Can You Tax a Car with Temporary Insurance?

Yes — it’s fully legal, and sometimes more convenient, to tax your car with temporary insurance. 

Let’s say that you’ve bought a new car and want to drive it home. Legally, you need to be covered by both insurance and tax before you can drive on public roads, even if you’re only travelling a short distance. 

Instead of jumping straight into an annual policy, you can get temporary car insurance to cover your car for a few hours, days, or weeks. This allows you to quickly tax your vehicle, drive your car home, and park it on your driveway.

It’s illegal to drive a car without a valid insurance policy. Temporary car insurance, also known as short-term car insurance, provides coverage for a much shorter period than annual policies, typically between one hour and 28 days. 

It’s a great option if you need insurance after buying a new car. For example, if you’re purchasing a new or used car from a dealership, private seller, or family member, you can arrange temporary cover for a few hours, starting on the date you collect your car. So, you can pick it up and drive it home without delays.

Most short-term policies offer fully comprehensive cover, too, so you don’t have to rush into an annual policy. You can take your time comparing long-term car insurance options while staying fully protected on the road.

Vehicle tax is a legally binding charge you’ll pay on any vehicle that’s registered in the UK and is driven and/or parked on public roads.
It has a few different names: Vehicle Excise Duty (VED), car tax, and road tax. But they all mean the same thing.

How much does vehicle tax cost?

The rate of car tax you’ll pay depends on several factors, including:

• The date your car is first registered.
• Your car’s CO2 emissions.
• Your car’s age.
• Your car’s value.
• The type of fuel your car uses.

The best way to lower your vehicle tax bill is to find cheap cars with cheap road tax. The MINI Hatchback, Ford Focus, and Hyundai i10 are a few standout options.

It’s a legal requirement to tax your car every year — you can’t legally drive it if you don’t. You can check your car’s tax status at any time using the DVLA’s free online tax checker.

If you’ve just bought a new car, it needs to be registered and taxed before you drive it anywhere. 

The same goes for if you’re buying a used car. Vehicle tax can’t be transferred to a new registered keeper, so you’ll need to tax the car before you can take it home.

Taxing your car with temporary car insurance might be a good option if:

• You want to compare annual car insurance policies to find the best deal.
• You’re in a rush to collect a car from a private seller before it’s gone.
• You don’t have the funds to immediately purchase annual insurance.
• You haven’t transferred your car insurance policy to your new car yet.

Some car dealers will insure and tax your car for you when you buy a car from them. For example, they might offer a few days of temporary cover to allow you to drive your vehicle home on the day of collection, which makes the process much more convenient. 

But if you’re buying from a private seller, you’ll have to sort out the tax and insurance yourself. It’s best to get it sorted in advance to avoid delays. Don’t forget to make sure that there are no gaps in coverage between your tax and insurance policy.

No. To tax your car, you need to have insurance in place first. The DVLA enforces this by checking your insurance status on the Motor Insurance Database (MID) after you register for tax. Your application will be blocked if they determine that you don’t have a valid insurance policy.

This has its benefits. It means you don’t have to physically provide your car insurance details and policy documents to the DVLA, which can be time-consuming and cause delays. And, it ensures that vehicles being taxed are legally covered by adequate insurance policies. 

Just bear in mind that your insurance may take a few hours to appear in the MID, so allow time for the system to update before taxing your vehicle. If you find that your insurance isn’t showing up, wait a few more hours or consider reaching out to your insurer.

Yes — driving without road tax is a criminal offence. 

Driving an untaxed vehicle on a public road can land you with hefty fines of up to £1,000. Being the registered keeper of an untaxed vehicle — even if it’s only parked on your drive — will also result in fines of up to £1,000 if you’re caught.

The DVLA may clamp your vehicle until you’ve paid your fines and tax in full.

However, there are a few exemptions. While every vehicle must be taxed, you don’t have to pay the tax amount if your vehicle is:

• Driven by, or used to transport, a person or people with disabilities.
• A historic car (made before 1st January 1985).
• A vehicle powered by a steam engine.
• An agricultural, horticultural, or forestry vehicle.
• A SORN (Statutory Off Road Notification) vehicle.

Electric vehicles used to be exempt from road tax, but this is no longer the case. From April 2025, you’ll need to pay vehicle tax if you have an electric car, van, or motorcycle.