Service line coverage

Service lines are the water, sewer, electrical, gas, and telecom lines that connect your home to the public supply. The public lines normally run underneath the street or sidewalk. Service lines also run underground, connecting your house to the public lines.

Utility companies take care of the public lines under the street. But the service lines on private property are the sole responsibility of the property owner—and repairing those lines can be costly.

That’s why Square One offers service line coverage on most of our home insurance policies. If your home qualifies, you can easily add this affordable coverage when you buy your home insurance policy. With service line coverage, you’ll be protected if your service lines are damaged.

Here, we’ve collected some of the most important information about service line coverage.

Does home insurance cover service lines?

Most home insurance policies do not cover service lines.

That means, if the service lines on your property are damaged, you would need to pay for the repairs yourself—and that can get pricey.

It’s not as easy as running to the hardware store and picking up a length of pipe. Service lines are underground, so there’s the added cost of digging up the yard (not to mention putting it back together afterward). Plus, you’ll need to bring in professionals; whether pressurized water lines, live electrical wires, or dangerous gas lines, most service line repairs can’t be DIY-ed.

The average cost of repairing a sewer service line, for example, is as high as $6,000. With a typical home insurance policy, that cost would fall entirely to the property owner. When you add service line coverage to your Square One policy, you’ll have coverage for those costs.

What does service line coverage include?

Typically, service line coverage protects all of the utility lines for which a property owner is responsible. That includes pipes for water and wastewater, gas lines, and cables for electricity or telecommunications (like cable TV or a landline phone) that lie within the property lines.

Service line coverage from Square One is no different. When you add this coverage to your policy, you’ll have coverage for:

  • Sewer lines that are connected to a municipal system
  • Water supply lines connected to either a municipal system or a private well
  • Active electrical and telecommunications lines
  • Natural gas lines connected to a regional system

If any of these lines are damaged, the coverage will help pay for the cost of repairs.

Most home insurance policies, even comprehensive ones, have a few common exclusions; wear and tear, mechanical breakdown, vermin damage, and others are often excluded from coverage. But, Square One’s service line coverage offers protection even for some types of damage that are normally excluded—like wear and tear, which is common with service lines but normally not covered by home insurance.

With Square One, you can use your service line coverage even if your service line is damaged by:

  • Wear and tear
  • Mechanical breakdown
  • Rust or corrosion
  • Settling, sinking, moving, bulging, etc.
  • Defective materials, or faulty workmanship
  • Vermin (raccoons, rodents, insects, etc.)

Plus the typical coverages offered by your policy.

How much does service line coverage cost?

Not all home insurance providers offer service line coverage; those that do typically charge $35 to $50/year.

Service line coverage from Square One starts at just $25/year.

What is the deductible for service line coverage?

Like most insurance, service line coverage includes a deductible—the portion of a claim the policyholder pays before the insurance provider pays the remainder.

When you use service line coverage from Square One, your standard policy deductible will apply; there’s no separate deductible for this coverage.

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