Free home excess cover

Buy home insurance with us and we’ll refund your excess if you make a claim for anything except accidental loss and damage claims^

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^UK residents and home insurance purchases only. Excess refunded after claim settled. Excludes accidental loss or damage claims made on your home insurance. Full T&Cs apply.

Free £250 excess cover, only with GoCompare

Something happening to your home or possessions is stressful enough, even without the cost of your excess. We want to help you with that.

If you need to claim on your home insurance - for example, if a tree falling damages the building or your possessions are stolen - your free excess cover will refund up to £250 of your excess.

There’s no hidden charge. But you won't be covered for things like accidental loss such as leaving a laptop on a train or accidental damage, such as spilling wine on your carpet or drilling through a pipe.

How it works

Home insurance usually comes with an excess, just like car insurance. If you claim on your policy, the excess is what you pay towards it.

There are two parts: compulsory and voluntary. The compulsory excess is decided by your insurer, but you choose the amount of voluntary – both make up your total excess amount.

Some types of home insurance claims have a higher excess amount than others, like for subsidence or escape of water.

Your free home excess cover will refund up to £250 of the total excess cost (excluding accidental loss and damage claims on your home insurance policy). For example, say your total excess for an escape of water claim is £350. You pay this to your insurer first and then we give you back up to £250 once your claim's settled.

What’s covered

Depending on the cover you have, we'll refund up to £250 of your excess for unexpected damage to your home and/or its contents, due to incidents like:

  • Theft
  • Fire
  • Flooding
  • Falling trees
  • Weather damage
  • Subsidence and heave
  • Fixing the cause of escaped water (if the damage wasn't accidentally caused by you)
Check your policy documents for details.

What’s not

You won’t be able to use your free excess cover for:

  • Accidental loss or damage
  • Claims arising from a deliberate action by you or an associate
  • Claims due to poor expertise
  • General wear and tear, mechanical breakdowns or negligence
  • Claims from outside the UK or anything else not covered by your home insurance
  • Claims that occur before the start date of your free home excess cover
  • Claims that exceed the annual aggregate limit of £250 in any one year
  • Claims made more than six months after your home insurance claim has been settled

How do I get free excess cover?

  1. Compare and buy buildings only, contents only or a combined home insurance policy with us

  2. We’ll email your policy documents to you

  3. Check your details are correct, and that’s it!

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Get your excess refunded

You can get your home excess refunded online. Coplus will handle your refund.

Wait until your home insurer has settled your claim first, as you’ll need the settlement letter.

Once it's settled, you’ve got six months to get your excess back.

How to activate your free excess cover:

You’ll also need to have these documents handy:

  • Excess cover schedule of insurance
  • Proof you’ve paid your excess
  • Settlement letter from your insurer
  • Certificate of home insurance

What to expect

Making a claim is simple. The online form usually only takes about 10 minutes to fill in.

Once your refund claim has been submitted and approved, expect to get your money back within five working days.

Get help making a claim

If you need help with your claim, you can contact Coplus using the number on the claims form.

 

Frequently asked questions

  • Accidental loss or damage claims aren't covered.

  • You've got up to £250. So if your total excess is £300, you’ll pay this to your insurer, and then you could be entitled to a refund of £250.

    If your excess is less than £250 you can claim more than once on your excess cover if you need to. For example, if your excess was only £50, you could make up to five claims.

  • It's not a problem. It just means you can claim more than once on your home excess cover if you need to.

    If your excess is £100, you could claim a maximum of three times. Twice for £100 and once for £50 (paying the other £50 excess on that claim yourself).

  • Our free home excess cover is there for totally unexpected claims - for example, if a tree falling damages your building or your possessions are stolen as we believe that's where it will be the most helpful.

  • You can have one excess cover policy for every home insurance policy you buy through us.

  • Our free home excess cover only includes valid claims for the home covered under the insurance policy you bought through GoCompare.

  • When you buy home insurance through us, your home excess cover will start on the same day.

  • Your documents should appear in the excess policy hub in around five to eight weeks after you've bought home insurance with us. But if it’s been more than nine weeks, let us know.

  • Your premiums won’t go up because you’ve claimed on your home excess cover. But they probably will in the future because you’ve made a claim on your home insurance.

  • If you cancel your home insurance within the first 14 days, we’ll cancel your home excess cover too.

  • If you don’t want free home excess cover anymore, you can cancel your policy through the management portal.

  • If you cancel your home insurance, we’ll cancel your home excess cover too. That’s because your excess cover runs alongside your home insurance. We’ll send you an email confirming this has happened.

    Sometimes we have to cancel policies for reasons we can’t always explain, but that’s very rare.

  • No. You'll need to compare and buy home insurance with us again if you want free home excess cover for another year.

  • No - your car insurance excess cover doesn't cover home insurance claims and vice versa.

  • You can update your details through the home excess cover management portal.

  • If you are planning to move, you will need to check with your current home insurer to make sure you are covered.

    If you need to buy home insurance for your new home, you will need to compare and buy through GoCompare to qualify for free home excess cover.

  • Home excess cover is provided by GoCompare and arranged by Coplus. The policy is underwritten by Astrenska Insurance Limited. You can check this on the FCA website by visiting https://register.fca.org.uk/s/

Terms and conditions

1. For the purposes of these terms and conditions, the following terms shall have the following meanings:

  • 1.1. Accidental Loss or Damage: means sudden and unexpected damage to your property or contents by an outside force and/or unexpected loss of insured items such as losing an insured item away from home;
  • 1.2. Act of God: means flood, drought, earthquake or other natural disaster, epidemic or pandemic, civil war, civil commotion or riots, war, armed conflict or nuclear, chemical or biological contamination;
  • 1.3. Buildings Insurance Policy: means an insurance policy which covers the physical structure of a building(s) in the event of (but not limited to) fire, lightning, smoke, storm or flooding of such insured building(s).
  • 1.4. Combined Buildings and Contents Insurance Policy: means an insurance policy which is considered by GoCompare to be a combination of both a Buildings Insurance Policy and a Contents Insurance Policy;
  • 1.5. Contents Insurance Policy: means an insurance policy which covers the contents of a building in the event of (but not limited to) loss, damage or theft of such insured contents.
  • 1.6. Cover Period: means the lesser of:
    (a) the duration of the Qualifying Home Insurance Policy; or
    (b) twelve (12) months from and including inception of the Free Excess Cover;
  • 1.7 Eligible Customer: means any customer who is 17 years of age or older and resident in the Territories and who provides a valid email address when obtaining home insurance quotes via the GoCompare Website;
  • 1.8. Excluded Event: means any an Accidental Loss or Damage claim or any other claim as detailed in the general exclusions section of the free home excess insurance policy;
  • 1.9. Free Excess Cover: means a free home excess insurance arranged by the Provider which shall provide excess protection of up to £250.00 during the Cover Period;
  • 1.10. GoCompare: means Gocompare.com Limited (a company incorporated in England and Wales under company number 5799376 and whose registered office is at Imperial House, Imperial Way, Newport NP10 8UH);
  • 1.11. GoCompare Reference Number: means the reference number attributed by GoCompare to any home insurance quote obtained via the GoCompare Website;
  • 1.12. GoCompare Website: means www.gocompare.com;
  • 1.13. Provider: means Motorplus Limited trading as Coplus incorporated in England and Wales with company number 3092837 whose registered office is at Speed Medical House, Matrix Park, Chorley, Lancashire, PR7 7NA;
  • 1.14. Qualifying Home Insurance Policy: means a Buildings Insurance Policy, Contents Insurance Policy or a Combined Buildings and Contents Insurance Policy and whose excess is £0.01 or greater purchased by an Eligible Customer as a result of that customer obtaining home insurance quotes via the GoCompare Website and then purchasing a home insurance policy either via the GoCompare Website or by telephone with the insurer directly PROVIDED THAT where a home insurance policy is purchased by an Eligible Customer by telephone with an insurer directly, that customer shall provide the insurer with a valid GoCompare Reference Number before the home insurance policy is purchased;
  • 1.15. Qualifying Period: means any period during which GoCompare shall promote this offer via the GoCompare Website; and
  • 1.16. Territories: means England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands.

The offer

2. Only Eligible Customers who purchase a Qualifying Home Insurance Policy at any time during the Qualifying Period shall be entitled to receive the Free Excess Cover.

Activation

3. Free Excess Cover will be automatically awarded to all Eligible Customers who GoCompare is able to verify have purchased a Qualifying Home Insurance Policy at any time during the Qualifying Period.

Claims

4. Eligible Customers who make a valid claim under the Free Excess Cover shall be entitled to a reimbursement of any excess paid to the insurer named on their Qualifying Home Insurance Policy up to a maximum of £250.00 during the Cover Period.

5. In order to make a valid claim under the Free Excess Cover, an Eligible Customer must:

  • 5.1. be named as the insured on the Qualifying Home Insurance Policy;
  • 5.2. first make a valid claim under the Qualifying Home Insurance Policy in respect of an insurable event taking place within the Territories;
  • 5.3. have already paid and be able to provide proof of payment of any excess due to the insurer under the Qualifying Home Insurance Policy; and
  • 5.4. provide the Provider with notice of his or her claim under the Free Excess Cover not more than six (6) months following the date on which any claim under the Qualifying Home Insurance Policy is settled.
  • 6. Any claim under the Qualifying Home Insurance Policy in respect of an Excluded Event shall not constitute a valid claim under the Qualifying Home Insurance Policy for the purposes of this offer.

Verification

7. If GoCompare is unable to verify an Eligible Customer’s purchase of a Qualifying Home Insurance Policy, GoCompare reserves the right to revoke any Free Excess Cover which is issued.

Complaints

8. It is always GoCompare’s aim to provide the best possible service. However, any complaints about the way in which the Free Excess Cover was sold should be directed to GoCompare at feedback@gocompare.com. Any complaints in respect of the handling of any claim made under the Free Excess Cover should be directed to the Provider at excessclaims@coplus.co.uk.

Legal

9. By opting in to receive the Free Excess Cover when obtaining home insurance quotes via the GoCompare Website, you will be deemed to have accepted and agreed to be bound by these terms and conditions.

10. GoCompare reserves the right to withdraw, cancel, suspend or amend this offer at any time.

11. Personal data supplied in connection with this offer will only be processed by GoCompare in accordance with the terms of GoCompare’s privacy policy. Any personal data provided to the Provider or Provider will be processed in accordance with the Provider’s privacy policy (as applicable).

12. These terms and conditions and any dispute or claim arising out of them shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales and the parties irrevocably submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

Version 1 - January 2022