Whose (Service) Line is It Anyway?

Whether you’re a new homeowner or you’ve owned one for years, it’s important to prepare for and protect yourself from the hidden costs of homeownership. Upfront costs like budgeting for a down payment and your monthly mortgage are just the first step. Post-purchase, you’ll need to account for additional expenses like property taxes, homeowners association fees (when applicable), homeowners insurance, and monthly utility expenses to name a few. Homeowners should also plan ahead for the costs of home maintenance – landscaping, HVAC maintenance, among other unexpected plumbing and electrical repairs – and these expenses can pile up quickly.

Take, for example, a service line repair. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, a service line is part of a network of exterior, underground utility lines or pipes responsible for providing water and sewer, electricity and gas functions to a home from a city’s main supply for these utilities. These lines are, for the most part, out of sight and out of mind until something goes wrong. The reality is, however, that if one of these lines break on a homeowner’s property, it’s their responsibility – not the city’s – to pay to repair or replace the faulty line.

The potentially expensive repair costs for a service line can be inconvenient for homeowners and aren’t generally covered under a standard homeowners insurance policy; for example, the average claim payment for a sewer or water line claim is $5,000. Pipe repair or replacement might also require invasive excavation to get to compromised underground lines, which might require digging up your yard, garden or driveway, resulting in even higher costs.

Fortunately, Mercury homeowners policyholders in Southern California have available to them an additional, affordable coverage option they can add to their existing policy called Service Line Protection. This coverage costs less than $5 a month and it extends protection to exterior and underground service lines, including:

• Water piping connecting your home and other structures to a public water supply or private well;
• Sewer piping connecting your home and other structures to public sewer or private septic systems;
• Ground loop piping that connects to a heat pump;
• Geothermal, natural gas, propane and steam piping;
• Compressed air pipelines; and
• Electrical service power lines connected to your home or other structures.

Visit the Mercury Insurance site to learn more about Service Line Protection.

Randy Petro

Chief Claims Officer

Mercury Insurance