Travel Insurance - As Soon As You Book

Grumpy_chap

A couple of weeks back, my wife and I booked our holiday to Spain in October.
Straight away following doing the booking, we went to compare and purchased a single trip travel policy from Admiral.

Reading the information received, today I noticed that the policy details read:
 Start of trip <date 1>
 End of trip <date 2>

Under "trip cancellations" it said "we don't offer cover if anything happens before your policy start date" and on the next line had the policy start date noted as <date 1> which is the day we are scheduled to fly.
Then a helpful note "Ensure you don't need trip cancellation cover prior to your start date on <date 1>"

We have overcome the query by upgrading the policy to annual.  It was less than an extra £10 in total to cover us both.  Cheekily, the annual policy start date is put retrospective to the date a couple of weeks ago when we first booked and took out the policy.

So, no specific question for me and / or anything for me to do in relation to the above, but I wanted to ask:
1.  Is this normal that single trip policies only cover the actual trip dates?

It had always been my understanding that the single trip policy covered from when the policy was taken out until returning home at the end of the holiday.
If that is not the case, then it seems to contradict this guide https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel-insurance/single-trip-travel-insurance/

MyRealNameToo

For single trip policies you are asked your travel dates but the policy normally starts instantly.

For annual trip policies you are asked what date you want the policy to start on.

Insurers often use the same policywording for both so wonder if you have possibly misinterpreted it?

sheramber

Grumpy_chap said:

A couple of weeks back, my wife and I booked our holiday to Spain in October.
Straight away following doing the booking, we went to compare and purchased a single trip travel policy from Admiral.

Reading the information received, today I noticed that the policy details read:
 Start of trip <date 1>
 End of trip <date 2>

Under "trip cancellations" it said "we don't offer cover if anything happens before your policy start date" and on the next line had the policy start date noted as <date 1> which is the day we are scheduled to fly.
Then a helpful note "Ensure you don't need trip cancellation cover prior to your start date on <date 1>"

We have overcome the query by upgrading the policy to annual.  It was less than an extra £10 in total to cover us both.  Cheekily, the annual policy start date is put retrospective to the date a couple of weeks ago when we first booked and took out the policy.

So, no specific question for me and / or anything for me to do in relation to the above, but I wanted to ask:
1.  Is this normal that single trip policies only cover the actual trip dates?

It had always been my understanding that the single trip policy covered from when the policy was taken out until returning home at the end of the holiday.
If that is not the case, then it seems to contradict this guide https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel-insurance/single-trip-travel-insurance/

You are covered for cancellation  from the date
your policy starts but  not other cover such as loss of luggage, medical expenses etc. 

https://www.admiral.com/travel-insurance/single-trip-insurance.php?infinity=ict2~net~gaw~cmp~Travel%20Insurance%20-%20Brand%20-%20%5BAdmiral%20Travel%20Insurance%5D~ag~Admiral%20Travel%20Insurance%20-%20Exact~ar~595334089806~kw~admiral%20travel%20insurance~mt~e&media=ADTRB&tracking=ef2e9c67-ae8b-4d73-ba85-555cb17447ad&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=13962592523&gbraid=0AAAAAD3Y5sckZNjbmDTXaJR2TkguyGoWb

When should my single trip travel insurance start?

Your cover begins on the day you selected for it to start and finish (your holiday dates), but your cancellation period starts from the date you bought the cover. 

Grumpy_chap

MyRealNameToo said:

For single trip policies you are asked your travel dates but the policy normally starts instantly.

For annual trip policies you are asked what date you want the policy to start on.

Insurers often use the same policywording for both so wonder if you have possibly misinterpreted it?

That (the first two lines) is what I understood to be the case.

The wording was very clear to indicate that there was no cover until the trip date, including cancellation.  It is wrong if that is not the case, as per the link provided by Sheramber.

Overall, I guess this worked out OK as we now have the annual policy at only £10 more than the single trip policy.  It is much cheaper in total (£60) than the annual policies via the comparison sites.

luci

Have you read your policy schedule and policy wording to check what you're actually covered for. There should also be a policy summary detailing what is and isn't covered. For example, some insurers don't include Spain unless you buy a policy that specifically covers Spain. 

Have you declared any medical conditions either of you have or have had in the past x years? 

£60 seems very cheap for an annual policy for two people.

Grumpy_chap

luci said:

some insurers don't include Spain unless you buy a policy that specifically covers Spain. 

The single trip policy was to go to Spain.

luci said:

Have you declared any medical conditions either of you have or have had in the past x years? 

Medical conditions are declared.

luci said:

£60 seems very cheap for an annual policy for two people.

Was £48 for the single trip policy.
Then they sent the e-mail to upgrade to annual for £10.

luci

Grumpy_chap said:

luci said:

some insurers don't include Spain unless you buy a policy that specifically covers Spain. 

The single trip policy was to go to Spain.

I didn't say that your policy didn't include Spain. You didn't quote the part where I said, "For example". I was just giving an example of the different levels of cover some insurers have.

slackdad1

This may seem an obvious question, and ASAB (As Soon As You Book) is good advice for getting travel insurance, but what if one books their holidays, say 1 year or even 6 months in advance? Would one be expected to pay the insurance company their premiums for those periods of time? If so, then the whole trip could turn out to be rather expensive. I would appreciate some feedback on this topic.

Grumpy_chap

slackdad1 said:

This may seem an obvious question, and ASAB (As Soon As You Book) is good advice for getting travel insurance, but what if one books their holidays, say 1 year or even 6 months in advance? Would one be expected to pay the insurance company their premiums for those periods of time? If so, then the whole trip could turn out to be rather expensive. I would appreciate some feedback on this topic.

Well, yes, if you book long in advance, the ASAB probably becomes more important.

Say I book a holiday departing next weekend.  The likelihood of getting ill so I can not travel is quite low.  The risk of accident meaning I cannot travel is the same each day as any other day, but the overall probability might be low as the number of days of risk exposure is low.

If I book a holiday departing in 10 months, the time in which something untoward might happen affecting ability to travel is greatly increased.  The overall risk is the risk of an event on any given day multiplied by the number of days that risk might present.

Linton

slackdad1 said:

This may seem an obvious question, and ASAB (As Soon As You Book) is good advice for getting travel insurance, but what if one books their holidays, say 1 year or even 6 months in advance? Would one be expected to pay the insurance company their premiums for those periods of time? If so, then the whole trip could turn out to be rather expensive. I would appreciate some feedback on this topic.

I normally set travel insurance to start when the the final bill is due.  If something nasty happens between making the initial booking and paying the final bill that is my risk.

MyRealNameToo

slackdad1 said:

This may seem an obvious question, and ASAB (As Soon As You Book) is good advice for getting travel insurance, but what if one books their holidays, say 1 year or even 6 months in advance? Would one be expected to pay the insurance company their premiums for those periods of time? If so, then the whole trip could turn out to be rather expensive. I would appreciate some feedback on this topic.

If you are buying single trip insurance then the difference in premiums will be minimal however the longer you leave it the more you risk acquiring a new illness or injury that either bumps your premiums or means you can't travel for which you will be uninsured. 

Linton said:

slackdad1 said:

This may seem an obvious question, and ASAB (As Soon As You Book) is good advice for getting travel insurance, but what if one books their holidays, say 1 year or even 6 months in advance? Would one be expected to pay the insurance company their premiums for those periods of time? If so, then the whole trip could turn out to be rather expensive. I would appreciate some feedback on this topic.

I normally set travel insurance to start when the the final bill is due.  If something nasty happens between making the initial booking and paying the final bill that is my risk.

On single trip insurance you dont set the start date, it starts instantly and you only declare the start date for your holiday. 

Annual insurance you declare a start date for the policy but annual cover generally only makes sense if you are taking 2-3 trips a year in which case at all times you'll probably have an up coming trip. A lot will come down to how much the insurance is, for us travel insurance is cheaper than the deposit on a holiday so it still makes sense to do it straight away. Clearly if you are getting on in years or have major illnesses so premiums are much higher than the holiday deposit then it can make sense to wait if you are having a big gap between trips. 

Only word of caution however is making sure you know what your actual deposit is... there are some providers who only take £50 up front but your actually deposit could be £500+ so a cancellation can result in much more than you just losing the £50 paid up front