Along with a traditional burial in a cemetery come many carried costs. These costs include not only the purchase of the plot but also fees for digging the grave, filling the grave, cemetery workers' time, fees for setting up tents and chairs for graveside services and other assorted charges. Another of these extra costs comes from the need in some areas to use a grave liner or burial vault. 

A burial vault serves the purpose of preventing the ground from caving in around the casket (or crushing the casket) as it settles once the grave has been filled. A burial vault is a container (made of concrete, metal or hard plastic) which is, essentially, a protective enclosure for the casket.  The burial vault is a four sided enclosure into which the casket is lowered as opposed to being lowered directly onto the ground.  Once the casket is inside the burial vault, the chamber is covered with a lid before the grave is re-filled with earth. 

Burial vaults come in a wide range of prices.  They can range from US$200 to upwards of US$10,000. The most standard burial vault is typically made of concrete and will cost, on average around US$400, though costs will vary by geographic location and economic situation.

A burial vault, because it surrounds the entire casket, is considered stronger than a grave liner.  For this reason, they are generally more expensive.  More often than not, a burial vault will come with a warranty—which is typically not the case with a grave liner.

Some states in the United States require a burial vault or grave liner, but not all.  Your funeral director or cemetery director will be able to instruct you as to the laws in your area.  You should keep the following in mind when discussing burial vaults and liners:

1. Don't let the cemetery or funeral home pressure you into buying a burial vault if you know they are not required by law in your area.
2. Go into the discussion knowing that neither a vault nor a liner needs to be very expensive to be effective.
3. Remember that neither a burial vault nor a liner will prevent the decay of your loved one's remains or casket. 
4. Should anyone claim that the liner or vault will prevent decomposition, they are lying to you.  The most either of these two items will do is protect the casket from being crushed or damaged by the weight of the earth on top of it  and will assist in keeping the ground level more even as the earth settles. 
5. Remember that you have a right to do comparison shopping for both burial vaults and liners.
6. "The Funeral Rule" stipulates that funeral directors or cemetery managers provide you with a complete list of prices and descriptions. Know that you are free to purchase either of these burial containers from third-party sellers. While a cemetery is within its rights to tell you that they will charge an extra fee for bringing in a burial container brought in from the outside, you are also free to find a cemetery that will not penalize you for trying to keep your costs low. 
7. Many critics of the funeral industryare quick to point out that expensive sealed burial vaults are one of the most frequently perpetuated scams in the business. Containers that are "sealed" do not prevent the decomposition of the remains, but rather, in many cases, serve only to speed it up by preventing the oxygen needed to properly dry the remains.  There is very little reason to buy a sealed vault in place of a grave liner. 

A grave liner (or, as it is sometimes called a burial liner) is an enclosure which covers only the top and sides of the casket, but not the bottom.  When the casket is lowered into the grave, the grave liner is placed on top of the casket.  Unlike a burial vault, a grave liner has no protective bottom.  The casket rests directly on the earth.  A grave liner will typically be less expensive than a burial vault, but will serve the purpose of preventing the earth atop the grave from settling over time.