When should I purchase my travel insurance?

k-herm

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jun 30, 2004
Messages
278
We have booked a fly-drive with Direct Holidays for 2 weeks in October 2005.

At the time of booking (July this year) I declined both the travel and car insurances offered due to cost.

The car insurance, I can presume, can be left until just before we go.

But should I be looking at buying the travel insurance now?
I guess that if we had insurance now, we are covered for cancellation should anything happen before we leave. Is there any advantage in waiting until nearer the time that I haven't thought of?

I might see about getting combined travel and car insurance too. Would this affect my decision regarding the timing of purchase?

We will not be having another trip abroad either before Oct '05, nor for some time after.

Thanks in anticipation.
k-herm
 
If you can predict whether or not insurance premium tax will rise and when companies annually increase their premiums, then you can afford to wait. Not much help I know, but they don't tend to offer early bird discounts or anything!!!
 
K-herm - it's one of those need a crystal ball situations, isn't it? I'm one of those people that always cover for any eventuality because our luck is not what you would call great:rolleyes:

Whilst I understand not wanting to buy something that is just less than a year away, what you've got to do is think about how much it could cost in the long run - at this stage probably only your deposit - if you did (heaven forbid) have to cancel the holiday for whatever reason.

We have annual travel insurance and have had since we started going to Florida six years ago, it just gets renewed like all the other household insurances (contents, buildings, car etc), but I still shop around to make sure we're getting a good deal and so far Nationwide have not let us down. With our annual insurance policy it means we're covered for all sorts of trips, even weekends away - useful for lost luggage etc.

When you ring up for insurance, they always ask the date of your booked holiday and where to etc.

If you don't know who you are going to use, check out www.thisismoney.com - you can check out every single insurance policy going to give yourself an idea of how much to expect to pay, but I'm sure loads of people will be along to recommend their favoured people.

By the way - thanks for the thread, you've just reminded me to have winter sports included in our policy for our Xmas skiing trip:D
 
I'd recommend sorting out your travel insurance now so that, as you say, you'd be covered for any unforeseen cancellation. The car insurance could wait until you get the car (although you'll probably want to arrange it before then!).

There is an annual Amex policy which includes travel and car insurance, but you'd need to shop around to see whether that would suit you as you plan only one trip within the next twelve months and an annual policy may be more than you want.

As for 'best buys', etc., they all vary according to the poilicyholder details, so you really need to check out a few quotes to get an idea of the likely cost for you and yours - then you'll be able to spot that 'bargain' when it appears ;).

I can't think of any reason why you might benefit from delaying purchase of one-trip travel insurance, but I may be missing something too!
 













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