When to book travel insurance

freelunchtoday

Disregarding the advice to book ASAB (as soon as you book).
Is there a period in advance of booking that gives a lower premium?
i.e. MSE advises to book car insurance 21 days before start date, does this apply to travel insurance?
Thanks in advance.

The_Fat_Controller

The premium depends mainly on the trip duration and destination.

There is no "sweet spot" for purchasing so therefore stick to ASAYB.

SiliconChip

Why would you disregard the advise to ASAYB? It's given for very good reasons, that could utterly dwarf any minor saving in premium cost that you might make by buying at a different time.

soolin

I can’t think of any possible saving worth risking a total loss for, gambling  on not needing insurance in the ‘early days’ is not a good bet. Insurance doesn’t just cover you for the couple of weeks you are away , it covers you beforehand, so if you book one day and something happens to you the next day if it is covered by your insurance then you only lose any excess if you are forced to cancel. 

sheramber

Why risk the money you have paid for your holiday by not taking out insurance as soon as you pay anything?

That is not money saving.

Pollycat

Maybe the OP could explain why he/she is disregarding the advice to arrange insurance ASAB.

freelunchtoday

Thank you pollycat  .

My outlay has been minimal with bookings being cancellable. 

Whereas the insurance cover is considerable.

Some insurances (car) assess people's risk by when they book, I have 2 months to play with, so.............

twopenny

There used to be good negotiations to make with insurance companies if there was a few weeks in advance and they knew you had the time to ring around.

You can still contact by phone. 

I would do a couple of comparison sites because they could see what you had tried and compete when you rang. No idea if they still bother with this but it's useful for a start of the conversation.

The worst premiums were when I did a last minute booking. I had no way to negotiate and was hung up to dry. Each company was the same.

You still need to do it sooner than later.

It's worth a go. Don't find out unless you do.

DullGreyGuy

Its cheapest to buy as soon as you book as you are then covered for the maximum amount of days. If you leave it until just a few weeks before travel you'll pay the same price but not had the benefit of cover up until that time.

In theory if its a few days before then its likely to be more expensive but never tested that with Travel in absolute terms as well as getting the least cover for the payment.

[Deleted User]

Does it matter if you have the insurance start on the day of the trip? Falling ill before then it seems you could still claim for travel on the start date, rather than wasting potentially months of an annual policy. The main this is to book before you are ill, because once you are ill you would have to declare it an be unable to get insurance anyway.

DullGreyGuy

[Deleted User] said:

Does it matter if you have the insurance start on the day of the trip? Falling ill before then it seems you could still claim for travel on the start date, rather than wasting potentially months of an annual policy. The main this is to book before you are ill, because once you are ill you would have to declare it an be unable to get insurance anyway.

Single trip insurance starts as soon as you buy it... they ask for the start date of your holiday not the policy.

Annual policies are clearly only good value for those that travel multiple times a year, or these days are probably often bundled with bank accounts and people like the lack of hassel even if its not technically good value.