Comments on: Home Warranties – To renew or not to renew?

By: Home Warranty Advisor

Home Warranty Advisor — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:14:26 +0000

My wife and I chose to renew our home warranty after it expired and we are so glad we did. We took stock of the possible things that could go wrong and it just made sense, for us, to renew. I suggest you do the same, as it will most likely end up saving you a lot of money in the long run.

By: philip

philip — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 15:55:34 +0000

I have the home warranty that I got for the first year after buying the house. So far I have not used it,and I doubt that I will renew it, I just don’t see the value. The things they push are like getting your a/c checked and such, and I have coupons to do it for less than their fee to have someone come out.

I am about to need a new water heater, but I would just assume pick the one that I want, not have them pick the cheapest one they can get and then I am stuck with a crappy water heater.

I would lump these in with extended warranties on stuff you buy at the store, and I don’t ever buy those either. They also have written in many different ways they can get out of paying anything at all to you even if something does happen, it seems closer to a scam to me.

By: Thankful

Thankful — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 23:25:35 +0000

@J. Money: Your good wishes must have helped–the HVAC guy fiddled with the circuit board in the furnace, apparently the fan wasn’t turning on. We’re back up and running now, with the only costs being a service visit fee, and probably a higher gas bill for this month since the furnace was producing heat that couldn’t be properly distributed. Good luck with your decision!

By: Clever Dude

Clever Dude — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:26:33 +0000

@Jerry, no, it’s not the same. A home warranty is like the extended warranty on your car. You pay extra for it and it covers things that go wrong inside your house. Home insurance protects you from things like fire, theft, flood damage, etc, much like car insurance.

By: Jerry

Jerry — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:22:54 +0000

Ok, home warranty? Is this the same as homeowner’s insurance? If so, I definitely recommend renewing. We had a severe storm that required replacing our roof to the tune of $10,000. If we didn’t have the insurance, we’d be up a creek. It was good because we had a new roof when we were selling our house.

Jerry
http://www.leads4insurance.com

By: Danielle

Danielle — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 20:18:29 +0000

For us our emergency fund really only has 2 purposes… if one or both of us lose our jobs, and if there is a large medical bill. So I recommend setting up a fund separate from your general emergency fund for house maintenance and repairs… funnel about $50 a month into it (or more) and when something happens you have that money there.

We built a new home and have had 1 such emergency in 4 years, the water heater stopped working, so take into account the age of your home too.

By: J. Money

J. Money — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:44:16 +0000

Thx for all the info!!! It’s def. a hard one, that’s for sure If only we could look into a crystal ball, eh?

@Michelle – SUCKS about that hole…the odds? We bought our townhouse in the summer, and the inspector DID find issues up there (thank goodness). The sellers replaced the whole roof for us, which was about the only GOOD thing about us buying right as home prices were going down the toilet…

@Karen – I think that’s smart in your case w/ the old house ours is 20 years old and for the most part pretty okay. we’ve actually gone through 2 dryers ourselves in 2 years, but Craigslist hooked us up super cheap, so that worked out.

@Thankful – OH man, i surely hope so!!! I’ll send over a prayer for ya.

By: Thankful

Thankful — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:03:56 +0000

We just went through the same decision, and didn’t renew–they had raised the annual premium and the cost of a service visit quite considerably. While we don’t really have a big emergency fund, all the major systems in our house are pretty new, and we decided to gamble. It expired Oct. 31 and incidentally, our thermostat is stuck at 66 degrees, so the HVAC person is coming out today. Fingers crossed we made the right decision. I posted about how we made the decision on my blog–check it out if you’re interested!

By: Karen

Karen — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:43:58 +0000

We’ve renewed our warranty twice now at just under $500 for the year because things just keep happening in a 60-year-old house. First the 2-year-old refrigerator died and they spent $1,200 in parts and labor to fix it once all was said and done. It would have been more convenient to replace it, but either way, it paid for itself that year.
And then this past year the motor in our clothes dryer stopped working and they replaced it. I think the estimate was at least $500 in parts and labor.
Our boiler is also going on 30 years old, so we’re just renewing it and considering it a kind of insurance. Just in case! Probably not the smartest thing to do, but the peace of mind has been worth it.

By: michelle

michelle — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:31:10 +0000

I completely agree with your decision NOT to renew.

The realtor selling our house offered a warranty, and it isn’t worth anything. I realize they vary from policy to policy, but the likelihood that three covered events would happen in one year is pretty high.

Our roof had a hole in it we were not aware of (purchased in the winter, 2 story, snow on it, inspector could not see the hole due to the snow). There was no doubt it was there when we purchased. But our home warranty was going to charge $150 just to send someone out, then they would only pay up to $350 for repairs. An independent estimate suggested the repair would cost, at minimum, $700. We went through our own estimates and had it done without calling warranty people. Who’s to say they will be the cheapest, another contractor bid over $1,000, which if they were chosen by the warranty would have eaten up the amount paid by the warranty firm.

Just try to put money away for repairs and replacements. good idea.