# insurance.excess-apply What the insurer pays on a claim once the excess (deductible) has been taken off and the policy limit applied, and what the policyholder is left bearing. ## The excess The excess is the compulsory excess (set by the insurer) plus the voluntary excess (chosen by the policyholder for a lower premium); UK motor and home policies quote them separately but apply them together. A loss smaller than the excess pays nothing, and `excessApplied` is only the part of the excess the loss used up. ## Where the limit sits Policies differ on whether the limit is applied before or after the excess, so the caller says which: - `excessWithinLimit = false` (the usual "the most we will pay" wording): the excess comes off the loss, then the payout is capped at the limit. payout = min(loss - excess, limit). - `excessWithinLimit = true` (the excess erodes the limit): the loss is capped at the limit, then the excess comes off it. payout = min(loss, limit) - excess. They differ whenever the loss is above the limit: a 10,400.00 loss with a 500.00 excess and a 10,000.00 limit pays 9,900.00 the first way and 9,500.00 the second. `limitApplied` is true only when the limit actually reduced what is paid. No rounding happens: every figure is a whole number of minor units already. For underinsurance, see `insurance.sum-insured-average`; whether average comes before or after the excess is a policy wording question too.