When to start holiday insurance

A question about : When to start holiday insurance

Anybody know when I should start my holiday insurance? I am going on holiday in August and I'm unsure whether the start date should be today or the first day of my holiday. I'm going for a yearly family insurance but if I start it today would I be wasting all those months before my actual holiday starts or if I start it on the first day of my holiday would I still be covered for cancellation leading up to the holiday due to unforeseen eventualities, death in family or illness etc? Can't seem to get a straight answer anywhere.

Best answers:

• You should start the insurance as soon as you book it. It will then cover you for cancellation, death, etc
  What if you broke both your legs an hour before you needed to set off.
  There you go. Straight answer....
• Actually, it depends
  For single trip policies you declare the dates of your holiday (from the day you leave your home to the day you land back in the UK) but it will automatically start from the day you buy it
  For annual trip policies you have to declare a start date and that should be "today" unless you have another policy inforce in which case its the end date of that one.