Home warranty or no home warranty?~Rookie alert part II~ (roof, dishwasher)

[eav1221]

My husband and I are first time home buyers. The town home was built in 1982. Roof is new. Windows are new. HVAC is from 90s. Plumbing seems okay. Bones are good. No major problems except some wood needing replaced on the outside from moisture damage. Other than that, it's fine. We were asked if we wanted to purchase a home warranty at closing. I don't know. Do we want to purchase a home warranty good for one year with a 100 deductible for whatever we end up needing to fix? Or do we skip it and just hope nothing big goes during our first year? It's 439 bucks for one year. We do want to purchase new appliances. The ones we have are older. Does the home warranty cover that? or at least help with that? Clueless here.

THanks,
E

[K'ledgeBldr]

Buy one? Hell No!!!
If the seller wants to offer one with the sale- take it. Doesn't mean you have to use it (not really worth the paper they're written on), but it's there if you need it.

Appliance "REPAIR"- not replacement.

[cancerianlass]

Having a home warranty is certainly a good way to protect yourself from unexpected appliance damages. You say that your appliances are quite old, some even dating from the 1990's. They could become faulty soon. If you don't have the money to get multiple appliances repaired, it's best that you acquire a warranty. But before you make a purchase, do some research on home warranty review websites and pick a reputable company.

Cheers!

[fallingwater]

I agree with K'ledgeBldr. HELL NO. It is a waste of money. My home came with a home warranty. It cost the owners around 900 bucks. As a seller I always said no and as a buyer I always said no (a lot of realtors get some sort of commission or kick back) but with our current home, the sellers had already purchased one as a perk.

After we moved in our stove broke. The warranty company said it was a "preexisting condition" and refused to fix it. Then our water pump broke. It would cost us 95 dollars to fix out of pocket so using the warranty was pointless as the deductible was a 100. Then our dishwasher broke. We called and they agreed to send out someone. It did get fixed, the repair was around 400 I think. Cant remember the exact cost but it took forever to get completed. The repair guy had to submit photos, paperwork, order the part from a specific company and so on. Took about 3 weeks I think to get it all sorted out. This included 2 appointments from the repair guy which meant days taken off work. So in the end, we got a dishwasher repair out of it but I was not impressed.

We have been in the house almost 7 years and have replaced every single appliance (including the dishwasher). I say save that 400 dollars and stick it in the savings for an emergency fund.

[polizzio]

Originally Posted by fallingwater

I agree with K'ledgeBldr. HELL NO. It is a waste of money. My home came with a home warranty. It cost the owners around 900 bucks. As a seller I always said no and as a buyer I always said no (a lot of realtors get some sort of commission or kick back) but with our current home, the sellers had already purchased one as a perk.

After we moved in our stove broke. The warranty company said it was a "preexisting condition" and refused to fix it. Then our water pump broke. It would cost us 95 dollars to fix out of pocket so using the warranty was pointless as the deductible was a 100. Then our dishwasher broke. We called and they agreed to send out someone. It did get fixed, the repair was around 400 I think. Cant remember the exact cost but it took forever to get completed. The repair guy had to submit photos, paperwork, order the part from a specific company and so on. Took about 3 weeks I think to get it all sorted out. This included 2 appointments from the repair guy which meant days taken off work. So in the end, we got a dishwasher repair out of it but I was not impressed.

We have been in the house almost 7 years and have replaced every single appliance (including the dishwasher). I say save that 400 dollars and stick it in the savings for an emergency fund.

same here

[124c41]

When we bought this house, our agent pushed for the sellers to pay for a warranty for a year, which they did. All the appliances were no more than a year old, and I thought we would have no use for a warranty. But then there was a problem with the dishwasher about 4 months before the warranty ran out, and the warranty paid for it minus the $75.00 deductible.

Then, there was a problem with the refrigerator that I needed to get repaired, and in looking at the fine print, and talking to a representative was told that these repairs weren't covered under the policy. It appeared there were more things not covered, than were. Then, when the policy ran out, and they sent me a renewal notice, they had raised the deductible, and whole price of the policy. I suppose it served a purpose for me, at the time I needed it, but I would have reservations about using one again.

[mzfroggez]

I would advise you not to waste your money on buying a warranty. They are frankly quite worthless even when they are
included in your purchase price.

I have heard of people that actually were able to make use of theirs but that appears to be the exception. Most people groan and tell how the company looked for every way to not cover things; would repair and repair but not replace things that obviously needed replacement; and you would need to read the warranty so carefully to find all the things that were never covered in the first place or were limited to such a small amount that you would still be out major money if you had to replace something.....a prime example being limits on heating /ac systems where the limit is no where near the cost it would take should you have to replace the system.

My first service call under the warranty on my present house cost me 65.00 for a visit where the plumber didn't have a long enough auger to actually diagnose what the problem was with my sewer line but did manage to figure out that I had roots in the system (of course not covered by the warranty) and that I really couldn't fix it but would need to dig up the sewer line to the tune of 7900.00 (that was with my "senior" discount).

Since the sum was so high, I told the company that there was no way I could make that decision based on their examination and instead we did some investigation on the location of the lines and managed to dig up the suspected culprit. When I called the warranty people to inform them that it wasn't roots in the system as their plumber had . The warranty people said that it didn''t matter as they did not cover anything on sewer lines once they had exited the house - unbelievable!

Long story short, the plumber they sent to tell me I had root invasion in my line and needed to dig up the entire line & replace it was totally off base. The break in the pipe was actually not the problem/we put in a clean out where the break was and then followed the line further and found another break - apparently some people do not put in clean outs and just break the line open when there is a problem.....in the end, it turned out that there was no obstruction in our laterals but that the line was crushed on the city's side and the city replaced that section and did all the work. The cost to me was the pvc pipes for the breaks I had found in the yard and some time.

I do not trust the warranty companies nor the companies they send. You can get lousy service outside of warranty companies but it seems to be almost certain that you will not be happy with what you get with the warranty company. Mine expires this week and it will not be renewed.

PS - They will also generally raise the annual rate as soon as the first year is done and the service visit fee as well.

[NJFillet]

Originally Posted by fallingwater

I agree with K'ledgeBldr. HELL NO. It is a waste of money. My home came with a home warranty. It cost the owners around 900 bucks. As a seller I always said no and as a buyer I always said no (a lot of realtors get some sort of commission or kick back) but with our current home, the sellers had already purchased one as a perk.

After we moved in our stove broke. The warranty company said it was a "preexisting condition" and refused to fix it. Then our water pump broke. It would cost us 95 dollars to fix out of pocket so using the warranty was pointless as the deductible was a 100. Then our dishwasher broke. We called and they agreed to send out someone. It did get fixed, the repair was around 400 I think. Cant remember the exact cost but it took forever to get completed. The repair guy had to submit photos, paperwork, order the part from a specific company and so on. Took about 3 weeks I think to get it all sorted out. This included 2 appointments from the repair guy which meant days taken off work. So in the end, we got a dishwasher repair out of it but I was not impressed.

We have been in the house almost 7 years and have replaced every single appliance (including the dishwasher). I say save that 400 dollars and stick it in the savings for an emergency fund.

Agreed...NO! The warranty co will force you to use a repair person of their choice, and you are stuck with it. You may end up spending more than the cost of just purchasing new appliances over time. Remember, the cost does not just include the financial outlay, you should consider the inconvenience, time away from work, time away from doing other things, hassle of dealing with red tape, handcuffed to repair people you may not like or who do an inferior job...there are many costs that build up way beyond the cost of the warranty, and you may be better served by just replacing over time as appliance deals come along (and they always do).

[eav1221]

...and therefore, we will not be purchasing a home warranty! thanks everyone! We'll put the money away and just plan on replacing some old appliances.

[rational1]

> We'll put the money away and just plan on replacing some old appliances.

And if you are moderately handy...some appliance problems can be diagnosed and parts purchased on line. Over the years I have not replaced a clothes drier twice, a refrigerator twice, a microwave once, and a dishwasher once.