Mapfre Insurance Advantage Elite Add-on

In My Humble Opinion
1

OK. I am hoping someone here is familiar with the optional add-on to Mapfre homeowner’s insurance, Advantage Elite.

Background: A relative who is a first-time home buyer asked me to review the insurance quote, since she’s new to all this. I noticed that they quoted it with the optional “Advantage Elite” package. ALL the quote says about this is:
• ID Fraud Coverage
• Personal Injury Coverage
• Water Back-Up and Sump Discharge or Overflow
• Equipment Breakdown
• Ordinance or Law Coverage
For $500. If me, I would run screaming from this. But she’s worried about expenses since, like most of us, she’ll be broke for a while after buying her first house. So I thought, well, maybe if it covers things like a septic failure or furnace breakdown, maybe $50/month will be worth her peace of mind. The others sound like BS to me (Ordinance or law coverage? Really?)

So I got to internet searching. Page after page that just leads to Mapfre’s website. They must have paid a fortune for SEO. And of course Mapfre’s page will get into the detail, right? Nope. In fact, it shouldn’t be legal to sell something with so little info:

So, for instance, on the subject of mechanical systems, it says

“Also covered under the endorsement is home systems protection and service line coverage should your household appliances become damaged due to an electrical or mechanical failure. Covered systems and appliances include HVAC systems, water heaters, kitchen appliances, and personal computers.”

Which isn’t very clear to me. It almost sounds like these systems are only covered if some other system (ie, electrical surge) causes the damage. I’m also quite confused about the personal injury, since the quote for the main homeowners mentions covering medical bills. Does this increase the coverage? Overlap providing no benefit? Cover the homeowner herself if she falls off a ladder? No freaking idea.

I’m mostly posting this because it seems so scammy, but I’m wondering if anyone actually knows what this endorsement actually covers. I’m flabbergasted that I can’t find it.

Like I said, I wouldn’t do it. I’ve told her to get a $1 million umbrella because those are cheap and do a better job of protecting her, but she is clearly trying to get me to tell her this thing is a good idea. So I’m open to being convinced, but…

2

I am not a lawyer but I expect that there is a formal, legal terms and conditions document that goes into what is and is not covered and that’s what they’re going to use to deny coverage. So you might ask them for that, though it’s going to be deadly dull and possibly not easy for a layman to understand.

3

Oh- for sure. But I’m familiar enough with regular homeowner’s to understand the general rules and how it works. I also know that it’s only really worth using if it’s a substantial loss- like a tree crushing your roof.

I did tell her to ask the agent for more details, but the reason I came here was that I figured someone might have more knowledge, or maybe experience with the product.

I would have expected to find more details on their website as well. I’m sure I could find a typical homeowner’s policy online, and the 10 or so that I’ve had over the years were all pretty similar (ie, don’t cover floods).

But “Water Back-Up and Sump Discharge or Overflow,” “Equipment Breakdown,” and “Ordinance or Law Coverage” could mean so many different things.

If I can’t get the info I’ll advise her not to take it.

4

If you find out more, I’m curious what “Ordinance or Law Coverage” means.

5

Cynically, I bet you it means “a bunch of things already covered by title insurance”

What, if the town rezones my lot as industrial they’re going to buy me out? Is that even a thing that happens to single family homes?

6

This coverage applies mainly to code changes since the home was built. For example, after a fire, electrical wiring required replacing, but the damaged wiring was old and not up to the current code. The insurance company owes the cost of replacing the damaged property with like kind and quality, meaning that if the code-approved wiring costs more, that’s the homeowner’s financial responsibility. The ordinance and law coverage would pay the difference and is usually limited to a percentage of the dwelling coverage amount.

Based on what I read of the “Elite” coverage, I see little to no benefit above what the standard homeowner’s policy covers.