Would annual travel insurance cover for a trip booked months in advance?

ira_ira

My annual travel insurance expires at the end of March and I'm planning to renew it for another year from the day it expires. However, I'm about to book for a trip in October and started to think that I may neither be covered by the old nor the renewed plan. Do you have any experience with this? If for any reason I need to cancel the trip, the insurance I had in place when I bought it would be one that already expired. And the new one would have been purchased after the trip was booked, although ahead of the trip taking place. I'm not sure what the rules are. Any advice? When is the right time to purchase travel insurance in this scenario? 
Thanks. 

NoodleDoodleMan

You really need travel insurance in place before booking any holiday.

You can always cancel your existing policy and quickly renew in order to immediately book for October.

I'd be inclined to wait until the end of March and take it from there - your October trip will still be available.

maman

NoodleDoodleMan said:

You really need travel insurance in place before booking any holiday.

You can always cancel your existing policy and quickly renew in order to immediately book for October.

I'd be inclined to wait until the end of March and take it from there - your October trip will still be available.

How would you know that? (I'm assuming you mean still available to book).
We booked a trip to India 6 months in advance as leaving it later would have meant possibly not being able to go with the operator we wanted on the dates we wanted (had tried a later booking the previous year with no luck).

The 6 month wait straddled two annual policies. We were covered throughout by one or other of the policies. Fortunately we didn't need to use either of them.

TELLIT01

Call the insurer and ask if you can take out a policy but defer start date until the existing one ends.  I've checked for annual insurance on line in the past and have been asked for a start date.  Shouldn't be a problem this close to the end of the previous policy.  I've just checked my insurer's website and you can enter a start date up to 90 days in advance.

HoofeHearted

If you have to cancel before the end of March, your current insurance will cover you.

If you cancel after the end of March, you newly renewed insurance will cover you, as long as the reason for cancellation, was not known when you renewed.

ira_ira

HoofeHearted said:

If you have to cancel before the end of March, your current insurance will cover you.

If you cancel after the end of March, you newly renewed insurance will cover you, as long as the reason for cancellation, was not known when you renewed.

Hi, I don't think I'd need to cancel the trip before my current insurance ends. My issue is that if I purchase the tickets before getting the new insurance, those may not be covered. Although I'd be within the new insurance by the time of travelling, the purchase was done before I was covered.
I've been reading through the policy, but I can't find anything that clarifies this situation. I'm yet to find any good explanation of when do you need to purchase the insurance to make it valid for your trip. I'm not planning to get insurance in the last minute, but my understanding was that you need to have insurance by the time you purchase the tickets, which I'd have but would expire way before my trip. 

onwards&upwards

NoodleDoodleMan said:

You really need travel insurance in place before booking any holiday.

That can’t be right surely?  I only ever buy single trip and only ever after booking the holiday, are you saying that if I booked first and then an hour later bought an annual policy I wouldn’t be covered? 

CapricornLass

Why not phone up your insurance company and ask them?  I'm sure you wont be the first person to ask this question -or the last!

maman

onwards&upwards said:

NoodleDoodleMan said:

You really need travel insurance in place before booking any holiday.

That can’t be right surely?  I only ever buy single trip and only ever after booking the holiday, are you saying that if I booked first and then an hour later bought an annual policy I wouldn’t be covered? 

Single trip, bought for the actual holiday is fine if you actually get to go.
The purpose of buying as soon as you book is so that if anything happens, in advance, that would prevent you travelling then you are covered.
So, to use your example, if during the hour you weren't covered and went to the GP and found out you were pregnant then you wouldn't be covered if you weren't fit to fly!  
I think it's particularly important for expensive holidays booked a long time ahead. I've sometimes let my insurance lapse for a few months if I've nothing booked or just a couple of cheap flights that I wouldn't be upset about losing if I couldn't go. 

onwards&upwards

maman said:

onwards&upwards said:

NoodleDoodleMan said:

You really need travel insurance in place before booking any holiday.

That can’t be right surely?  I only ever buy single trip and only ever after booking the holiday, are you saying that if I booked first and then an hour later bought an annual policy I wouldn’t be covered? 

Single trip, bought for the actual holiday is fine if you actually get to go.
The purpose of buying as soon as you book is so that if anything happens, in advance, that would prevent you travelling then you are covered.
So, to use your example, if during the hour you weren't covered and went to the GP and found out you were pregnant then you wouldn't be covered if you weren't fit to fly!  
I think it's particularly important for expensive holidays booked a long time ahead. I've sometimes let my insurance lapse for a few months if I've nothing booked or just a couple of cheap flights that I wouldn't be upset about losing if I couldn't go. 

Well yes, quite!  The poster I was responding to seemed to be saying that if you book a holiday, then shortly after booking buy an annual policy, you wouldn’t be covered because the holiday was bought before the policy.

unless i’m Misunderstanding? 

etienneg

Why do you think the date of purchasing the tickets matters?

The reason you have heard that you need to have insurance by the time you purchase the tickets is that if something happens from then onwards meaning you have to cancel, you need to be covered. It would not be sensible to let weeks or months go by after buying the tickets but before buying insurance, in case something happened requiring cancellation, as you would then be uninsured. But it doesn't have to be the same policy in force from the moment you buy the tickets to the date you return from your holiday.

It's just the same as house insurance. I bought my house 40 years ago and I needed insurance cover from the date of exchange of contracts, in case the house burned down (or whatever). But the policy I had back then expired after a year and was renewed (or replaced with another one from a different insurer) each year. If my house burned down now it would be covered by the current policy, regardless of the fact that I bought the house 40 years ago.

I believe the pertinent expression used is "insurable event". This means something that happens that gives rise to a claim. You need to read the policy carefully to know what insurable events are covered. In simple terms, though, travel insurance will cover two distinct kinds of insurable event. The obvious one is things that go wrong during the actual holiday, especially illness or accident requiring medical help and/or repatriation (e.g. whilst your broken leg is in plaster). The other one is things that go wrong before the holiday and give rise to the need to cancel. The essential point is that you are insured for any particular insurable event by the policy in force at the time that the insurable event occurs. So suppose you have policy A in force when you buy the tickets. If an insurable event occurs before this policy runs out that is covered by the policy and that requires the holiday to be cancelled, you are covered by policy A. By the time policy A runs out, you need either to have renewed it (policy or replaced it with one from a different insurer (policy C). Thereafter, an insurable event occurring will be covered by whichever of policy B or policy C you decided on. This policy will probably last right up to, and throughout, the holiday, and so will cover necessary cancellation after it comes into force and things happening during the holiday.