Home warranty
 

I have a home warranty with a well known company but I am wondering if I should cancel. The price has increased again by a considerable amount. I am hesitant to drop it because of the likelihood that I will need new air conditioning for the whole house in the relatively near future. My question is whether you have ever used your home warranty for such a large repair and were you happy with the end results. Did you have much choice in the replacement, etc. I know in general any replaced items are “builders grade” which is okay for some things but maybe not really large things. I hope this makes sense. Any thoughts?

I've never heard of buying a home warranty - not sure they exist here - but you might be better to put the premium into a special savings or bond to generate some interest. Then that money is available when you need it and you can make the best choices for you. So far it has worked for me with warranties of other purchases (car, appliances, etc.)

i agree with you. I’d start a special “warranty” account & have the bank automatically move a set amount from checking to the new “warranty” account every month. You might supplement it by keeping track of money saved by doing jobs yourself. I’ve paid for many things in my younger days doing it this way. Like I save $2 with a coupon on laundry soap. One grocery store gives cents off gas when buying certain items so I keep track what I save at the pump. I had a cleaning lady when I worked & when she retired, I DIY so I saved what I was paying her. Etc Etc. I’d keep a running total what I saved then once a month I transfer to my “warranty account”. It makes better sense to actually put aside what I save. Giving the account a name helps. Warranty or Travel or New Sewing Machine.

I have no idea how much money you're talking about so I can't offer you any assistance. I've vaguely heard of home warranties but don't really know anything about them.

We had a home warranty for two years after we bought our home a few years ago. In my opinion, our warranty company used semi- knowledgeable service people. Service was somewhat spotty and we had to use whomever they contracted with. We live in the south and our A/C went out in July. The company said it would be a week before they could send someone out. Our hot water heater broke and it was over a week before the incompetent service rep could fix it. I truly think he was a plumber in training. We dropped the warranty after the second year. Hopefully there are better home warranty companies.

We purchased our home three years ago and opted to maintain a home warranty. It went up about 10% last year, but what the heck. We have used it twice so far. Once for the washing machine that came with the house which was beyond repair. The warranty company paid for a comparable machine and we opted to upgrade. Now we are in the process of having work done on our heat pump. They have decided it is a relay that will need to be replaced on a 40 YO system. The tech told me that if they cannot find a replacement, the home warranty company will have to replace the heat pump. That would be nice. We are waiting now for the outcome. The service companies and technicians that come out seem to be fairly competent. We live pretty far out, so getting anyone to come for service is a good thing. I think I will continue to carry a warranty for a few more years. Just in case.

We got a free 1 year home warranty when we bought our house. When the a/c went out, they wanted to replace it with another small unit like we had. We opted to not use the home warranty and buy our own larger, better unit. It lasted for years and we use our a/c almost year round here. Needless to say, we didn't renew the home warranty.

We have had some large expenses like repiping the entire house, but the home warranty wouldn't have covered that anyway. They would have just paid to fix the leaks. I'm not sure it would even have paid to fix the walls and ceiling affected.

I'm really picky about having things done right and don't have that option with a home warranty. If you decided not to renew, put that money (and hopefully a little more) in an account so that you will have something to fall back on in case of something breaking.

Thanks for your responses. I am concerned my experience might be the same as Cash’s Mom. Really I can afford repair costs. I just don’t want to pay warranty premiums if I am not going to be happy in the end. Cash’s Mom, may I ask which home warranty company you had? I have American Home Shield.

We also had a leak in our attic that damaged the ceiling. They did pay to plug the leak. When asked the warranty company about fixing the ceiling, their response was "that is secondary damage and we don’t pay for secondary damage." That was the final straw.

My sister has had one for years. Her AC is over 20 years old. Every time it breaks, they fix it even if they have to wait for parts for a number of days. They never mention buying her a new one. I think as long as you pay and they don't have to pay out, everything is fine. When you need them, it's another story.