Our lives revolve around modern technology these days, but what would happen if a rodent chewed through your internet line? What if a tree root grew into your sewage pipe and it burst, causing all manner of absolutely vile substances to spew into the yard?
Something many homeowners don’t realize is that they own—and are responsible for—all of those utility lines and pipes running underground from the street to their home.
Those lines are essential in our day-to-day lives. They provide the home with access to services such as electricity, water and sewer connections, natural gas or propane, and various data and communications services, such as the internet, cable, or telephone landlines. Finding out that one of these lines has failed or been damaged can be a massive inconvenience, but learning that your basic homeowners policy doesn’t even cover these lines is much worse!
Luckily, most major insurance carriers offer an endorsement to add this much-needed coverage for utility lines to a standard homeowners policy. The coverage is typically called “Service Lines” or “Buried Utility Lines” coverage, and it usually pays to repair or replace homeowner-owned, exterior underground water and sewer piping, electrical service lines, and data lines and wiring that fail or are accidentally broken.
A standard Service Lines endorsement offers up to $10,000 for repairs or replacements to the lines. These endorsements often have a separate (and much smaller) deductible from the basic homeowners policy—$500 is the standard deductible for most Service Lines endorsements.
Unlike a basic homeowners policy, covered damages to service lines and pipes usually include wear and tear. Coverage will also typically include rust or other corrosion; tree or root invasion; freezing or frost heave; vermin, insects, rodents, or other animals; marring, deterioration, hidden decay, mechanical breakdown, latent defects, or inherent vices; artificially generated electrical currents; external force from a shovel, backhoe, or other excavation; and damage from the weight of vehicles, equipment, animals, or people.
Some Service Lines endorsements provide additional coverage, such as paying for hotels, meals, rent, or other living expenses when a family must leave their residence because of a covered loss. Generators and other temporary equipment needed for a family to remain in their home might be covered, as could exterior property damage resulting from a service line failure, such as damage to trees, shrubs, sidewalks, driveways, decks, and landscaping.
Service Line Coverage is available in some form through most major insurance companies. Generally, it’s an affordable coverage that’s extremely easy to add to your homeowners policy. Take a moment to give your agent a call and ask about your options—you never know when something unexpected, like that rodent or tree root, will wreak havoc on your home.
