A couple of weeks ago my brother, who has been out working in Canada for the past year, came back to visit. To keep him mobile I rustled up some temporary car insurance so he would be covered for the duration of his stay.

Being something of a frugal monkey I kept it to the basics and used only the minimum required by the law. Big mistake.

Sod’s law kicked seamless into effect. Sure enough the young lad had an accident. While stopped at a red light he was hit by an uninsured driver. He was fine, but the car was looking distinctly poorly.

Never mind, I thought, a bit of paper work and Bob would indeed be my uncle. How wrong can one man be? After months of delay they finally came back with this disappointing reply: because I kept costs to the minimum I was not covered in this particular instance.

I’m still fighting my corner, but a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach makes me think they’ve covered themselves somewhere down the line. It looks like I’m going to be in for a hefty repairs bill soon enough.

The moral of the story? Well, that’s obvious. Sometimes the cheapest temporary car insurance isn’t the best.