When can I make changes to my insurance policy?

One of the benefits of Visicover is that you can change most elements of your insurance at any time online. Subject to the change being accepted it can take effect immediately, or have an effective date / time in the future, but you cannot 'back date' cover changes.

• If the change increases the risk or cover provided by the Policy it will usually result in an increase in premium, calculated on a pro rata basis from the effective date.
• If it reduces the risk or cover provided, the change will take effect from the effective date / time but the premium reduction is calculated as if the previous cover had stayed in force for a further 30 days.

The reason for this difference in approach is that insurance works on the basis that people pay in to a common fund from which they are compensated if they suffer a loss. The amount they pay in must fairly reflect the risk to the fund of their needing to make a future claim.

In common with most insurers, we assume people decide the cover they need at the start of the policy year, and arrange cover accordingly, so we calculate their contribution to the fund, their premium, based on this assumption. However we also know that cover requirements may change over the year, so we enable policyholders to amend their cover online as often as they like and at the time that suits them best.

The approach described above is a means of balancing the need to provide flexibility to allow people to change their cover whenever they want, while also ensuring the common fund is protected for the benefit of all policyholders.