This website is about home warranty insurance reviews ratings and intends to assist buyers with choosing the right home warranty policy and provider. When I was shopping for home warranty, I could not find any website that would help me make an informed decision, so I decided to build one myself to help everyone else. This is work in progress. Please provide your feedback and report any inaccuracies.
What is Home Warranty?
Home Warranty is like insuring the appliances at your house. When appliances or systems breakdown, the insurance company repairs or replaces the equipment. In most cases, newer homes do not require home warranty, because appliances are not likely to replaced and the total cost of all minor repairs is going to be less than the cost of buying home warranty, in a given year.
The Good
-
You are buying piece of mind. If a major appliance/system needs to be replaced, someone else pays the bill
-
Whenever you need a repair service, you just call home warranty company and pay your flat deductible amount (generally around $50), no matter how many hours it would take to fix the system.
-
When you sell the house, the buyer will be happy to know that your appliances are insured, since the warranty will be carried over to the new owner.
Bad
-
You will pay a deductible in the range of 50 to 100 dollars, per repair incident
-
Most companies do not allow you to report multiple problems under one incident, so you will deductible for each repair. So, if you have a minor plumbing issue and a minor electrical repair the same day, you will pay deductible twice! In some cases you are better off by not involving home warranty company.
-
You will pay insurance premium anywhere from 500 to 1000 dollars per year. If you are not likely to need system replacements, you can save money by hiring contractors directly
And the Ugly ...
-
Many consumers have had bad experiences dealing with the claim processing. Insurance companies use some small print clauses to get away without helping you when the project expenses run high. The most common complaint is that the insurance company rejects your claims when they decide that you have not maintained the equipment properly.
-
Home warranty companies will always try to repair, not to replace the system. That means you will have to live with the inefficiencies of the old system, plus you keep paying deductibles every time it needs a repair.
Always remember, most of the contracts do not cover system or appliance failures due to lack of maintenance
It is difficult to chose the best warranty company, because most buyers do not have great opinion about any one company in particular. As you can see below, most of our website visitors have provided a rating of 3 or below (out of 5.) Visit Buyer's Guide section to learn more about making choosing the right policy.
Top Home Warranty Company Ratings (sorted alphabetically)
|
Company Name |
Coverage Effective |
Yearly Base Premium (approx.) |
Deductible | Service Rating |
| 2-10 Home Buyers Warranty | Depends on the policy | $390 | $30-75 | |
| Effective immediately | $400 | $45 | ||
| Aon Warranty Group |
30 days from purchase date |
$400 | $50 | |
| Fidelity National Warranty* | Effective upon payment receipt | $330 | $50 | |
| First American Home Warranty | Effective upon payment receipt | $355 | $55 | |
| GE Home Warranty | 30 days from purchase date | $429 | $50 | |
| HMS National |
30 days after you buy warranty |
$360-400 | $100 | |
| Home Warranty of America | $405 | $50 | ||
| HSA Home Warranty | $320-430 | $50-75 | ||
| Liberty Home Protection | Buyer can choose | $280-550; Flexible plan and pricing; some plans cover home office equipments | $50-75 | |
| Mutual Home Warranty * |
Effective immediately |
$500 (~$100 discount maybe available) |
$45 | |
|
$250-350 first year |
$50 | |||
| Total Protect | 30 days from purchase date | $350 | $60 |
Notes and Disclaimers
- The Service Rating survey is collected from visitors of this website. Anyone can rate the service by clicking stars in the table above.
- This
is not an extensive list of providers. Please check your local listing
for a complete coverage. The following site may help you find the
providers in your state: www.homewarrantydirectory.com
- Premium and deductible pricing info was taken from internet resources and maybe outdated. Please call insurance provides for latest pricing info
- Neither do we get comission from the providers when you click the links, nor do we endorse them in anyway.
* Nationwide coverage not available
More to come on this site
Tips for buying home warranty
Help me improve the usefulness of this site. Your suggestions most welcome!
Number of visitors since Jan 2007: