To make a successful water leak claim, you will need to extensively document the damage and contact your insurance provider. Frozen pipes, faulty plumbing, storm damage, and a host of other scenarios can cause severe and stressful damage to your home.
Most home insurance policies will cover water leak damages, but it’s important to know what your insurance will and will not cover. Insurance is specific about how they define water leak damage, so you’ll need to get the facts straight before you file a claim.
Below is a step-by-step list of which steps to take when filing a water leak insurance claim with help from home
and car insurance super app Jerry
. How to make a successful water leak claim
Here’s what to do if your home suffers a water leak:
Get to the source
To file a claim, you will first need to locate and identify the source of the damage. In the case of a water leak, this could be from a number of things, including a burst pipe, sewage overflow, or damage caused by ice or sleet.
If it is safe to do so, search your home to find where the water is coming from. Turn off the water source, if applicable, to help stop some of the damage in its tracks. Also, make sure to remove any and all valuables from the area—again, only if it is safe for you to do so.
Pro tip: Clean and dry what little you can, but leave the heavy-duty parts to a professional.
Document everything
Before filing the claim and cleaning up the affected area, take lots of pictures and videos of the damage to send to your insurance company.
The more information you can list on your insurance claim list, the better. Your insurance needs a complete image of the damage done to assess and process your claim. This also means holding onto any damaged items, as they can be used as helpful evidence during the claims process.
Key takeaway: Act fast and be as thorough as possible. Your insurance company needs a lot of info from you for water leak claims, so be ready to provide it!
Have a professional assess the damage
Once you’ve taken the photos and videos, you should contact a company that specializes in damage assessment and cleanup estimates. These estimates will be helpful to send to your insurance company while they process your claim.
Don’t rely on a handshake deal here—get an estimate in writing that you can pass along to your insurance provider. And don’t be shy about getting a second opinion!
Review your insurance policy and give them a call
Once you’ve done all of the above steps and gathered all of the necessary info, it’s time to contact your insurance company.
You will want to review your home insurance policy, as it contains important information about your water leak damage coverage. The more familiar you are with your policy, the better prepared you will be for the claims process.
Pro tip: Your state may have firm timelines for your insurance company to process your claim. Check with your commissioner or state insurance department for more information on this.
If your claim is approved
Congratulations and exhale! This means that your insurance company has reviewed your claim and is willing to compensate you for the damage done to your property and assist with the cleanup.
What happens next?
Your insurance will send you a list of approved vendors, and it’s then up to you to choose which one you’d prefer to work with to repair your home and get things back to normal.
If your claim is denied
Don’t panic! It’s not unusual for an insurance company to deny your water damage claim, and it does not mean that you did anything wrong in the claims process.
Why was my claim denied?
Only sudden, unpredictable damage can qualify as water leak damage. Insurance is particular about how they define water leak damage.
Let’s say your perfectly functional, brand new pipe was to suddenly burst right over your head. There is no way you could have known it would burst, so your insurance is likely to cover you for the damage.
Now, imagine you had a busted, leaky pipe you never quite got around to replacing. If that were to burst and cause water leak damage, your insurance is not likely to cover the damage. In their eyes, the pipe should have already been replaced before any leaks occurred.
MORE: The 16 perils of home insurance
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