No. That's the whole answer, and basic strategy never wavers on it. But "insurance" is a clever name - it sounds like the responsible move, the safe one. It isn't. It's a separate bet with about a 7% house edge, dressed up to feel like protection. Here's the math, so you can decline it without second-guessing.
When the dealer's upcard is an Ace, they pause and offer insurance: a side bet, up to half your original wager, that their hidden card is a 10-value (giving them a blackjack). It pays 2:1 if you're right. The pitch is that it protects you against the dealer having blackjack. The reality is it's an independent wager on the dealer's hole card - and the odds don't support it.
For insurance to be a break-even bet at 2:1, the dealer would need a 10 in the hole more than 1 in 3 times (33.3%). But only 16 of the 52 cards are 10-values, so the dealer completes the blackjack about 30.8% of the time. You're being paid as if it's a 1-in-3 shot when it's closer to a 1-in-3.25 shot. That gap is the house edge, and it works out to roughly 7.5% - far worse than the ~0.5% edge on the blackjack hand you're "protecting." You don't insure a good bet by making a bad one.
Here's the version that catches people: you have a blackjack, the dealer shows an Ace, and they offer you "even money" - a guaranteed 1:1 payout instead of risking that the dealer also has blackjack (which would push). It feels like a free win. But taking even money is mathematically identical to insuring your blackjack, which means it's the same 7%-edge bet wearing a friendlier name. Decline it. Your blackjack pays 3:2 most of the time, and that beats the guaranteed 1:1 over the long run.
To be fair, insurance isn't always bad - it's bad for you. A card counter who knows the remaining deck is loaded with 10s can find spots where more than a third of the unseen cards are tens, and there insurance flips positive. That's a counting play, not a basic-strategy play. If you're not tracking the deck - and at a 0.5% game you don't need to - the answer stays a flat no, every single time.
No signup, no money. The coach declines insurance for the right reasons, every time.
No. It pays 2:1 but the dealer makes blackjack only ~30.8% of the time, while breaking even needs 33.3% — about a 7% house edge. Basic strategy declines it every time.
A side bet, up to half your wager, offered when the dealer shows an Ace, that their hole card is a 10. Pays 2:1. Marketed as protection; it's a losing independent bet.
Yes — taking even money on your blackjack vs a dealer Ace is identical to insuring it. Same 7%-edge bet. Decline it and take your 3:2.
Only for card counters when the deck is rich in 10s. For basic-strategy players, never.