Many homeowners all across the US have a home warranty to cover items in their homes, and most of them are very happy with their home warranties. Of course, any time you’re entering into an agreement with a company, you’re going to want to know exactly why you’re paying them. There’s no reason to pay a company if you don’t need their services, and home warranties are no exception to this.
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What is a Home Warranty?
In the United States, the term “home warranty” is a bit of a misnomer. A home warranty here in the states looks a lot more like a service contract for appliances in your home than a warranty. Of course, there are warranties that home builders provide for their work but that’s a little different than the kind of home warranty we’re looking at today, and are usually referred to as a home builder’s warranty or a new construction warranty and those rarely last longer than 10 years.
Home Warranty Coverages
Home warranties can cover a lot of things in your home, namely appliances. In most cases, a home warranty will cover things like refrigerators, HVAC systems, electrical systems, washers and dryers, water heaters, and in many cases also things like ovens and microwaves. Things that aren’t covered by your base policy can sometimes be added to your policy for an extra fee, depending on what the company you’re working with offers.
Of course, there are terms that you have to follow for anything to be covered. You have to stay on top of maintenance for your appliances because most home warranties won’t cover damage due to poor maintenance and will usually only cover things that break down due to normal wear and tear.
Things to Keep in Mind About Home Warranties
First off, if you don’t maintain your appliances, there’s a good chance that your appliances won’t be covered when they break down. There are also many terms that can limit a lot of things that can be covered; For instance, your home warranty contract can specify the number of units covered as well as the size of covered units. Other notable limitations include a cap for how much they’ll pay to repair or replace a covered appliance or system when it breaks down. Another thing to be away of is that most home warranties will only cover the mechanical elements of a unit, so for instance, if a button falls off of your air conditioning unit that won’t be covered, but if your unit breaks has a mechanical failure due to normal wear and tear they should be able to help you.
Is a Home Warranty Worth It?
At the end of the day, there’s never going to be a one size fits all plan that will work for everyone. If you’re good at maintaining your home appliances and systems, it might be in your best interest to get a home warranty so you can save some money when your systems start breaking down. On the other hand, if maintenance isn’t your strong suit, it may not be in your best interest as appliances that breakdown from being poorly maintained are not covered, so you may end up spending a lot more money by both paying for a home warranty and for any repairs or replacements for your units.
Home Warranties to Make Your Life Easier
For those of us that want to make sure that we can have some help paying for repair or replacement of our well-maintained appliances and systems, a home warranty can save us a lot of time and money. Every appliance in your home will breakdown eventually regardless of how well you take care of it, and repair and replacement of any given unit can be very expensive.