Monday, April 9, 2018

Thrifty Thinking: Are You Prepared for an Emergency Repair?

HomeServe USA is an independent provider of home repair service plans. They recently conducted their Biannual State of the Home survey, which shows that over one-third of American homeowners have $500 or less – or even no funds – set aside to cover the cost of an emergency repair, which shows how close most of us are to a major financial crisis, especially when you know that 51 percent of homeowners reported having a home repair emergency just in the past year.

Homeowners with household incomes of less than $50,000 per year are the most vulnerable – over half (57 percent) have $500 or less or no funds at all set aside for the unexpected.



“It’s easy to assume that the homeowners insurance we pay into will be there to help in any emergency repair,” said Tom Rusin, CEO of HomeServe USA. “In fact that’s not the case in all situations. Unfortunately, standard homeowners insurance policies do not cover repairs to exterior water or sewer lines that connect to the city system. If homeowners don’t take steps to proactively protect themselves, a simple leak can wind up becoming a major financial surprise.”

Emergencies are much more common than people assume — 51 percent of homeowners reported having a home repair emergency just in the past year. Further, 37 percent of homeowners reported having trouble finding a contractor for emergency repairs in a reasonable amount of time, with plumbers topping the list (17 percent).

“During a home emergency, homeowners want to know that help is on the way. It can be incredibly frustrating and even scary when homeowners have to wait for a contractor while water backs up into their house or they go for an extended period of time without heat,” said Rusin. “HomeServe takes its commitment to customers very seriously, and we pledge to be there when home emergencies arise. With just a single call, night or day, HomeServe makes the repair process easy. Further, our customers also have the peace of mind that they won’t be left with a huge repair bill that will strain their finances.”

For more information on available repair service plans, visit www.HomeServeUSA.com.

Survey Methodology
This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Poll on behalf of HomeServe from February 22-26, 2018 among 2,037 U.S. adults ages 18 and older (1,389 homeowners). This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables, please contacthomeserve@hkstrategies.com.

About HomeServe
HomeServe USA Corp. (HomeServe) is a leading provider of home repair solutions serving 3.4 million customers across the US and Canada under the HomeServe, Home Emergency Insurance Solutions, Service Line Warranties of America (SLWA) and Service Line Warranties of Canada (SLWC) names. Since 2003, HomeServe has been protecting homeowners against the expense and inconvenience of water, sewer, electrical, HVAC and other home repair emergencies by providing affordable repair coverage and quality local service. As an A+ rated Better Business Bureau Accredited Business, HomeServe is dedicated to being a customer-focused company supplying best-in-class repair plans and other services to consumers directly and through over 500 leading municipal, utility and association partners. For more information about HomeServe, a 2017 Connecticut Top Workplace winner and recipient of eighteen 2018 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, please go to www.homeserveusa.com. To connect with HomeServe on Twitter and Facebook, please visitwww.twitter.com/homeserveusa and www.facebook.com/HomeServeUSA.

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