When is it too late to buy travel insurance?

Heading away and haven’t booked travel insurance yet? Don’t panic, you can still get insurance.

Although the recommended advice is to get insurance as soon as you book your trip, that doesn’t mean you necessarily need to. Buying it earlier will cover you for any cancellations or issues that might prevent you from going on the trip, but don’t worry if you’re about to leave on your holiday.

With most travel insurance policies, you’ll be covered straight away. That means you can actually buy it as late as you like before you leave. If you’re already on holiday, it’s still possible, but it will be more expensive and the range of providers is a lot lower.

So if you’ve woken up in a complete panic the morning of the trip worrying about not having insurance, it’s not too late! 

You can buy it right now, in just 10 minutes, and you’ll be covered immediately. We’ll cover the best way to get a good deal on travel insurance below.

Nuts About Money tip: in a hurry? Head over to Confused.com¹ and you could be covered in just 10 minutes.

You might already be covered

Did you know, some bank accounts include travel insurance as part of a current account deal. So, if you’re paying a monthly fee for your bank account, it’s worth checking to see if you have travel insurance included.

It might not cover you for every trip and occasion, especially if it’s more of a bespoke trip and you’re going on an adventure, or doing things such as skiing or maybe even a cruise, but it can often cover multiple trips per year, for shorter holidays in cities or beaches.

When is it too late to buy travel insurance?

The only time it’s actually too late to buy travel insurance is when your trip has started. But, here’s the complicated bit, with each travel insurance provider, there can be different definitions of when a trip starts. How annoying!

For some insurance providers, this can mean the moment you leave your house, and with others this can mean when you arrive at the airport, and for others, when the plane takes off.

The best thing is to assume the trip will start at the earliest point, so when you leave your house. This way you can still compare all the different insurance providers to find the best deal.

If you’ve already left your house, don’t worry. You’ll be able to find insurance companies who will offer insurance, just not every one.

What if I’m already on holiday?

If you’re already on holiday, things change a bit, and this can get more complicated. Insurance companies don’t really like you to take out insurance because the likelihood of fraud is a lot higher – we’re sure you’ve guessed why, because people take out insurance after an accident or incident has happened, such as losing their luggage.

However, if you are on holiday, there is some good news, you will be able to get insurance, it’s just a lot more expensive. And, it will start from when you take it out, so you can’t claim for anything that has already happened.

Note: this type of insurance can be called post departure travel insurance, or last minute travel insurance.

How to get the best deal on travel insurance

Even if you’ve completely forgotten about getting travel insurance before now, the great thing is it can only take 10 minutes to find the best deal for you, and you’ll be covered immediately. So, don’t panic!

All you need to do is first decide which type of cover you’d like, which is normally dictated by the trip you’re heading on. For instance, do you need cover for skiing (winter sports), or are you just heading on a beach holiday and just need the basics?

Do you just need insurance for a single trip (single trip travel insurance), or would you prefer annual multi-trip insurance (more than one trip)? Are your family going to? (Check out family travel insurance).

If you’re not sure, we’ve got a great guide on what to look for in travel insurance.

As a quick summary, you’ll definitely want to include:

• Medical cover for any accidents
• Cancellation cover for holiday and flight cancellations
• Cover for your luggage and personal items
• Personal liability cover – which is cover for legal costs, if you are involved in an accident involving someone else or their property

You’ll want to make sure the amount of cover the insurance policy covers is more than the trip cost (so you’ll get all your money back if things go wrong and it gets cancelled), and that it covers the value of all of your personal items too.

Note: if you’ve got a pre-existing medical condition, make sure you mention this to your insurance company, otherwise they’ll likely not pay-out if you have any incident involving the condition and need medical treatment – which is very expensive abroad.

After that, simply head over to a travel insurance comparison site, such as Confused.com¹ (we’ve listed all the best ones below). Enter in the details about your trip and yourself (and your family if you’re looking for family cover), they’ll then compare all the deals they can to find the best one for you (in seconds).

You’ll then see a list of all the best deals for you, and simply pick one you’d like (normally the cheapest from the shortlist). Click through to the insurance company’s website and you should have all your details pre-filled, have a check over, and then simply buy the insurance. You should be covered there and then.

All your insurance policy documents should be sent to your email, and sometimes an online account is made for you, so you can come back and find your documents whenever you need them.

We recommend printing these out if you can, or save them to your phone (especially if you’re already in the airport). It’s best to have a copy available beforehand, just in case any accident does happen.

That’s it. Pretty simple right? If you do want a bit more information, here’s our in-depth guide on how to get travel insurance.

Best travel insurance comparison sites

Let’s recap

There we go, if you haven’t got travel insurance, it’s not too late. You can get insurance even if you’re already on holiday!

If you are on holiday, you’ll need to look for an insurance provider who will cover you, there’s a lot less, but they are out there. 

If you are at the airport, don’t worry, there’s still a wide range of options, just make sure to read the policy details about when the trip starts before buying.

And if you aren’t on holiday yet, and haven’t yet left for the airport, you’ll typically be able to pick from all the different insurance companies out there. 

We recommend using a travel insurance comparison site, such as Confused.com¹ to find the best deal for you, and can only take 10 minutes, and you’ll typically be insured straight away.

And that’s it. Have a great trip!