Cancelling travel insurance

AuntieM

I'm retiring to Portugal and when applying for the residency visa you must provide proof of annual travel insurance.
Does anyone know of a travel insurance company that allows you to cancel an unused annual policy (after the 14day cooling off period) and gives a full refund, or charges a small admin fee?
I will purchase a single trip travel insurance policy when I know my actual travel date and then will purchase private medical cover when settled locally in Portugal.
Many thanks 

elsien

I can’t post a link for some reason but if you look at the main forum news section there is an article in there from last April which gave a list of companies that were allowing refunds after the 14 days. 

sheramber

It is unlikely you get a full refund as you will have cover for the period the insurance has been in force.  

TELLIT01

Depending on how long after you take out the policy you try to cancel, you may get little or nothing back.  You will have had insurance in place from the date the policy starts.  You can't claim a full refund simply because you haven't claimed, any more than you could do so on a motor insurance policy.  Insurance protects against a risk, not just an event actually happening.

AuntieM

TELLIT01 said:

Depending on how long after you take out the policy you try to cancel, you may get little or nothing back.  You will have had insurance in place from the date the policy starts.  You can't claim a full refund simply because you haven't claimed, any more than you could do so on a motor insurance policy.  Insurance protects against a risk, not just an event actually happening.

Yes that makes sense, thank you. I've found an annual policy for £21.95. So I won't bother attempting to cancel it -  I'll just think of it as an additional cost for my residency visa!