Does anyone have any experiences with these? When we bought our current house as part of the deal the sellers paid for one year of a home warranty. During the year I didn't really get the point of it because service calls were generally the same price as calling an a/c place or a plumber, etc. However, I think that it might be a good thing if something major happens? We were the first owners of our previous house so this is foreign to me. In any event, we are now up for renewal if we want it. Originally I was against it but now my ac is acting up and I am pondering whether it is worth it to pay the $400 because if I need to replace it an a warranty really covers most or all of a new unit a warranty could be a good thing. I am extremely skeptical so I am interested to see if anyone has found one to be useful and if they really do what they say in an owner not having to pay for replacement. Thanks for any help.
I went through the same thought process as we got one of these when we bought our first home in 2001. We let it lapse (or maybe we kept it one more year) and havn't looked back since. Last year my stove broke and it cost like $600 to fix. So in that period of time I would have paid $3,600 for insurance and only received a $600 benefit. SO FAR, it has been a no brainer for us. But if you think you have a bunch of appliances that are sketchy, maybe it makes sense. In our case, most of our appliances (including the A/C) were new so the odds of having a bunch of things go out at once were minimal.
In the same boat...I was gonna renew our warranty until I found it would cost about 480 dollars to renew. Considering the price of water heaters, ranges, dishwashers, etc, it just doesn't seem worth it. Unless everything goes to hell in one year or I need a new ac/heating system, I'm probably gonna come out even. Plus even if I have to pay a few hundred more for an appliance, at least I can get an appliance of my choosing; the warranty would only cover something with similar features and it just seems they'll do anything they can to make the most money off of me...hence, replace my appliance with a cheap one that breaks down in 5 years. I haven't had to replace anything yet....although my water heater is 22 years old and has sediment buildup that's not coming out...and the plumber said my warranty doesn't cover that...and I don't know if I want to wait till it breaks down and starts to leak before getting a new one. I can see benefit of it...I'm just not sure it's worth it for us.
same deal w/ me - bought my house (not a new home) and it had a year long warranty thru american home shield. i did not renew when it expired. it was like $550/year. and you have to pay $60 anytime they come out, no matter how minor it is. i had my a/c worked on and instead of actually replacing the leaking freon line they did some cheap patch-up job on it which lasted about 1 month. the guy actually told me that they are told to just fix it the cheapest way possible. they will do everything they can to avoid actually replacing broken parts. thats how they make their money. i had the a/c guy come back after the warranty expired to properly fix my a/c - it cost like $400, but he actually replaced the broken line. id rather pay more once and have it done right than be under warranty and have to call them out every few months to patch things up. and w/ the internets, its actually not that difficult to figure out how to do stuff for yourself. ive learned how to fix/replace leaky faucets. i can take apart my toilet and put it back together. clean out my hvac unit. unclog a/c drain. change out light fixtures. learn how to do this stuff yourself and you will save lots of $$$ over the long run.
This was good to read and what I was looking for. Thanks. Agreed on the self-repairs. My external A/C unit, though, is something I don't really want to mess with or self-diagnose.
I got a home warranty one year policy, on my current home. The policy made me use their vendors, who were unimpressive, and their vendor did not fix everything so I had pay another $50 service charge to get someone else to come out and finish the job.
I've purchased a home warranty for the past 10 years and will continue to do so. I've had a water heater replaced in both the homes I've owned, as well as several other big-ticket items that have more than paid out the annual fee and service charges. It's like any other insurance - it's going to cost you a little bit each year but will limit your exposure to a massive bill should something major go wrong.
same thing for us....renewal is up now (actually had a phone message yesterday) but we are not renewing for much of the same reason. if something goes, i'd rather just shop around and find a good one to replace it. rather not be limited to their warranty requirements.
I use Old Republic and have had no problems with them. I'm keeping it at a minimum until my 15 yr old A/C system goes out. Didn't have to use it last year at all, but I know the second I don't renew is the same second I lose a major appliance or a pipe bursts.
