Insurance excess vs detection price

Guidance only. An engineer on site confirms it.

Enter your excess to set it beside the detection price.

On this page

What the calculator compares

Two numbers: the excess on your home insurance policy, which you type in, and the price of the detection visit, £480. No VAT is charged. The result is a difference and a sentence saying which is larger.

That is all it does. It does not know your insurer, your policy wording or the cause of the damage, and it does not tell you whether to claim.

Where to find your excess

The excess is on your policy schedule, the sheet that lists your cover and any amounts you pay on a claim. Some policies list more than one excess, so use the figure that applies to water damage or escape of water.

If you cannot find it, your insurer or broker can confirm it. Enter that figure, not an estimate.

What the comparison leaves out

Whether tracing a leak is covered, whether a claim is accepted and what the insurer pays are decided by your policy wording and your insurer, not by this page. The comparison also cannot see the rest of your situation, such as the cost of the damage, a no-claims position or the effect of a claim on later cover.

The insurance section covers the questions in turn: claiming back the cost of leak detection, whether to claim or pay yourself and choosing your own company. This is information, not insurance advice.

How to read the result

There are three outcomes. Your excess may be higher than the detection price, the same as it, or lower. Each is only a fact about two amounts. Neither a higher excess nor a lower one settles which route suits you.

What matters more is what else sits around the figure: whether your policy responds to a leak at all, what the insurer asks you to do before it will consider one, and whether it names its own contractor. Those are questions for your insurer, and the written report from a detection visit is the document most of them will ask to see.

What the detection price is for

One fixed price of £480, every method included, agreed before we attend. No VAT is charged. It covers locating the leak with every method it needs, and the written report, in one visit to a single domestic property in London. Repair work is quoted separately in writing before it starts, as one fixed price with labour, parts and materials set out.

See what is included and the pricing page for the written scope.

Sources and method

  • Your own policy scheduleThe calculator uses only the excess you type in and the published detection price. It stores nothing and sends nothing, and it makes no statement about what an insurer pays.

Questions customers ask

Does this tell me whether to claim?

No. It sets two figures side by side. Whether to claim depends on your policy and your insurer, and this page gives no insurance advice.

Which excess do I enter?

The one on your policy schedule that applies to water damage or escape of water. If there is more than one, use that one.

Does the detection price include the repair?

No. The repair itself, opening up and making good, commercial or multi-unit buildings, and underground work that needs a different set-up are quoted separately, in writing, before any work starts. No VAT is charged.

Where can I read about leak detection and insurance?

The water leak insurance page sets out the questions to ask your insurer.

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