Should I Claim It?

Windshield claim calculator

Your windshield is cracked. Should insurance pay, or should you?

The wrong choice costs real money in both directions. Pay cash in a state that waives your deductible and you burn hundreds for nothing. File when your deductible is bigger than the job and you put a claim on your record for zero payout. We do the arithmetic, in the open, in under a minute.

✓ Free ✓ No phone number, no email ✓ We show every number's math

1Your car & where you are

Tells us local prices and your state's glass rules.
Your vehicle
Glass costs more on some cars than others.
Which glass is broken?

2Camera check

Is there a camera behind your rearview mirror?
Most cars built since about 2018 have one. When the windshield is replaced, the camera has to be re-aimed. That can add a few hundred dollars.

3Your insurance

Do you have comprehensive coverage?
That's the part of your policy that pays for glass, hail, and theft, not crashes. It's on your insurance card or in your app.
Your answer. Updates as you go
Your answer shows up here.
Add your ZIP code, your car, and which glass is broken. That's all we need to start. No contact info, ever.
Worked examples

Four drivers, four different right answers

These are complete runs of the calculator's own math, with sample pricing. Two say pay cash, one says file, one turns on a state law. If a tool always points the same direction, it isn't a tool. It's an ad.

2021 Toyota RAV4 in Columbus, Ohio
Windshield, camera behind the mirror, comprehensive with a $500 deductible.
Use insurance. You'd save about $480.
Glass + camera re-aim$590 + $390
Cash total$980
Insurance: your deductible$500
Difference$480
The camera re-aim is what tips this. Without it, a $500 deductible against a $590 job would be too close to call.
2019 Honda Civic in Phoenix, Arizona
Windshield with a camera, comprehensive with a $1,000 deductible, never added Arizona's optional glass coverage.
Pay cash. A claim wouldn't pay anything.
Glass + camera re-aim$440 + $335
Cash total$775
Your deductible$1,000
Insurance would pay$0
A $1,000 deductible on a $775 job means insurance covers nothing. Filing would put a claim on your record for zero dollars back. Arizona makes insurers offer $0 glass coverage, but only if you added it.
2023 Toyota Highlander in Miami, Florida
Windshield with a camera, comprehensive coverage. Deductible doesn't matter here.
Use insurance. Florida waives your deductible.
Glass + camera re-aim$670 + $420
Cash total$1,090
Insurance: you pay today$0
Florida law (Fla. Stat. §627.7288) makes insurers waive the deductible on windshields, though not side or rear glass. One honest caveat: whether the waiver covers the $420 camera re-aim is legally unsettled. Ask your insurer before you book.
2016 Chevy Silverado in Dallas, Texas
Windshield, no camera, $250 deductible, one claim already this year, pays $2,400 a year with a carrier that doesn't publish a glass-claim rule.
Pay cash. It's the better deal.
Cash total (no re-aim needed)$620
Insurance: deductible today$250
Possible rate rise over 3 years$540
Insurance total$790
The deductible looks cheaper until you count the risk a second claim adds to renewal pricing. Cash wins by about $170 and keeps the claim off the record.

Prices are sample data pending live shop pricing. The arithmetic is the same one the calculator runs, and every number in it is inspectable above.

Why this site exists

Everyone who answers this question gets paid for one of the answers

Ask around and notice who benefits from the advice you get.

The glass shop

"We'll bill your insurance, easy." Shops that bill insurers are often paid more per job than they'd quote you in cash. Of course filing sounds easy.

Paid when you file
Your insurance company

Won't say whether filing raises your rate. The answer is in rate filings they submit to your state, written for regulators, not for you.

Paid when you don't
This site

We do the math and show every step. If it says pay cash, we tell you to pay cash. Either way, the only money we make is a referral fee if you choose to ask local shops for quotes.

Paid the same either way

Here's exactly how we make money →

State law, verified against the statutes

Three states waive your glass deductible. Most articles get the details wrong.

Florida's waiver covers the windshield only. Kentucky's covers all glass, but only when the claim is glass alone. Massachusetts offers a $100 option, not $0. New York doesn't require insurers to offer anything. We verified every rule against the primary statute and dated each check.

Florida §627.7288 Kentucky KRS 304.20-060 South Carolina §38-77-280 All state rules →
Methodology

How the calculator decides

The comparison is two totals. Cash: the typical local price for your glass, plus the camera re-aim (calibration) cost weighted by how likely your car is to need one. Insurance: what you'd pay today after your deductible and any state glass rule, plus a rate-increase scenario spread over three years, based on your carrier's published guidance and your claim history.

When the two totals land within about 12% of the job cost of each other, we say so instead of pretending precision we don't have: the honest answer at that point is a real quote from a real shop.

Three things we deliberately don't do: we never predict your exact premium ("maybe $540 over 3 years" is a scenario, not a promise), we never ask for contact information to show an answer, and we never hide the arithmetic. Every dollar figure on this page has a "see the math" link behind it.

Pricing is currently sample data by vehicle and region, pending integration of live shop quotes. State rules verified August 13, 2026 against primary statutes. Carrier behavior seeded from published carrier guidance; the production data plan cites state rate filings (SERFF).