water line insurance

[badgolferman]

My *electric* company Dominion offers water line insurance for $4.95/mo. which supposedly covers water line repairs from the main to the house. My house was built in 1967. I plan on being there for another 2-3 years so I subscribed for the insurance, not wanting any more major expenses on this house before I sell it. My mother had to have her water line repaired for a 1980 house the year before she sold it and that cost her around $3500.

Tell me why this was a good idea or a bad idea...

[trader_4]

Given the age and that you're only going to be there a few more years, I'd say hedging by taking the plan is at least an OK idea.

[Scott Lurndal]

Read the fine print first. Many of those "insurance" plans have so many caveats and exclusions that you'll end up paying anyway in the end.

Note in this case, Dominion is farming it out to "HomeServe" (who generally has an annual "limit" for claims). Homeserve is owned by the billionaire brothers George and Michael Karfunkel.

Those companies tend to use deceptive practices (snail mail that "implies" it is coming from your local water company, even though completely unaffiliated, using local utilities logos on their website as if they had been endorsed by the utilities, etc.). If they use deception to _get_ your business, how can you trust them to actually provide good service?

"The water line insurance company only offers limited coverage per occurrence. HomeServe USA tailors its plans for each state. So, to use the State of Washington as an example, the company says they will cover up to $6,000 in claims per year. Instead of being generous, this is anything but generous. This provision is only a big trap. Reading on, you see that it is broken up into two occurrences, at $3,000 each. What that means is that your broken water problem must cost $3,000 or less to fix; the remaining coverage events are inconsequential because they apply only to those particular occurrences and cannot be lumped together."

I'd say it's not worth it.

[Ed Pawlowski]

That is $59.40 a year. In my case, I've owned 3 houses for the past 53 years so I would have paid (adjusted for inflation) $3148 for coverage. My new house is 2 months old so no, I'm not paying it. I see no need. Meantime, I has $3148 to spend on something more fun.

[Meanie]

I would check with your state and/or city ordinance. The water line running to the house is usually the responsibility of the water company. Anything within the house is the home owner.

I've been offered similar insurance for water and sewer. I never bite.

[Kyle]

I don't know about Dominion's policy but most insurance companies seldom provide the coverage they claim. They'll likely pro-rate the repair because your waterline is 20 years old or some bullshit. Just say no.

[user999]

Any place I have ever lived the water company is only responsible to the shutoff valve at the curb. The line from the curb to the house is the homeowner responsibilty.

You better pray your sewer line nevers fails. Expensive and ugly messy to fix.

[Bod F]

"We don't have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven't taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much." ― Ronald Reagan