Exercising excess caution

Overlooking one key thing when finding home insurance could be costly

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Households are being urged to dig deeper than the headline prices when buying home insurance, as analysis indicates that some could face contributing hundreds of pounds if they need to make a claim.

Financial information business Defaqto's analysis of home insurance products found that some excess levels have been increasing in recent years.

The excess is the amount that the customer pays towards the claim.

A high excess could outweigh the cost of some lower-value claims.

Defaqto said that in April 2025 the proportion of buildings insurance policies with a standard excess of £251 to £400 had increased to 13%, from just 2% in 2019.

The most common excess band of £51 to £100 has fallen in popularity, covering 45% of deals on the market, down from 60% in 2019.

Defaqto said it had also found several products implementing a standard excess of more than £400.