Alan Smith wrote:

It was provided by Norwich Union Direct, and it was at teh time intended to
be a long running thing.
It was designed to be the same as their 7-day-driveaway deals that they
provided for Ford and Jaguar dealerships when customers bought cars from
them.
It worked like this...

You buy a car, but need insurance to drive it home, get it taxed etc.
So Ebay seller tells you to ring a number and speak to Norwich Union.
They'll give you 7 days fully comp insurance for free.
This gives the seller an extra selling feature if he's clever enough to
capitalise on it - strangely, loads didn't.
So you rinng NUD, and they ask a few questions, then email a cover note to
you in PDF format which you print out at home.
Before the call ends, they take the opportunity to provide you with a quote
for the full years insurance based on the info you've just given. This is
how they make their profit from it, as a lot of people don't want the hassle
of ringing round loads of different companies after the week is up, and for
the sake of convenience, just take out the years policy.

I know this because I worked in the Norwich Union callcentre at the time
when this offer was introduced. I was fielding calls for Ford insurance,
Jaguar insurance, Norwich Union Direct, RAC Direct and Ebay Driveaway, so I
had received training in all the various products.

I don't work there anymore, but I think I heard somewhere that it's no
longer being offered.