To buy the railcard in September, not now?

[BrainFuz]

My 17yo son needs to take a train journey in September. I booked his ticket today and there was an option to get a railcard discount. I selected the 16-25 railcard, thinking it would prompt me to either add the railcard id number (which I ddn't have) or purchase the railcard as part of the transaction. However, it did neither. So now we have a discounted ticket but no railcard. I will certainly buy the railcard, but WIBU to get it shortly before he travels in September, rather than now? That way he will get an extra few weeks out of it. I've checked the railcard t&c's - they say the card is needed when the tickets are checked as part of the journey, and that it 'may' be requested when buying the tickets (which obviously didn't happen). This makes me think it'll be fine to wait.

Yes of course that’s fine. He will need the railcard WHEN he travels. You don’t need it till then.

Buy it closer to the date of travel.

Absolutely, you can buy it on the day of travel if you want

I got a disabled railcard and it took 5 days to process. Unsure if it's different for students but they will probably want to check proof in a similar way.
But you can get it as an app so you don't need to wait for them to send it out.

Absolutely fine to wait. I do this all the time. After expiry I don’t buy another until it’s almost time to travel again but will have booked tickets well in advance.

If you purchase online and do the digital download to the phone app the card appears almost instantaneously. Otherwise allow 5-7 days as a PP said as the plastic ones take a few days to arrive.