Any Advice on a Home Warranty Company?

[pbnj07]

First American Warranty is excellent at getting repairs done quickly (we've used them for 3 years), but when we tried to get the cash-payout to replace our dishwasher with a model of our choice, they only offered us $100. So, we had them pay for the necessary repairs to the old one, which totalled more than $250.

I think everyone should use a warranty program for their first year in a new house, but since my primary reason for using a warranty program was to help in the case of a costly replacement (like an HVAC), this will be my last year using one. We'll just put aside the $50+/month we're billed now into savings for when we need it for home repairs.

[soontobetexan]

We have Old Republic. They have been responsive. I think a lot of complaints are tied to the quality of the subcontractors they use, which is not necessarily an indication of how good the warranty company itself is.

We had an automatic ice maker that wasn't working ... they sent out a couple of shifty looking guys who did get it repaired, it needed a couple of parts, but they made a mess doing it by using a torch to solder something and getting soot all over the place. We let them know how that went, and a few months later, we had the dishwasher leak on us, and they sent out Smiling Jim's Appliance Repair out of Georgetown (great name for a company), very nice guy, he did a good job for us.

I think it's worth it, we're considering renewing because we have some high end appliances (Wolf, SubZero) and some small problem on one of those could easily pay for the cost of the entire warranty. I shudder to think what the compressor for a SubZero refrigerator costs.

Definitely read the fine print, though, and make sure you pay for what you want covered. We paid $50 extra to cover the icemaker, and it wound up being worth it.