Need Home Warranty Company Recommendations GOOD ONLY PLEASE (Christmas: sales, insurance)

[dotbowels]

Are there any good Home Warranty companies? Thanks Dorothy

[photoman_6]

oh, crap, and here I was going to recommend a real s***ty company. Never mind. Anyway, I wouldn't take this type of insurance on any house. Better to buy newer. Anything over ten years and things start to break down anyway. Sock your money every month for a rainy day fund instead of using it for phony insurance premiums.

[Sunshine Rules]

Having dealt with a number of home warranty companies over the years, I have had both good results and issues with pretty much all of the major brand names at one time or another, so cannot suggest a "good one." Keep in mind that all put restrictions on when to contact them (never contact a repair person on your own, it voids the warranty), who is sent out to deal with your warranty issue (often not someone you would pick) and what solutions they offer you under the contracts. They also generally include language about routine maintenance of your systems and appliances that they may use to opt out of paying for repairs or replacements should they discover you do not have routine service records for items such as AC systems.

Here's a first hand experience in dealing with a warranty company. There was a home warranty on my current home when I first purchased it. The dishwasher stopped working. The service person sent by the warranty company insisted on using a refurbished part to repair it. I disagreed but the warranty company sided with the service person. Two weeks later, the same issue developed again, the check valve on the refurbished part was also defective. So they finally repaired it with a new part, but we had to pay for 2 service calls to get it fixed properly.

I've had a customer receive a new AC handler under a home warranty with good results, so sometimes they do work out ok.

My suggestion would be to carefully read all of the fine print on the contract before signing up with any of the home warranty plans.

[d4g4m]

Home warranty companies have all kinds of schemes and excuses to NOT cover or fix anything. Before giving your CC# or sending a check, ask for a copy of the contract AND READ THE FINE PRINT.
If you call and go through the sales pitch and decide you don't want it, remember that they have caller ID and be prepared for many annoying calls.

[bbronston]

I've always taken the point-of-view that most 3rd party warranties are not worth purchasing but I've had a few times in my life where I didn't take my own counsel, purchased one, and found it to be worth having. I view home warranties in the same light but, as Sunshine mentioned, I've talked with people who have had good experiences and I've talked with people who have had bad experiences. I guess my view is that they are probably worth having as long as you recognize that you might have to fight them for some things.

[craigiri]

Here is what is probably a typical home warranty scenario....

House needs some drain and sewer work. These warranties have deductibles (sometimes) and limits (always). An example would be they pay $500 toward sewer work.

In most cases you have to use their network - so you call and they come and they say $1700, but you'll get the job for $1200...

Consider....

1. What are the odds of the contractor being the best one or the one you would have chosen?
2. What is the real price of the job?
3. Is the large job even needed?

I've had many things occur since we bought our flipped house - which came with a 2 year warranty. Once I read the paperwork, I threw it away and never called.

It's a scam. I wouldn't be surprised if the profit margin for these companies is off the charts. The contractor probably kicks back $300 to them, meaning they are only out $200. The job is probably an $800 job.

Etc.......

(Note - I am/was a contractor for 30+ years).

[Easy Life]

those warranties are pure garbage, useless krappola

[TamRE]

Old Republic and American Home Sheild.

[loves2read]

We used American Home Shield because it came with home (about 4 yrs old at that time) we bought in 08...
There were some things we had repaired using the warranty but you do not have any choice about who comes out--and that for me was often the biggest issue of all...get an incompetent repair person and you wind up paying for multiple service calls...

Companies pay to have access to the warranty calls and decide if they want to go for one based on location and type of problem---
If closer and they think there is possibility to upsell I imagine they want that job
We had kept it for several years but eventually their pricing was just really prohibitive--
Was expensive enough for one year anyway because it is based on square footage/house sz and age
So as house ages and systems age, your premiums increase

If you have appliances replaced in your home I think you are better off getting a specific extended warranty for those--
I have bought small appliances/electronics from Best Buy and really been very pleased if there were issues and the item was replaced...
Same with Amazon's Square Trade warranties
Bought new w/d pair from Costco after Christmas -- you get extra company warranty buying through Costco and I paid for addition warranty---and Costco fields all the repair calls--
You call Costco and they deal with the mfg and service
I figure Costco has more clout than I do...

Regarding items like your HVAC, what I was told when we had American Home Shield was that based on age of our unit and the item that might be at fault, some items are not covered and some items are prorated by age (like your roof's insurance coverage usually) so it seemed that the coverage offered by the home warranty was hit or miss...not uniform/total

[craigiri]

Originally Posted by loves2read

Regarding items like your HVAC, what I was told when we had American Home Shield was that based on age of our unit and the item that might be at fault, some items are not covered and some items are prorated by age (like your roof's insurance coverage usually) so it seemed that the coverage offered by the home warranty was hit or miss...not uniform/total

Simple math. If the premium is not at least 5 to 10% of the homes value, it would be impossible for a company to cover any decent percentage. Example - 300K home.

A good roof replacement can cost 15K (tear off - arch shingles). And sewer replacement and repipe would be about 30K total. That's 45K.

So unless you are paying 7 to 10K a year starting at year one of a decent house....it's just a gimmick.

By all rights, these should be illegal to sell. But capitalism rules - and predatory capitalism means big money for lobbyists and pols.