There are many reasons why you may not be able to go on the holiday of your choice. Money gets in the way all too frequently, along with the logistics of the arrangements. What we mean by this is when you choose a particular type of holiday which involves driving, only to discover that the car is not up to it.

It is too old, unreliable, too small, cannot take the luggage, trailer, caravan or the family. Up until now your choices were limited to hiring another vehicle or borrowing a car and mid-term adjusting your annual insurance policy to cover it, or changing your plans altogether as the cost of hire or the nightmare of insurance mid-term adjustments were too much to cope with.

Is there an alternative to this? We think we may have stumbled on one, a new insurance product for motorists on the internet. It is short term car insurance which you purchase by the day for up to a maximum of 28 days at a time.

There are several companies which offer this type of insurance for cars or vans. You can locate their websites by either their URL or typing in keywords such as short term car insurance, day insurance and temporary car insurance.

They all offer an internet based booking process and payment, with the option to view and print the short term insurance policy on your printer. All policies issued are registered with the MID.

The advantage of this type of insurance is that you can choose the short term period to insure a car/van and it is a separate insurance policy that does not impact on the vehicle owner's annual policy in the event of a claim.

You also get the benefit of an uninsured loss recovery policy, which is daily breakdown cover for the same period as the car insurance. That is particularly useful for holidays both in the UK and in the EEC.

If your plans require the use of another vehicle which you can borrow off friends or family, then you can insure the vehicle in it's own right and this includes extended European cover for those driving holidays to France and beyond in the EEC.

It is particularly useful if you need a more reliable car or more space than you have in your own family transport. You can even tow a trailer or caravan if that forms part of your holiday plans. The insurance is generally fully comprehensive, although you would need to shop around to get fully comprehensive for driving abroad.

The insurance offerings vary, from company to company, on their acceptance criteria and the vehicles they will insure, but generally 12 months holding a UK or EEC driving licence with no fault claims within 3 years and less than 6 penalty points endorsements will enable an on line application to be made for cover.

If your trip is scheduled to last longer than 28 days you can take a further period of cover consecutively, thus providing continuous cover beyond 28 days.

What we liked about the products were their flexibility and the speed of obtaining cover. They are more expensive than an annual policy, but a lot cheaper than hiring a car for your holidays.

All in all there is a place for short term car insurance in your holiday driving plans which will allow you to use someone else's car with the peace of mind knowing you have fully comprehensive cover, and that in the event of a claim it will not affect the annual insurance no claims discount.