Approximately 40% of Irish holiday makers do not take out their travel insurance policy on time - leaving themselves wide open to harsh financial penalties and ultimately not receiving the full value of their insurance cover.
 
This is according to an internal customer study conducted by Insuremyholiday.ie.
 
The online travel insurance broker, which launched in 2016, has been polling customers to gauge how far in advance of their holiday they were taking out their travel insurance, with the experts opinion being that a policy should either be put in place as soon as a person books a holiday or purchased on an annual “multi-trip” basis – rather than just before they intend to travel – which happens in 2 out of 5 cases.
 
The majority of travellers leave it from anywhere between 1 month to 1 day before travel to take out insurance – with some actually purchasing insurance when they’re in the airport.
 
Deirdre McCarthy of insuremyholiday.ie says, "Industry data reveals that “cancellation of travel” is one of the primary reasons for travel insurance claims – accounting for approximately 50% of claims. The cancellation could occur at any stage before the person is due to travel."

She added, "If you leave it to the last minute to put cover in place then you run the risk of not having any financial protection to fall back on, should you need to cancel your trip."

Source: www.businessworld.ie