The average compulsory excess for a buildings claims is £149 and £136 for contents claims. There are also separate compulsory excesses for flooding, subsidence/landslip/heave, escape of oil and escape of water claims. The total excess you will pay is the sum of the relevant compulsory excesses and voluntary excesses (if you have any).

You can find the exact excess amounts you’ll pay towards a successful claim in your policy documents.

Example: if you’re looking to make an accidental damage claim for an item of contents worth £1000, you would pay the sum of your compulsory and voluntary contents excesses towards the claim if it’s successful.
If your compulsory contents excess is £150 and you chose a voluntary contents excess of £100, you’ll pay £250 towards your successful claim and receive £750:

Item value = £1000

Excesses payable = £150 (compulsory) + £100 (voluntary) = £250

Claim payout = £1000 – £250 = £750