Any reason to get travel insurance before final payment?

[klepton]

I know there are certain pieces of insurance that you can only get if you buy within a few weeks of booking travel, like cancel for any reason, pre-existing condition waiver, etc. But we have two cruises booked now that we initially booked just to lock a rate, with the option of cancelling for a full refund if we wanted to. Both were over a year out when we booked. We've missed our "few weeks" window, but the fares are still totally refundable for quite a while. We'll be flying on southwest points, which are also refundable. Hotels will be refundable. So basically up until final payment of the cruise we'll have no fees paid that aren't refundable.

 

Is there any reason at all to get travel insurance now? If I got it, and cancelled a trip, I'd actually lose out on the entire premium without needing to use the benefit. I could just wait until final payment and buy insurance then.

 

Related question, since everything is refundable now, will insurance companies bend and offer the pre-existing condition clause even though I'm outside 21 days of booking? In theory I could cancel, rebook, and then buy insurance anyway. I don't want to do that because that would raise my price, but to the insurance company it may not matter.

 

Appreciate any thoughts you might have. Thanks!

[Keith1010]

If you missed out on the early purchase of the insurance then at this point there is no real benefit to purchase the insurance until right around the time you make your final payment. They will not waive the pre-existing requirement at that time.

 

Keith

[klepton]

Thanks for the response! That's what I kind of figured.

 

Do you happen to know if premium prices change depending on how far out a trip is? I would think the closer to your trip you are, the cheaper it would be, as there would be less chance of some life event that causes you to cancel. But that's just a guess, I have no idea really.

[Happy2cruise]

To my knowledge the insurance will not be cheaper the closer you are to your trip. It may go up if you have a recent birthday that takes you into the next age group:(.

[cruiseco]

Thanks for the response! That's what I kind of figured.

 

Do you happen to know if premium prices change depending on how far out a trip is? I would think the closer to your trip you are, the cheaper it would be, as there would be less chance of some life event that causes you to cancel. But that's just a guess, I have no idea really.

 

CSA's Custom and Custom Luxe plans will get less expensive the closer to departure date they are purchased for exactly the reason you mention.

 

Also, the Luxe version will provide pre-existing medical condition coverage if purchased up until the final payment date of the cruise.

[Happy2cruise]

CSA's Custom and Custom Luxe plans will get less expensive the closer to departure date they are purchased for exactly the reason you mention.

 

Also, the Luxe version will provide pre-existing medical condition coverage if purchased up until the final payment date of the cruise.

 

Did not know that:confused:. Thanks, learned something new today;)

[klepton]

CSA's Custom and Custom Luxe plans will get less expensive the closer to departure date they are purchased for exactly the reason you mention.

 

Also, the Luxe version will provide pre-existing medical condition coverage if purchased up until the final payment date of the cruise.

 

Thanks for the info! I'll check them out. I've only ever used insuremytrip before, and CSA doesn't ring a bell for me.