Whether new or second hand or buying from a dealer or privately, it’s important to take a potential car out for a test drive. You need to get a feel for the vehicle and ensure you’re happy behind the wheel.
When you take a car for a test drive at a dealer, there’s always that moment – before they let you loose on the road – when they’ll take a copy of your driving licence and sign you up for some temporary car insurance. No dealer would dare take the risk of their precious vehicles being damaged on an uninsured test drive.
Do I need insurance for a private test drive?
If you’re buying a car from a private seller, you will still need insurance. If you’re driving a car on any public road in the UK, you need the correct insurance – even if the owner is sitting beside you in the passenger seat. It’s not worth taking the risk of driving uninsured with penalties ranging from a fixed penalty of £300 and 6 penalty points to potentially unlimited fines and disqualification.
Should anything happen on your test drive, whether it’s an accident or a breakdown, nobody (the police included) will accept “I’m test driving a new car” as a valid excuse for not having any insurance.
What is DOC insurance?
There was a time when most fully comprehensive insurance policies included a benefit known as Driving Other Cars (DOC). This would cover you on a third-party basis to drive someone else’s vehicle, provided you had their permission.
Originally intended to be used in emergency situations only, DOC inclusion has now become increasingly rare and is not often included as a default when purchasing an annual policy. If you’re under 25, you can pretty much assume that DOC will not be included in your policy, as insurers will not want to take the risk on a younger driver.
While you can, of course, contact your insurer to have DOC coverage added to your policy – usually for a fee – it’s a far from ideal solution for a short test drive. DOC would only provide you with third-party coverage. In other words, while it might cover the cost to repair other vehicles involved in an accident, it won’t cover anything that happens to your test vehicle. This could result in a very contentious issue with the vehicle owner.
One way to keep everything fully insured is to get temporary car insurance. While it may be tempting to contact your annual insurance provider and adjust your policy so you can go out for a test drive, it’s likely you’ll find this both time-consuming and expensive.
Tempcover It!
The quickest option will be to take out temporary car insurance for your test drive. Tempcover’s policies are fully comprehensive, meaning they’ll cover all parties should anything happen – and even protect a no claims discount. Whether you need cover for an hour, a couple of hours, a day or more, Tempcover will help you find your new car.
Another benefit of temporary car insurance is that in many cases, you can sign up and secure coverage in super-quick time. You can get a quote from Tempcover in under 2 minutes and the policy will start at the exact time you request.
This means you can pitch up to the test drive with an open mind, visually inspect the vehicle and then purchase the policy while you’re speaking to the owner, should you decide the vehicle is worthy of a test drive.
The process is so quick and easy and requires the following specifications… You must:
- Be aged 17-78 years old
- Hold a full UK or EU driving licence
- Have been a permanent UK resident for the last 12 months or be a British expatriate
- Have no more than 7 licence points in the last 3 years
- Have not been disqualified from driving in the last 2 years
- Have had no more than 2 claims that you were at fault for in the last 3 years
- Have no criminal convictions
- Not have had a previous policy of insurance declared void by an insurer
You can find out more about these requirements on our hourly temporary car insurance page.
More test driving tips
Once you have your insurance set, you’re ready to go. Tempcover’s test driving guide offers even more advice for when you’re in the market for a new car.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you need insurance to test drive a car?
Yes, you need valid insurance to drive any car on any public road in the UK – test drive or not!
Do I need insurance when test driving a car from a dealer?
Most dealers will have an insurance policy all ready for you to sign before you go out and test drive a car. If you’re looking to buy privately, you are more likely to need to arrange temporary car insurance yourself.
