Should You Buy Sewer Repair Insurance?

Sewer Line Repair

If you want sewer line and water line repair insurance you can get it from some municipalities or from insurance companies offering homeowners insurance either as an add on or separate policy. External line repairs can be expensive, with water lines running $2,223 and sewer lines $3697; yet, most homeowners have no insurance coverage for this problem. At the same time, North American sewer and water line repairs have been increasing both in number and frequency in recent years. 

The Civil Engineering Foundation indicates that the number of sewer backups has been steadily increasing at a rate of 3% per year. Furthermore, the age of the average sewer line is more than 30 years and more and more homes are connected to older sewers. As expected, older sewers are more prone to breakage because of corrosion and the ingress of roots from established trees on older properties.

Under current conditions, insurance companies and municipalities have been making a greater effort to provide sewer repair insurance. Some cities are now offering sewer insurance for an additional $1 a month on the utility bill. However, municipality sewer insurance may require the homeowner to pay a $250 deductible before receiving payment. (http://wnins.com/resources/personal/features/sewerbackup.shtml)

Private sewer insurance is generally running about $40-$50 a year. Extent of coverage and payout upper limits vary from policy to policy. One insurance website, insure.com indicates that $75-$150 annually will buy anywhere from $5,000-10,000 in coverage. 

One of the more active sewer repair insurers is HomeServe of Connecticut. HomeServe is known for their rapid payouts and dependable service and their reputation has won them marketing contracts with a number of North American cities. The arrangement they have with cities allows them to market to residents with a letter displaying the city logo. For their part, HomeServe agrees to pay back a percentage of the take to be used as a fund to pay sewer repairs for poor homeowners. The HomeServe policy only covers external water and sewer line repairs and not the cost of repairing damage to the basement.

As an example of HomeChoice Insurance, the Baltimore City HomeServe policy costs close to $9 a month, covers external water line and sewer repairs and comes with coverage up to $10,000 and no deductible. One local plumbing company, 1st Choice Plumbing Inc., has worked with HomeServe and said they are reliable when it comes to making provider payoffs. 1st Choice Plumbing management believes the repair policy is good for homeowners with older sewer lines or homeowners who have purchased an already built home and are unsure about the condition of the external lines. 

1st Choice Plumbing is a local Baltimore sewer contractor that has been selected to work for HomeServe because of their dependability and reliability.