Home Warranty Coverage – A Beginner’s Guide!
Buying your own small little abode is a dream that millions of people share! But buying a home that matches your dream and ensuring that it stays like that forever takes a little planning and some good insurance plans. Home warranty coverage, without the slightest doubt, is a very important aspect to help homeowners when they plan to buy a warranty for their home. So, if you are looking for a regular 1 year period home warranty coverage or are looking for a home warranty coverage that also insures all your home appliances and home systems, you first and fore mostly need to learn the basics of home warranty coverage. Also, in order to make sure that your contract doesn’t include any unwanted or surprising clauses, make sure you read and understand the contract carefully.
Before committing to a home warranty coverage, remember to educate yourself about the different types of home warranty plans, how they benefit you, what things does the coverage cover in your house, and more. In order to throw some light into these plans, you need to understand that there can be various home warranty plans, each covering different aspects at different costs. For instance, a $500 coverage cost may include coverage for 5 or less home systems or home appliances, while another plan that covers over a dozen of home appliances may cost $5000 per item. However, you need to consider a lot of other factors before taking your decision, such as the cost and the company reliability, in order to make sure that you choose the best coverage for your home.
What Does Your Home Warranty Coverage Include?
When you purchase a home warranty coverage, make sure that you thoroughly read the entire list of home systems and appliances that your warranty plan covers. For instance, when you buy the best available home warranty coverage plan, it doesn’t mean that the plan will cover each and every appliance in your house. You should always remember, that simply because you choose a high priced home warranty coverage, it doesn’t implement that it will provide you the best home coverage services.
Every home coverage company has its own exclusive list of items that are and are not covered by them. They also have a list for each of these items for their different parts, which of them are and are not covered by the home warranty coverage. Moreover, there is a certain coverage limit for a few home systems, which may vary from one company to another. The cap or the coverage limit is usually the maximum amount a home warranty company can pay for the repairing or in certain cases replacement of a given appliance. Hence, it is very important to learn in detail about the home warranty coverage plan you wish to choose.
What Are The Different Home Warranty Coverage Types?
Keeping customers happy is a challenge! A good home warranty company knows this little secret and offers a variety of different home warranty coverage plans to make their customers 100% satisfied. Regular home warranty coverage includes a couple of basic home systems and appliances such as air conditioning and plumbing. These typical home coverage plans are extremely popular in clients looking for a good seller’s coverage home warranty. Even renowned and top of the business realtors suggest sellers to purchase a good home warranty coverage so that it protects the house even when it is up in the market for sale. This will only help them take good care of the property and increase its value in the market for the potential buyers.
A premium home warranty coverage includes everything, right from the major home systems such as heating, plumbing, air conditioning, electric units, laundry to even your kitchen appliances. This is ideal for demanding customers who wish for home coverage plans that cover every single piece and corner of their home. In order to meet with these demands, most of the home warranty companies offer additional home insurance coverage for certain items which are otherwise not included in the premium or basic plans. The may include, central vacuum, roofing, extra refrigerators, freezers, swimming pool and also spa. For such premium and demanding customers, top-notch home warranty companies such as American Home Guard and Select Home Warranty offer some of the best home appliance coverage offers available in the market.
If used alternatively, these home warranty companies can give you complete coverage for your home systems. These companies also offer coverage plans that cover home systems and also some of the home appliances along with a few add-ons, making sure the customers are absolutely satisfied with their plans and coverage services.
What Types Of Homes Are Eligible For The Home Warranty Coverage? Do They Include Mobile Homes And Single Family Homes?
In the last century, sometime towards its second half, home warranty companies started offering coverage to only the single-family houses. But very soon, the market became saturated with the wide number of newly established home warranty companies. This only pushed the companies to start offering their customers with home warranty coverage for all the different types of houses. Townhouses were included first in the coverage list, followed by condominiums and lastly, mobile homes.
Even today, not all home warranty companies offer mobile home warranty coverage. However, in case you own a lovely mobile home, you can always enquire with the company representatives for possible mobile home warranty options. In most cases, almost all mobile home warranty companies offer the same or very similar coverage options, while there are also companies that don’t offer mobile home insurance at all. Industry leaders such as Choice Home Warranty and Total Home Protection offer coverage for air conditioning, plumbing, electrical and heating systems and also the full coverage for home appliances which may include your whirlpool bath. Here is a small detailed information about the best home warranty insurance companies, their plans and the items they cover in these plans.
Company Plan Coverage (Cap)
Choice Home Warranty
Total- Plumbing (max $500), Ductwork (max $500), Stoppages (max $500), Heating System, Air Conditioning, Refrigerator, Water Heater, Exhaust Fans, Ceiling Fan, Whirlpool Bathtub, Clothes washer, Dryer, Dishwasher, Microwave (built-in), Electrical Garbage Disposal, Garage Door Opener, Oven, Cooktop, Range, Stove.
Basic- Plumbing (max $500), Stoppages (max $500), Ductwork (max $500), Heating System, Ceiling Fan, Water Heater, Whirlpool Bathtub, Exhaust Fans, Dishwasher, Microwave(built-in), Garage Door Opener, Oven Range, Electrical Garbage Disposal, Cooktop, Stove.
Select Home Warranty
Platinum Care- Ductwork (max $500), Plumbing (max $500), Stoppages (max $500), Ceiling Fan (max $500), Clothes Dryer (max $500), Clothes Washer (max $500), Dishwasher (max $500), Built-In Microwave (max $500), Garage Door Opener (max $500), Electrical (max $500), Garbage Disposal (max $500), Oven (max $500), Range (max $500), Cooktop (max $500), Stove (max $500), Air Conditioning (max $2000), Cooling System (max $2000), Heating System (max $2000), Water Heater(max $2000), Refrigerator (max $500?)
Gold Care- Cooling System (max $500), Water Heater (max $500), Plumbing (max $500), Electrical (max $500), Air Conditioning (max $2000), Ductwork (max $2000), Heating System (max $2000)
Bronze Care- Clothes Dryer (max $500), Clothes Washer (max $500), Dishwasher (max $500), Built-In Microwave (max $500), Garbage Disposal (max $500), Oven (max $500), Range (max $500), Cooktop (max $500), Stove (max $500), Ductwork (max $500), Refrigerator (max $500)
Service Plus Home Warranty
Platinum Plumbing- (max $500), Stoppages (max $500), Whirlpool Bathtub (max $500), Electrical (max $500), Ductwork (max $500), Heating System, Air Conditioning, Refrigerator, Clothes Washer, Dryer, Water Heater, Oven Range, Cooktop Stove, Microwave (Built-In), Dishwasher, Trash Compactor, Garbage Disposal, Garage Door Opener, Exhaust Fans, Ceiling Fan.
Gold Plumbing -Ceiling Fan (max $400), Exhaust Fans (max $400), Plumbing (max $500), Stoppages (max $500), Whirlpool Bathtub (max $500), Electrical (max $500), Ductwork (max $500), Oven Range, Microwave(Built-In), Cooktop Stove, Dishwasher, Garbage Disposal, Garage Door Opener, Trash Compactor, Water Heater.
American Home Shield
Appliances- Refrigerator (max $3000), Oven, Cooktop, Range, Dishwasher, Clothes Dryer, Clothes Washer, Trash Compactor, Built-In Microwave, Free Ice Maker, Food Centers(built-in), Garage Door Opener
System- Plumbing (max $1000), Ductwork (max $1000), Air Conditioning (max $1500), Exhaust Fans, Attic Fan, Electrical, Lighting/Plumbing Fixtures, Smoke Alarms, Door Bells, Ceiling Fan, Water Heater, Stoppages, Garbage Disposal, Tankless Water Heater, Water Dispenser, Central Vacuum Hot Water Dispenser, Cold Water Dispenser
Combo-Plumbing (up to $1000), Ductwork (up to $1000), Refrigerator (up to $3000), Air Conditioning (up to $1500), Exhaust Fans, Electrical Attic Fan, Lighting/Plumbing Fixtures, Door Bells, Ceiling Fan, Smoke Alarms Stoppages, Tankless Water Heater, Water Heater, Garbage Disposal, Cold Water Dispenser, Water Dispenser, Hot Water Dispenser, Central Vacuum, Range, Oven, Cooktop, , Dishwasher Clothes Washer, Dryer, Microwave (built-in), Ice Maker, Food Centers (Built-In), Trash Compactor, Garage Door Opener.
Conclusion
In the Information above, you can easily see that American Home Shield offers you coverage plans that mostly include every item that you can think of, and also offers you the coverage for a refrigerator worth $3000. Despite this vast coverage, the limit for these items is not disclosed.
– Between all the companies that we researched and compared, American Home Guards and Select Home Warranty are the only two companies which offer you the highest coverage limits for air conditioning and the heating systems. ($2000).
– Select Home Warranty offers you the best coverage for ductwork at $2000 and American Home Shield offers a limit upto $1500 while a few other companies offer you a coverage upto just $500.
– You can also check the Landmark Home Warranty Company for its generous home appliance insurance that are mentioned under the Total Protection Plan. The limit for a washer and dryer offered is $2000 each, while a built in microwave system has a limit of $1000 by Landmark Home Warranty.
– The best basic home coverage plan was offered by the Choice Home Warranty company that covers almost every appliance such as electrical systems, heating systems, ductwork, plumbing and a few basic home appliances such as whirlpool tub and the exhaust fans.
Important Notes To Remember – Home Warranty Coverage
Finding good, reputable and trustworthy home warranty coverage is not a simple task. While a typical home coverage plan includes most of the major home appliances and home systems, there are also some warranty companies that offer plans that have small but important differences that a customer can enjoy.
A customer should make his decisions very cautiously, as you not only consider the home warranty coverage cost, but also the limits set by these warranty companies for each of the items mentioned in the list. For instance, the American Home Shield offers a coverage plan with a limit of $1000 for plumbing, while on the other hand, Total Home Protection offers a maximum limit of $500 for the same.
Home warranty plans offered by these companies, also differs for different customers. In most cases, only the most essential home appliances and home systems such as refrigerator, dish washer and oven are covered by the seller’s coverage plans. In comparison, a home buyer’s warranty offers coverage that includes a wider variety of home systems and appliances.
Most new homeowners choose a basic home warranty plan out of their lack of experience, while experienced homeowners chose a home warranty insurance coverage that includes almost all possible items in their home.
So, how to choose the best home warranty coverage?
We suggest that you take a closer look at the appliances and home systems in your house, their age, condition, and how often do they need a repair, also the cost of repairing.
If you are adamantly looking forward to finding the best home warranty that covers your pool, you can check our research details about the cost and effectiveness of pool warranties. The data will surely give you an insight about the home warranty coverage plans and help you choose the best warranty, based on the type of pool you have in your beautiful house.
Check the Home Maintenance Calculator we developed to aid you in deciding whether you need or do not need a home warranty for your home. Simply enter the age of the house and the number of repairs it has sustained every year to get a proper comparison between the maintenance cost and the home warranty cost.
In some cases, buying a home warranty insurance proves to be more sensible, especially if your house is more than 10 years old and requires minimum 5 repairs every year. However, for newly constructed houses with not many repairs needed, a good home warranty may seem more expensive as compared to the small maintenance expenses made directly from your pocket.
In order to provide you the best home warranty coverage plans, our editorial team has given you an unbiased, comparative review, measuring every detail offered by all our listed companies, which includes, pricing, claim policy, accessibility, trustworthiness, coverage, Terms and Conditions and also client feedback. The quality and parameters covered by them, are all measured as per the industry standards.
