Home Warranties

[Masshole Horn 770]

We are a few weeks from closing on our new place.

Our realtor negotiated a concession for a home warranty. I've never had a home warranty, but I'll get one for the first year rather than lose the money.

Has anyone here used one?

Any companies to definitely avoid?

Any other questions I'm missing?

[TwiceHorn 31452]

They're all pretty meh.  They use sort of desperate contractors to do work.

That said, for smallish, annoying stuff, can be cheaper than a free-market plumber.

[boilerhorn 1375]

My experience is the same as @TwiceHorn.

Realtors commonly negotiate it as a part of a purchase.  In the scheme of the sale, sellers see it as a low cost item.  It can add peace of mind to the buyers, as it will cover appliances, plumbing, HVAC, etc - items that *could* be missed during an inspection.

The warranty companies have contracts with local contractors or repair companies.  And they can be some of the weaker or more desperate contractors, as noted.  On a property I owned, I'd request warranty service and then assess who got assigned. One time, I was given a plumber with universally bad reviews.  I canceled.  Other times, I got a "Sears Appliance Repair" service for a refrigerator problem.  One guy was incompetent.  Another guy was extremely competent.  YMMV.

In general, warranties are not a great deal for the purchaser.  The warranty company is in business to make money - not to solve every problem.  I know someone who had > $3000 in claims in his home warranty.  The home warranty company sent a notification that they would not allow a renewal.

[UTPhil2006 3807]

We usually refer out First American Home Warranty for our clients. American Home Shield is the other.  Both pretty much the same just a matter of what level you choose with them. 

[Celery Man 20935]

I’ve had them in connection with home purchases. It’s meh. I was a little annoyed the second time around with American Home Shield, it took a long time for them to fix our oven, and I just learned they used some shitty part to do it (because I just had to fix it again). Old HVACs make me nervous and so I liked it for that right after a purchase, but not so much that I considered reupping either time. American Home Shield harassed me with phone calls for a bit trying to get me to pay for another year.

[TexasCPA 102]

I am coming up on my 1 year of purchasing a home and had a home warranty as part of the purchase. I am not going to waste my own money to renew. 
 

Our AC was approaching 20 years old and broke down the beginning of summer. It needed to be replaced obviously, but since it was so old, R22, they offered me a couple thousand toward a replacement. Happy to get that, but it took them about 3 weeks to make that decision. Plus their hvac contractor was shady as hell. I took the cash out option and chose my own. 
 

So I guess I came out a little ahead, but I rather not have to deal with the process again. 

[Masshole Horn 770]

Thanks all. About what I figured.... we'll pick something, and aren't planning on renewing.

[BearSchlong 8087]

Mixed results but I keep one anyway. AHS.

Hot water heater - fixed fast
Dishwasher (Covid supply chain issues) - LG - diagnosed a faulty main board, had the part shipped to me, returned to install the part but ruled the part cost too much so took it away from me. Then they sent me a check for $900 and I bought a Bosch and installed it myself.

AC - I called a local guy who showed up in 20 mins and told me my package unit was toast (older house, all the components are in one unit). AHS had a guy out in 48 hours who stripped and reconnected some wires, swapped out the capacitor, and had me running in an hour. Very knowledgeable tech, and he saved me $10k. He drove a 1996 F150 with over a million miles and was proud that he fixes everything himself.

I think it’s a YMMV situation but for $100/month it’s worth it to me.

And I’ll never buy an appliance from a company that makes TVs.

[ChickenSandwich 9834]

American Home Shield is the worst Ive had. Down right fraud on their part and their “preferred” vendor. 
 

Liberty homeguard was fine but not worth the money. High co-pay and only willing to replace parts not labor for most repairs (plus $125 co-pay). Total rip off. 

[C-Man 27218]

They're not any good. If you're getting one for the first year of a home purchase, take it. We had one when we bought the house we're in back in 2016. In the first year, the toilet in the master bath cracked and I called American Homeshield. The contractor they sent out was sketchy/scummy as hell. He was missing a half-dozen (or more) teeth, had his smokes rolled up in his sleeve and tattoos all over. I would not have felt safe if my wife had been around to deal with this guy by himself. That said, we got a new toilet -- one of the fancy ones (forget what they're called) and only paid the service call fee, I think. I would never ever spend my own money on a home warranty thing though.

[chikin23 384]

We’ve had good luck with ours. Had an electrical, several plumbing issues, one pretty big AC issue, and some other smaller things over the years. Sounds like I’m in the minority but we’ve come out ahead so far.

[Gil Bang 25945]

On 10/15/2023 at 9:03 AM, UTPhil2006 said:

We usually refer out First American Home Warranty for our clients. American Home Shield is the other.  Both pretty much the same just a matter of what level you choose with them. 

 

On 10/16/2023 at 9:10 AM, BearSchlong said:

Mixed results but I keep one anyway. AHS.

Hot water heater - fixed fast
Dishwasher (Covid supply chain issues) - LG - diagnosed a faulty main board, had the part shipped to me, returned to install the part but ruled the part cost too much so took it away from me. Then they sent me a check for $900 and I bought a Bosch and installed it myself.

AC - I called a local guy who showed up in 20 mins and told me my package unit was toast (older house, all the components are in one unit). AHS had a guy out in 48 hours who stripped and reconnected some wires, swapped out the capacitor, and had me running in an hour. Very knowledgeable tech, and he saved me $10k. He drove a 1996 F150 with over a million miles and was proud that he fixes everything himself.

I think it’s a YMMV situation but for $100/month it’s worth it to me.

And I’ll never buy an appliance from a company that makes TVs.

As a Realtor, I prefer AHS, but my AHS rep is also terrific, and if my clients are getting jerked around, one phone call to him fixes it.   I've never ever closed a mom and pop transaction without a warranty.  Both sides.   It's a headache saver. 

[Dbeasy 15047]

Home warranties are a joke and a total waste of money. Any service needed will be bubble gum to keep it barely working until the next billing cycle. Rinse, repeat. If I’m a buyer, I would just thank the seller for the offer but take it as a $500 price concession or whatever the cost was. 

[Gil Bang 25945]

16 hours ago, Dbeasy said:

Home warranties are a joke and a total waste of money. Any service needed will be bubble gum to keep it barely working until the next billing cycle. Rinse, repeat. If I’m a buyer, I would just thank the seller for the offer but take it as a $500 price concession or whatever the cost was. 

I've had a client get a new AC condenser.  I had 2 clients get new water heaters.  I've seen a new furnace.  I've seen a pretty substantial roof repair.   My own son got a new refrigerator (actually, he got $2000 credit because of COVID supply-chain shortages). 

Any seller that doesn't provide a warranty is an idiot.  They are lawsuit-preventers.

Edited October 18, 2023 by Gil Bang

[Dbeasy 15047]

1 hour ago, Gil Bang said:

I've had a client get a new AC condenser.  I had 2 clients get new water heaters.  I've seen a new furnace.  I've seen a pretty substantial roof repair.   My own son got a new refrigerator (actually, he got $2000 credit because of COVID supply-chain shortages). 

Any seller that doesn't provide a warranty is an idiot.  They are lawsuit-preventers.

As a seller absolutely it makes sense to offer it. I was reacting from a buyer perspective. Out of a hundred people the majority would get less value from it in a year than just having the money instead. However, in thinking about your point, I think you are right that even the buyer should just take it because people today suck, and many more people today are trying to pass off defective stuff than in the past. It would be valuable to be protected to some extent from that. 

[morehornsepower 887]

We got AHS as part of a home purchase ~12 years back, and we've kept renewing it since then.  We've replaced microwaves, a dishwasher, and several water heaters.  We've gotten repairs on our HVAC multiple times.  With all of that, I'd say we are about breaking even.  I actually plan to cancel them this fall/winter though.

2 big reasons:

- you have to use their contractors for repairs, and they are never quick.  When your AC goes out in the Texas summer, 3/4/5 days of waiting for someone to even come look, just doesn't cut it.

-their coverage for AC coolant replacement is just stupid.  They pay something like $10 a pound...and the actual cost is more like $100 a pound.  The rest, lf course, comes out of my pocket.

And finally, I've just had enough of them band-aiding our AC units every summer with no thought of replacing them (regardless of how much screaming we do).  I keep thinking 'surely this will be the year that it completely dies and they have to replace it'...but it never happens.

Edited October 19, 2023 by morehornsepower
no english gooder

[Dbeasy 15047]

35 minutes ago, morehornsepower said:

We got AHS as part of a home purchase ~12 years back, and we've kept renewing it since then.  We've replaced microwaves, a dishwasher, and several water heaters.  We've gotten repairs on our HVAC multiple times.  With all of that, I'd say we are about breaking even.  I actually plan to cancel them this fall/winter though.

2 big reasons:

- you have to use their contractors for repairs, and they are never quick.  When your AC goes out in the Texas summer, 3/4/5 days of waiting for someone to even come look, just doesn't cut it.

-their coverage for AC coolant replacement is just stupid.  They pay something like $10 a pound...and the actual cost is more like $100 a pound.  The rest, lf course, comes out of my pocket.

And finally, I've just had enough of them band-aiding our AC units every summer with no thought of replacing them (regardless of how much screaming we do).  I keep thinking 'surely this will be the year that it completely dies and they have to replace it'...but it never happens.

This is exactly the business model they all use. And there is often a charge for visits, so making a bunch of visits can be a money drain. I’ve also been a past customer of AHS and had a very similar experience - maybe close to breakeven. And they never replaced the ac. They kept filling it with coolant. 

As a home buyer, buy the first year to protect against seller fraud and then dump it after a year. 

[BearSchlong 8087]

Back when I lived in SA in my McMansion we lost one of three AC units. AHS wanted to replace it with a mismatched cheap unit. On the divorce thread I’ve chronicled my ex’s insanity but she harnessed it and unleashed it on the warranty company til they replaced both inside and outside components with top of the line Trane.

What’s the statute of limitation on insurance fraud? I’ll tell that story about her one day.

[Okie State 3818]

They are absolute shit in my experience. The only covered issues we've had were plugged drains. I would never pay for one out of pocket.