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No-Excess Boiler Cover: Best £0 Excess Plans Compared (2026)
A "£0 excess" plan means you pay nothing towards a completed repair — but it usually costs more each month, and "no excess" doesn't always mean "no charges". Here's how to spot a genuinely zero-cost claim, the break-even maths versus a £60-excess plan, and an honest verdict by boiler age. This is information to help you compare, not financial or gas-safety advice.
Quick answer
No-excess (£0 excess) boiler cover means you pay nothing towards the cost of a completed repair — the plan picks up the whole bill. You typically pay for that with a higher monthly premium, often £3–£8/month more than the same plan with a £60 excess. Indicative 2026 prices from our selected panel run from around £8–£13/month at the budget end up to roughly £28/month or more for top-tier British Gas HomeCare plans at £0 excess.
£0 excess only pays off if you actually claim. As a rough rule of thumb, paying ~£5/month extra (£60/year) for £0 excess tends to beat a £60-excess plan only if you expect one or more repairs a year — more likely on an old boiler, less likely on a new, reliable one. Prices are indicative "from" figures, last checked 2026; always confirm the current price, excess and terms on the provider's own page.
What "no-excess boiler cover" actually means
This is where a lot of comparison pages get muddled. "No excess" gets used loosely to mean "no charges when I claim" — but there are actually three separate charges a plan can levy, and a plan can be "no excess" while still charging you on a call-out.
Untangle the three and you'll be harder to catch out:
- Excess — a fixed amount you pay towards each completed repair (commonly £0, £60, or £90–£95; the typical range runs roughly £0–£100, with £60 a common middle option). A £0-excess plan waives this.
- Call-out fee — a charge to send an engineer out, levied per visit, sometimes whether or not a repair is possible. Some providers structure their tiers around a call-out fee rather than an excess (Hometree, for example, frames its tiers as £0/£60/£95 call-out options).
- Per-claim contribution — a separate "you pay the first £X of any claim" clause in the policy wording, which behaves like an excess by another name.
The key point: a plan is only genuinely zero if it charges £0 excess AND £0 call-out fee AND has no per-claim contribution. Check all three on the provider's own policy document — the headline "no excess" badge only tells you about the first one.
One thing that often gets confused with no-excess cover: many plans refund the call-out fee if your boiler turns out to be beyond economic repair. That's a useful feature, but it's not the same as having no excess — it only kicks in when the boiler can't be fixed at all.
£0 excess boiler cover plans 2026 — comparison
The table below shows a selected panel of UK providers that offer (or specialise in) a £0-excess option — it is not the whole market, and we may earn a commission if you buy through our links (see the disclosure at the foot of this page). Prices are indicative "from" figures, last checked 2026, and change frequently; they also depend on your postcode, boiler age and cover level. Always confirm on the provider's own page before buying.
| Provider | From (monthly, indicative) | £0-excess option? | Annual service incl.? | Boiler age limit | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hometree | from ~£12.95 | Yes — £0 / £60 / £95 call-out tiers | Yes (on most plans) | Any age | FCA-regulated insurance |
| British Gas HomeCare | from ~£24 (£60 excess); ~£28+ at £0 excess | Yes — £0 or £60 excess option | Yes | Check at quote | FCA-regulated insurance |
| HomeServe | from ~£21.50 (~£258/yr new-customer offer) | Yes — a £0-excess gas boiler plan is offered (other plans carry an excess) | Yes (service in year 1) | Check at quote | FCA-regulated insurance |
| Boiler Central | from ~£13.99 (£60 call-out) / ~£18.99 (no call-out) | Higher-premium "no call-out fee" tier | Yes | Check at quote | Insurance / cover plan (confirm at quote) |
| 247 Home Rescue | from ~£8.99 | Yes — £0 / £45 / £75 / £95 excess tiers | Yes (service each 12 months) | May raise minimum excess on older boilers | Insurance |
| Smart Cover | from ~£3.90 (promo) | Yes — £0 excess offered among the tiers | Varies by plan | Must have been serviced in last 12 months | FCA-regulated insurance |
| Kesselmann | from ~£7.50 | Yes — no excess AND no call-out fee on all plans | Yes | Older boilers welcome | Service / care plan (not insurance); Hull & East Yorkshire area only |
| YourRepair | Check at quote | Marketed as no-excess | Yes — annual service included | Check at quote | Cover plan |
Note the spread: the market floor sits under £4/month for a promotional plan, while a fully-loaded British Gas HomeCare policy at £0 excess can run well above £28/month once you add heating, plumbing and electrics cover. A high headline excess (£90–£100) can wipe out the saving on a cheap monthly price the moment you claim.
Two labelling points worth keeping straight. First, Kesselmann is a service/care plan, not insurance, so it isn't FCA-regulated in the way the insurance products are — that's not a flaw, but it's a different legal product, and it currently operates only in the Hull and East Yorkshire area, so it won't be available everywhere. Second, providers change their structures often — for example, HomeServe at one point offered only excess-bearing gas boiler plans, but currently lists a £0-excess gas boiler option, so always check the live page. See our best boiler cover plans for 2026 for the wider picture.
No excess vs £60 excess: which is cheaper overall?
This is the maths that actually decides it. The £0-excess version of a plan almost always costs more each month, so the question is whether the premiums you save by accepting a £60 excess outweigh the excess you'd actually pay.
Work it through. Suppose the £0-excess plan costs about £5/month more than the £60-excess version of the same plan. That's £60 extra over a year — exactly one £60 excess payment.
| Repairs you make in a year | £60-excess plan: total excess paid | Does £0 excess (at +£60/yr premium) win? |
|---|---|---|
| 0 claims | £0 | No — you paid £60 extra for nothing |
| 1 claim | £60 | Break-even — it's a wash |
| 2+ claims | £120+ | Yes — £0 excess saves you money |
The break-even rule: if the £0-excess uplift is £X per year and the alternative excess is £Y, you need to expect roughly X ÷ Y claims per year for £0 to pay off. At +£5/month (£60/yr) versus a £60 excess, you need about one claim every year just to break even — and most boilers don't break down that often.
If the uplift is steeper — say +£8/month (£96/year) against a £95 excess — you'd again need about one claim a year. The arithmetic is consistent: £0 excess is effectively a bet that you'll claim, and the odds only favour you on a less reliable boiler. These are illustrative figures to show the method — plug in the actual prices you're quoted.
How much does no-excess boiler cover cost?
Indicative 2026 monthly ranges from our panel, for the £0-excess version of a plan (confirm live prices on each provider's page):
- Budget: roughly £8–£13/month (e.g. entry plans from Hometree, Boiler Central, 247 Home Rescue, Kesselmann).
- Mid-range: around £15–£25/month, typically adding heating/plumbing/drains or a higher repair limit.
- Top-tier: British Gas HomeCare can reach ~£28/month and higher for a comprehensive policy at £0 excess.
Across providers, choosing £0 excess instead of a £60-excess version of the same plan typically adds about £3–£8/month, though this varies by provider and postcode. Hometree, for instance, structures its "Your Boiler" cover as £0 / £60 / £95 call-out tiers — the lower the call-out fee you pick, the higher the monthly price — so the £0 tier sits at the top of the range for that plan.
Bear in mind that the annual service bundled into most of these plans has a standalone value (a one-off gas boiler service is commonly in the region of £60–£120) — factor that in when judging value. For the fuller breakdown see how much boiler cover costs per month, plans with a free annual service included, and our roundup of cheap boiler cover from under £4 a month.
Is no-excess cover worth it?
It depends almost entirely on how likely your boiler is to break down — which mostly comes down to its age and condition. There's no single right answer, and only you can judge your own circumstances.
- Old or less-reliable boiler (often 10+ years): £0 excess is more likely to pay off. Older boilers tend to fault more often, so you're more likely to clear the break-even of one claim a year — and you avoid being stung by a contribution each time. See cover for older boilers (10, 15 & 20+ years).
- New or reliable boiler: £0 excess is often a poorer deal. A modern boiler, often still under manufacturer's warranty, rarely faults, so you'd be paying a higher premium every month to insure against an excess you may never trigger. A £60-excess plan with a lower premium can work out cheaper overall.
The honest framing: with £0 excess on a reliable boiler, you're pre-paying for claims that may never happen. For the broader "should I bother at all" question, see is boiler cover worth it?
A safety note before you rely on cover
Boiler cover pays for repairs — it doesn't change who is legally allowed to do them. Any work on the gas side of a boiler must be carried out by a Gas Safe registered engineer: that includes the burner, gas valve, flue, the sealed/pressurised circuit, the PCB and the pressure-relief valve. Don't attempt these yourself, and don't dismantle a boiler casing. Safe owner tasks are limited to things like topping up system pressure via the filling loop, bleeding radiators, and resetting the boiler per the manual.
Gas emergency: if you smell gas or suspect carbon monoxide, leave the property, don't touch electrical switches, and call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999 immediately. A working audible CO alarm is essential.
Watch-outs: when "no excess" still costs you
A £0-excess badge doesn't guarantee a charge-free claim. Read the policy for these before you buy:
- A call-out fee hiding behind "no excess". Some plans waive the excess but still charge per visit. Confirm the call-out fee is £0 too.
- First-X-days exclusion windows. Most plans won't cover a breakdown in the initial period (commonly around 14–30 days) — you can't take cover out mid-fault and claim immediately.
- Pre-existing fault exclusions. Anything wrong before you started the plan typically won't be covered, £0 excess or not.
- Age caps and age-based excess. Some providers raise the minimum excess on older boilers (247 Home Rescue, for example, may adjust the minimum excess or price for older boilers), which can quietly remove your £0 option — confirm at quote.
- Service condition. Several insurers (e.g. Smart Cover) require the boiler to have been serviced in the last 12 months for claims to be valid.
- Repair limits. A low annual repair cap can leave you exposed even with £0 excess.
For the full list of get-out clauses, read exclusions and get-out clauses to watch. To verify a plan is genuinely £0, confirm in writing that excess, call-out fee, and any per-claim contribution are all zero.
How to choose — and our general steer
Don't compare on monthly price alone. Compare on total likely annual cost:
Annual cost = (12 × monthly premium) + (expected claims per year × excess)
Run that figure for the £0-excess version and the £60-excess version of each plan, using an honest estimate of how often your boiler is likely to fault. Whichever total is lower is your better-value option for your situation.
Our general steer, segmented by boiler age (general information, not a personal recommendation):
- Newer/reliable boiler: a lower-premium plan with a £60 excess often wins. Rolling monthly cover you can cancel anytime keeps you flexible.
- Older/less-reliable boiler: a £0-excess plan that welcomes older boilers (Hometree covers any age; Kesselmann welcomes older boilers within its service area) is more likely to pay for itself.
If you want a true zero-charge claim, Kesselmann's no-excess-and-no-call-out service plan is the cleanest on that single measure — bearing in mind it's a service plan rather than FCA-regulated insurance and is only available in the Hull and East Yorkshire area. For nationwide FCA-regulated insurance with a flexible £0/£60/£95 choice and no boiler-age limit, Hometree is worth a look. For the big brand, compare British Gas HomeCare plans and excess options and our HomeServe vs British Gas comparison.
This is general information to help you compare, not financial advice, a personal recommendation, or gas-safety advice. We work with a selected panel of providers (not the whole market) and may earn a commission if you buy through our links — this never affects the price you pay or what we say. Insurance products are FCA-regulated; service/care plans are not. Prices are indicative "from" figures last checked in 2026 — always confirm the current price, excess and terms on the provider's own page.
What is excess on boiler cover?
Excess is a fixed amount you agree to pay towards the cost of each completed repair. Common tiers are £0, £60, and £90–£95, with the typical range running roughly £0–£100. Choosing a higher excess usually lowers your monthly premium; choosing £0 excess means you pay nothing towards a repair but pay more each month. This is general information, not advice.
Is no-excess boiler cover worth it?
It depends on how often your boiler is likely to break down. £0 excess tends to pay off only if you claim roughly once a year or more, which is more likely on an old or unreliable boiler. On a newer, reliable boiler the higher premium often costs more than the excess you'd ever pay, so a £60-excess plan can work out cheaper overall. This is general information, not personalised advice.
What's the difference between excess and a call-out fee?
An excess is your fixed contribution towards a completed repair. A call-out fee is a charge to send an engineer out, levied per visit and sometimes whether or not a repair is possible. A plan can advertise "no excess" while still charging a call-out fee — so to confirm a claim will cost you nothing, check that both are £0, plus any "you pay the first £X" per-claim contribution in the policy wording.
Which providers offer £0 excess boiler cover?
From our selected panel (not the whole market), £0-excess (or no-excess) options are offered by Hometree (£0/£60/£95 call-out tiers), British Gas HomeCare (£0 or £60 excess option), HomeServe (a £0-excess gas boiler plan), 247 Home Rescue (£0/£45/£75/£95 tiers), Smart Cover (£0 among its tiers), Boiler Central (a higher-premium no-call-out tier), and Kesselmann (no excess and no call-out on all plans, as a service plan rather than insurance, in the Hull and East Yorkshire area). Prices, tiers and availability change — confirm on the provider's own page.
How much more does no-excess cover cost?
Across providers, choosing £0 excess instead of a £60-excess version of the same plan typically adds around £3–£8 per month, though it varies by provider and postcode. For example, Hometree structures its "Your Boiler" cover as £0/£60/£95 call-out tiers, so the £0 option sits at the top of that plan's monthly price range. These are indicative 2026 figures — confirm current pricing before buying.
Do you get the call-out fee back if the boiler can't be fixed?
Many providers do refund the call-out fee if your boiler turns out to be beyond economic repair, but it varies by plan, so check the specific policy. Note this is separate from having no excess — a call-out refund only applies when the boiler can't be fixed, whereas a £0-excess plan charges nothing on a successful repair either.
Can you get no-excess cover for an old boiler?
Yes — some providers cover boilers of any age and still offer a £0 excess (Hometree covers any age; Kesselmann welcomes older boilers within its service area). However, others may raise the minimum excess on older units — 247 Home Rescue, for instance, says it may adjust the minimum excess or price for older boilers, which can remove the £0 option — so confirm at quote. For older boilers specifically, see our guide to cover for 10, 15 and 20+ year-old boilers.
Compare boiler cover the easy way
Compare boiler & central heating cover from a selected panel of UK providers and find a plan that fits your boiler and budget. Information, not advice — we show a chosen panel, not the whole market.
Compare boiler coverThis article is general information, not financial or gas-safety advice. We compare a selected panel of providers, not the whole market, and may earn a commission if you buy through our links. Always have gas appliances checked and repaired by a Gas Safe registered engineer; in a gas emergency call 0800 111 999. Prices are indicative UK guides for 2026 — confirm current prices on the provider's own site.