Temporary Car Insurance in Florida

If you are a car owner, you might be able to get temporary car insurance by purchasing a six-month policy and canceling it before it expires for a refund. In Florida, you will pay an average of $552 for a three-month temporary car insurance policy.

For drivers visiting Florida that don’t own a car in the state, rental car insurance might be the best option for coverage.

MoneyGeek evaluated the situations that may prompt the need to purchase temporary car insurance in Florida. For instance, you may need to purchase the coverage to reinstate your license or if you work for a rideshare company.

Temporary car insurance can mean different things in different states, including Florida. If you are a car owner, you may decide to purchase a full coverage car insurance policy then cancel it before six months elapse. If you do not own a car, you may consider rental car insurance or non-owner car insurance.

In most states, insurers only sell car insurance policies with a minimum period of six months. In Florida, drivers pay an average of $1,104 for a 6-month temporary policy. That means you can only get short-term policies by canceling your temporary coverage early.

Typically, insurance providers will refund the balance of your policy premium from the time of cancellation. For instance, if you purchase temporary coverage for six months but you cancel after three months, you will pay roughly half the six-month cost, which is around $552.

Also, make sure that you do not have a lapse in your coverage when canceling your temporary policy since this can result in higher annual premiums.

While the standard minimum duration for car insurance is typically six months, MoneyGeek also determined costs for policies with lower time spans, including 90-day and 30-day policies.

Based on MoneyGeek’s study, the most affordable insurance carriers in Florida for a three-month policy are, on average:

• GEICO: $334 per 90 days
• State Farm: $467 per 90 days

The prices outlined by MoneyGeek do not include cancellation costs since most insurance providers do not charge any fees for canceling.

If you already have auto insurance in Florida but need to add or remove coverage, MoneyGeek recommends that you make changes to your existing policy. Drivers typically want to know about short-term car insurance if their teenager goes to college, when they are storing their vehicle or if someone is borrowing their car.

Drivers who live with their children in Florida need to add them to their auto insurance policy. This may result in higher premiums. It costs around $4,403 to add an 18-year-old to your policy in Florida. Parents may get lower rates by removing their students from their policy if their child studies over 100 miles away. They may also request distant student discounts or keep their child on their policy.

Based on MoneyGeek’s research, it costs an average of $734 in Florida to add a student to a policy for two months. Adding them for a year costs roughly $3,669 more.

In Florida, the company that saves you the most money if you temporarily exclude a student from your policy is Allied. Parents save roughly $7,498 with this insurer.

If you want to store your car in Florida, you can save money by asking your insurer for a car storage discount or making your coverage comprehensive-only.

In Florida, comprehensive and collision coverage with a deductible of $1,000 costs an average of $337 per year. That’s cheaper than the average annual cost of $1,206 for policies that include liability coverage.

Drivers from a military background and those on active duty may consider getting coverage from USAA, which not only provides the cheapest policies in the state but also offers car storage discounts to policyholders. An annual policy from USAA costs an average of $944.

If you allow someone that you don’t live with to drive your car in Florida, you do not need to add them to your policy since they are already covered. However, members of your household will need to be added to your insurance policy if they intend to drive your car regularly.

In Florida, you do not need to purchase temporary car insurance if you intend to use rented cars. Instead, you may consider getting rental car insurance that includes standard liability insurance but also allows you to buy additional coverage like personal accident insurance, supplementary liability insurance and collision damage waivers. Insurance from rental car companies in Florida costs roughly $46 to $57 per day. However, you can save by selecting cheaper coverage options.

MoneyGeek obtained analysis data from Jacksonville and discovered that rental car policy costs range from roughly $46 to $57 per day. The cheapest provider in the state is Enterprise, at around $46 per year, while Avis and Hertz both charge $57 per year on average. This covers liability insurance as well as add-on coverages like personal accident insurance, supplemental liability and collision damage waiver.

If you already have car insurance, you may not need to buy rental car insurance because your policy should cover the costs if you get involved in an accident.

Additionally, various credit card companies offer collision damage waiver insurance for rental cars. This can help you save money.

If you do not own a car but need proof of insurance before your suspended license gets reinstated, purchasing non-owner car insurance may be the best option in Florida. On average, the cost of non-owner car insurance in the state is $999 per year.

Non-owner insurance is the most affordable policy for drivers who do not own cars but need to file an SR-22 with Florida.

Florida drivers who work for a rideshare company get temporary insurance coverage once they accept fare or start transporting a passenger. This leaves a lapse in coverage between fares and can be a great place for rideshare insurance to fill in this gap.

However, rideshare insurance policies vary across the states, and you can use MoneyGeek’s comparison to select the best rideshare provider that suits your needs while in Florida.

Temporary car insurance provides coverage to car owners and non-car owners alike. Here are some of the commonly asked questions about temporary coverage in Florida.

MoneyGeek collected temporary and non-owner car insurance quotes in Florida in partnership with Quadrant Information Services. The sample policy used in the study was for a 40-year-old driver with a full coverage policy whose limits are outlined on our methodology page. The prices for students are for an 18-year-old driver added to their parent’s policy.

The costs for 30-day and 90-day policies were determined on a prorated basis, with the assumption that insurers will refund the full premium. Rental car insurance rates were obtained manually using online tools for the three providers in Florida, including Avis, Hertz and Enterprise.