temporary basis.

With Veygo, part of the Admiral Group, you can purchase car sharing insurance from one hour up to 30 days. Cover can be purchased up to 60 days in advance or start instantly.

The insurance policy works in addition to the owner’s policy already in place on the car. The standalone cover is fully comprehensive which means that, if you need to make a claim, your friend or family member’s (the car owner) policy is not affected and their car is covered up to the current market value.

Importantly, the owner’s No Claims Bonus would remain intact too if the car sharer had to make a claim on their own policy.

Purchasing car sharing insurance through Veygo is extremely simple. It is only available online; the quote process only takes a few minutes.

All you need to get a quote is the type of driving licence held, the dates of cover, the date of birth of the person borrowing the car, and their postcode.

Learner driver insurance

Learner drivers are another group who benefit hugely from borrowing someone else’s car. Mum and Dad are frequently a learner driver’s golden ticket to passing the driving test quicker, and getting that longed for freedom that comes with driving your own car.

I remember well practicing with my Dad when I was learning; the emergency stops were not his favourite manoeuvre! I’m actually dreading the time when my girls ask me to take them out to practice driving. Luckily it is a long way off still!

With the Driving Standards Agency recommending 22 hours of private practice in addition to lessons with a professional driving instructor, it’s actually pretty important that learners have a car to practice in.

In the same way as car sharing insurance works, Veygo’s learner driver insurance provides flexible, on demand cover for learner drivers to learn to drive in a friend or family member’s car from two hours to 90 days.

With driving lessons costing a small fortune, private practice can reduce the amount of time taken to pass the test and help cut the cost of learning to drive. The cost of learner driver insurance for the learner to borrow a car to practice in is a small price to pay, and actually could save money in the long run.

The real cost

I checked out the cost for me to insure myself on someone else’s car to see what the real cost is and give some perspective.

• In the scenario where I wanted to drive a friend who was ill or was temporarily unable to drive themselves to the shops or to a medical appointment, the cost of one hour’s worth of cover is £4.48. Far cheaper than a taxi.
• Heading away for a three-day weekend with friends and being a named driver would be £21.83. This seems really reasonable given it means not having to take a second car and avoids duplicating on petrol costs, car parking etc.
• The maximum 30-day cover price is £114.82. In the example of a student home for the holidays, this would be the sort of duration they would be looking at. Whilst it sounds a significant amount of money, the alternative is probably numerous taxi rides which would quickly add up.

These quotes are based on me being a 37-year old driver with a manual driving licence. Quotes will be affected by age, location and driving qualifications.

It always pays to look for ways to bring down your expenses. Cutting out anything you are paying for but don’t need when it comes to your insurance premium is an easy win.

This is a sponsored post, written in collaboration with Veygo. As part of the Admiral Group, voted Best UK Car Insurance Provider five years in a row by The Personal Finance Awards, you know that the team at Veygo know their stuff when it comes to car insurance.