Is a home warranty worth it?

Depends on the situation I know some rental house owners prefer the home warranty route vs the same money route just in case

If you have enough cash on hand to cover the 5k repair bill you dont have to get it but if you dont its a good idea.

I don't know. I've always considered these like the car warranties: scams.

I had a after-market car warranty years ago I bought through the dealer when I bought the 3 year old used car, and NOBODY would accept it. I canceled it after the first year because of that.

Maybe I am wrong, and there are some goods ones out there. If so, I've never heard of one. Maybe somebody here has first-hand knowledge of one that does in fact pay out when needed?

So MUCH of things like this in the US are flat-out scams, it sure makes you real gun-shy when looking around for them.

I had one with the purchase of our home years ago. After it expired, and to this day, I still get notices to renew it.

I personally don't think it's worth it. They won't cover the "normal" replacement of items will they?

We purchased a 17 year old house as well. Most everything had a 20 year life span, so we've had to replace the fence, siding, water heater, roof, carpeting, a couple of leaky pipes, torsion springs on the garage door, and the furnace/AC control board recently went out. The control board we replaced ourselves for $100. The garage door springs already were relatively easy to replace at about $70, as opposed to a few hundred to have someone come out and do it.

I doubt the insurance company would replace stuff that is expected to need replacing due to normal wear and tear.

Honestly, just use YouTube. It's awesome for home repair, and you learn a new skill, and you save a bundle.

I know someone who had it included when they bought their house. Fridge broke 3 months later. First attempt is a repair man to look at it, then another visit with parts to try and fix it. None of this happens fast mind you. Then its a waiting game to get them to approve money to find a replacement fridge, they couldn't even choose which. SO much time and waiting and with kids they said screw it after a few days and bought one. How can they expect you to go weeks without a fridge?

Quote from nizzy1115 : I know someone who had it included when they bought their house. Fridge broke 3 months later. First attempt is a repair man to look at it, then another visit with parts to try and fix it. None of this happens fast mind you. Then its a waiting game to get them to approve money to find a replacement fridge, they couldn't even choose which. SO much time and waiting and with kids they said screw it after a few days and bought one. How can they expect you to go weeks without a fridge?

^^ This

I hate insurance companies. They move slow, and most of what goes wrong in a house you can't move slow on. I'm not going to go without a dishwasher for a few weeks, same goes with any other appliance. When a water heater needs replacing, it needs replacing yesterday.

You may want to look at all your appliances manufacturer date, then look up the typical lifespan of each. I replaced mine within a year of the typical lifespan.

You don't want to have to buy a new washer and dryer when yours breaks, you want to buy it when you can get a deal on it. Knowing that "most washers will last 15 years" and ours is 14 years old, its probably time to replace. It took a couple of months, but I finally got a good deal, multiple tax credits and a utility credit, in the end it only cost me $310 for a $900 setup.

not from my experience. basically refused to pay.

avoid sensible home warranties at all costs.

You can always "self insure". Just pretend you have a warranty, and put the money you'd pay for one every month into a savings account. After a while, you have enough money to help pay for repairs of whatever breaks.

hell no! the service calls cost money(they keep raising the rates, the shysters they send out look for reasons to not fix it under one of the many daunting clauses...

save the money!

I have had a different experience. We just bought our home and got a home warranty with it. The house is only 11 years old and we have already called on it twice. The first because the brand new AC unit for upstairs stopped working in the Texas summer. They came out the next day and found that ants had shorted out the contacts and a few other electrical components. It was fixed within a few hours. While he was here is also got the warranty company to also cover a bad seal on the air handler. All of this was fixed for my service call fee.

After that one call,we were within $100 of what the warranty cost.

The second call was because we thought we had a busted pipe in our foundation. After an hours of testing the plumber found out we had a cracked toilet were the wax ring made the seal. It was slowing leaking water under the tile in our bathroom. He replaced the toilet and was on his way. After that call we are at least even with the cost of the warranty.

So if anything else happens for the next year we are covered.

Warranty = money grab

you won't want to deal with those companies either as they will drag their feet at your expense

Quote from nizzy1115 : I know someone who had it included when they bought their house. Fridge broke 3 months later. First attempt is a repair man to look at it, then another visit with parts to try and fix it. None of this happens fast mind you. Then its a waiting game to get them to approve money to find a replacement fridge, they couldn't even choose which. SO much time and waiting and with kids they said screw it after a few days and bought one. How can they expect you to go weeks without a fridge?

I agree I have mixed feelings. I had one included when I bought my house of similar age. AC coils developed a leak a month after the one I had expired. I used tax credits to upgrade to a unit I wanted and was ok with it. Sometimes I feel when they bring out the new units they choose the cheapest thing possible. Not always what you want.

I did buy a extended warranty with a fridge, washer/dryer I bought. I knew that machines today are not built like they use to be. I have had one claim in 2 years, the knob on the dryer kept falling through. The plastic console had a silly design all in plastic to hold the knob and it broke. Repair came out, took forever tapped it up and ordered me a new console. New console (Just a plastic decorative piece basically was $315, + 2 service calls and I was up to about $500 in bills. All covered. If it was not covered I would of went with it just taped but for $500 I could of bought a new one too. Ridiculous.

2 coworkers have moved this year. Both got good use of their new home warranty. Water heater for both, and an AC unit for the other. So it paid for them for sure.

So on a new home (not age but new to you) I think its worth it for the first year or so. In your case your home is of the age the AC unit is probably going to kick the bucket. I would think about carrying it just for that (A local HVAC company might offer a policy just for that piece) for the rest of your stuff probably not worth the 3rd party stuff

for those of you who like their home warranty, what companies did you use?

thanks for the responses. I'm thinking about convincing my wife to go for the "fund our own home warranty" route.

Quote from Serus : I had one with the purchase of our home years ago. After it expired, and to this day, I still get notices to renew it. I personally don't think it's worth it. They won't cover the "normal" replacement of items will they? We purchased a 17 year old house as well. Most everything had a 20 year life span, so we've had to replace the fence, siding, water heater, roof, carpeting, a couple of leaky pipes, torsion springs on the garage door, and the furnace/AC control board recently went out. The control board we replaced ourselves for $100. The garage door springs already were relatively easy to replace at about $70, as opposed to a few hundred to have someone come out and do it. I doubt the insurance company would replace stuff that is expected to need replacing due to normal wear and tear. Honestly, just use YouTube. It's awesome for home repair, and you learn a new skill, and you save a bundle.

from what i understand, this is home warranty, not insurance. so, they will replace things for you even with regular end-of-life type issues where the thing is just so old, it dies (i'll have to read fine print to confirm).
the only issue becomes, they replace it with the cheapest thing possible (though I've read that you can put more of your own money in to get something better - how much? no clue).

Quote from attgig : for those of you who like their home warranty, what companies did you use? thanks for the responses. I'm thinking about convincing my wife to go for the "fund our own home warranty" route. from what i understand, this is home warranty, not insurance. so, they will replace things for you even with regular end-of-life type issues where the thing is just so old, it dies (i'll have to read fine print to confirm). the only issue becomes, they replace it with the cheapest thing possible (though I've read that you can put more of your own money in to get something better - how much? no clue).

Home warranties are not worth the paper they're written on. Do not buy one.

For six years in a row and counting, home warranty companies have topped a list of the most complained about companies in America out of 500 different categories tracked by AngiesList.com.

Instead, simply self-insure for any repairs that my need to be made. You'll save yourself plenty of money and headaches. I sure hope your able to convince your wife to stay away from this rip-off.