Home Warranty

[mynewpool]

Since most of us seem to own a home here, what home warranty company do you have any that you recommend. In September of this year our 1 year home warranty will be up. We have a house built in 78, so the home warranty is a good idea. Right now we are using old republic and had to use them once and had no issues. Always a good idea to shop around.

So any that yall recommend? I am in Texas if that helps any.

Thanks.

 

[cobra46]

I have only had one home warranty and the was on my previous house that was built in '63. When I tried to use them I quickly discovered they don't cover much of anything.

I am pretty handy and can fix almost anything so I will not ever get a home warranty again.

 

[no-mas]

Agreed - in practice they are of very limited use. When you do need something done, you often find that the service is not covered or that you will need to spend extra money in order for a repair to be performed properly. They will mismatch a/c compressors with coils, use cheapest parts available, and jury-rig things to make them work. In the long run, you're better off developing a relationship with some quality local service people for home repair needs.

 

[Melt In The Sun]

What I dislike is that when something is replaced, you have no control over what make/model/size is installed.

 

[jetcycles]

I currently have American Home Shield on my (new to me) home that was built in 1962. I have called upon them 2x since October and the experience has been pleasant and the contractors did excellent work. I will be switching over to First American when this policy expires and will be adding the pool to the policy at that time. Co-worker of mine has First American and has used them countless times over the years with great results. He had the majority of his aging pool equipment replaced under his home warranty last year and his experience has been the opposite of no-mas's statement above. It has been my experience, and that of my co-workers, that these guys usually go above and beyond the call of duty. . .maybe we are the "in the minority" here though.

 

[denisbaldwin]

I had home warranties on my last two places and was burned by it more than it helped. The one was supposed to cover a broken stove, but they had a technicality built into the contract (no glass tops, even though that wasn't the part that broke) and thus wouldn't honor it. The second home warranty was supposed to cover a fridge that needed a new condenser but they wanted to hit me with all kinds of fees and deductables that would have made the repair almost double the cost of buying a new one!

Thus, no home warranty for me. I'm handy enough to fix minor things and Craigslist always has bargains on appliances, so I won't be wasting my money again.

 

[Melt In The Sun]

Statistically, they will make money on the plans (like all insurance companies). So what that means, is that some people may get something very expensive replaced under the warranty and come out ahead, but the majority of people would be better off saving the few hundred bucks and paying for the repair when necessary. This is especially true if you're a reasonably competent/confident do-it-yourselfer.

 

[gkruske]

In agreement with most folks here. They cut corners, then try and sell you a more expensive fix. House was rewired to 200 a few years back, and to comply with code (while not breaking the bank), electrician wired all the garage outlets downline from a bathroom GFCI. I noticed the sprinkler timer dead for a few days. Couldn't figure it out, so I called the home warranty company. Electrician came out, thought I had a wiring issue, and offered to replace all the garage outlets with GFCI's, to be within full code. I threw him out. Figured out that the wife had popped the GFCI in the bathroom with the hair dryer. All was well.