Water claim calculator: should you file, or pay cash?

Should you file a water claim, or pay cash?

Three questions decide most water claims: what the peril is (sudden vs gradual vs flood), whether the covered payout beats your deductible, and what a denied claim costs you on the CLUE record. We do all three in one screen. Free, no phone or email, verdict never held behind a form.

✓ Uses your real numbers ✓ No phone number, no email ✓ We show every number's math

1The water event

Where the water came from

The single most important fact. Plain language, not legal categories.

How long the water was there before you noticed

Is water still coming in?

If yes, we route the CTA to a tracked restorer number. Water urgency changes the shape of the answer.

Damage extent

2Your coverage

State

Flat deductible

Water uses the base flat deductible, not a percentage. Common values: $500, $1,000, $2,500.

Sewer backup endorsement or flood policy?

Sewer backup is a separate endorsement, usually not standard. Flood requires an NFIP or private flood policy — standard homeowners does not cover it.

3Optional: sharpens the answer

Restorer's estimate

If you have a written estimate, it replaces our sample-range estimate for the cash total.

Claims in the last 5 years

Carrier

Annual homeowners premium

Claims-free discount on the policy?

Our call Water

Sample scenario

File it. This is what coverage is for

A homeowner with a sudden burst supply line, discovered within hours, one-floor of damage, $1,000 flat deductible, no prior claims. The covered payout clears the deductible with room, and sudden interior water is exactly what standard homeowners is designed to cover.

Pay cash

$5,700

You'd pay every dollar yourself.

Better deal

Use insurance

$1,360

Deductible + expected surcharge + lost discount over 3 years.

$5,700 restoration estimate
− $1,000 flat deductible
− $360 estimated 3-year premium surcharge
= $4,340 net benefit of filing

This is the default sample scenario. Fill in your own numbers on the left for a verdict on your actual event.

Three worked scenarios

Three homeowners the calculator would send in three different directions. Same engine, three different peril classifications.

Burst pipe, discovered in hours

Sudden interior water release, one floor of damage, mopped up fast, $1,000 flat deductible, no prior claims.

$5,700 covered estimate
− $1,000 deductible
= $4,340 net benefit

File it. Sudden interior is the clean covered case.

Slow leak found after three weeks

Under-sink drip that accumulated for weeks unnoticed. Same room-of-damage as the burst pipe above.

Peril reads gradual
Confidence: 0%
= $0 net benefit

Pay cash. Gradual damage is broadly excluded.

Basement flooded during a storm

Rising water from outside as street drainage backed up during heavy rain. No NFIP or private flood policy on file.

Peril = flood
Standard homeowners: excluded
= $0 path to payout

Pay cash. Standard homeowners does not cover flood.