Finding the best boiler cover can help avoid that sinking feeling when you wake on a cold morning to discover you have no hot water or heating. Boiler cover is a type of insurance that pays for the cost of repairs in exchange for paying a monthly or annual premium, although it might not be worth it for everyone. You may find that boiler cover is included as part of an add on to your home insurance policy.
‘Primarily these products cover the cost of any repairs to a boiler to get it up and running again but will not necessarily replace it if it is broken,’ says Anna-Marie Duthie, insight consultant at Defaqto, which analyses financial products, including boiler cover, and gives them star ratings up to five.
You can get boiler-only cover, which is generally the cheapest type and usually just covers repairs to your boiler and heating controls if your boiler breaks down and leaves you with no heating or hot water. There are also policies that cover your central heating system as well and others that also cover your plumbing, drainage and electrics.
As with all insurance you usually have to pay an excess – also called a callout fee in the case of boiler cover. This is the amount you have to pay towards each claim yourself. The higher the excess you agree to the pay the less you’ll normally pay for a policy.
Best boiler cover policies
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Below are some of the cheapest policies available for boiler-only cover on 8 March 2022. You may get a cheaper deal in the first year, with the price then increasing in subsequent years, so before you renew a policy shop around to see if you can get a better deal elsewhere.
How to find the best boiler cover
Two good features to look out for when you’re comparing policies are a free annual boiler service – almost half of policies include this as standard according to Defaqto – and boiler replacement if yours can’t be repaired, which a third of policies include with no limit on cost. Other policies will give you a contribution towards a new boiler of £250 or more.
British Gas’s HomeCare One policy, which is rated five stars by Defaqto, includes an annual boiler service and replacement of any boiler less than seven years old if it can’t be repaired as well as cover for accidental damage. But this is significantly more expensive (£14 a month with a £60 excess for a greater London postcode) than the British Gas policy featured above, which doesn’t include a service or accidental damage cover and has a higher excess.
As you can see in the policies we’ve featured it’s possible to get a relatively cheap policy that includes an annual service so it pays to shop around, although always compare excesses and the other features included, and check that the policy is right for you.
Exclusions to be aware of
The majority of policies have an initial exclusion period. ‘This is a defined number of days following the policy being purchased within which you are unable to make a claim,’ says Anna-Marie Duthie. ‘It’s therefore important when you take out cover to be aware of when you would be eligible to make a claim.’
Exclusion periods can be anywhere between 7 and 90 days. Although 14 days is the most common, as is the case with all the policies above.
Before you take out a policy make sure it would cover the boiler you have. ‘Some policies have a maximum age in terms of the boilers they will cover,’ says Sunny Solanki, service and repair engineer at British Gas.
You may find you won’t be covered if your boiler is more than 14 years old, or less in some cases, depending on the policy and boiler brand. The age of your boiler may also affect whether you can get a replacement or a contribution towards one.
Some companies won’t cover certain types of boiler, such as oil or solid-fuel-powered boilers, and most won’t cover boilers with more than a certain output.
You can search for boiler cover deals on comparison sites – such as our sister brand GoCompare, MoneySuperMarket or Uswitch - use more than one to get the full picture. Bear in mind that in some cases, such as with British Gas’s HomeCare, the actual price you end up paying may depend on your circumstances. ‘We base your HomeCare price on a combination of things, which may include where you live, your claims history and more,’ says Sunny Solanki.
Bear in mind that if you take out boiler breakdown cover with a boiler supplier it will be a service agreement rather than insurance. So you won’t be covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme if the company can’t deliver on it.
Do you need boiler cover?
Before you decide to take out boiler cover make sure you’re not already covered by your home insurance policy. Or even your bank account if you pay a fee for it. You can also take out boiler cover as part of a wider home emergency policy, which could be better value if you want to be covered for other emergencies.
You should think carefully about whether the benefits of the policy are worth the cost before taking one out. Research by the consumer organisation Which? in June 2021 found that most people would be better off paying for repairs and annual services when they need them. The newer your boiler the more likely this is to be the case.
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