How to Know if a Home Warranty is Right for You

A home warranty is a service contract to cover certain inspections and repairs for your residence. What’s covered varies from one home warranty to another, so consider what you want protected and which warranty provides this type of service coverage.

A Home Warranty Differs from a Home Insurance Policy

It’s important to understand that a home insurance policy is different to a home warranty. With the former, the insurance protects against the building and its contents. They could be damaged due to a flood or a storm, a theft, or through fire damage with the insurer able to receive a claim for compensation for the value lost or damages incurred.

A home warranty focuses on what’s gone wrong at home that needs fixing and is covered under the warranty agreement.

Home Warranty vs Enhanced Product Warranty

Many consumers purchase products and are offered an enhanced warranty. This goes beyond the limited product warranty that comes with purchase. It not only extends the length of the product’s warranty but sometimes adds additional benefits in different ways to make it more attractive too.

A home warranty covers many different systems and products in the home. It’s far more comprehensive than a collection of expensive extended warranty plans for certain products. There’s no need to keep track of a multitude of products and when each product warranty expires, or then pursue a new enhanced warranty agreement.

The More Systems, the Greater Need for a Home Warranty

Whether it’s the electrical system, the water heater acting up, some plumbing issue in the upstairs restroom, or the cooking range not igniting the first time it’s turned on, you never know what’s going to go wrong or when.

With the increased number of appliances and complex systems, it’s difficult to know someone who can fix all the different potential issues. Then you’re left struggling to find a person nearby who’s recommended and has the skills to resolve the issue at an affordable price.

When you choose to get a home warranty from a company like AHS, you’ll find they have a recommended list of contractors who can attend the home and get to work quickly on resolving the latest issue. AHS has been serving Michigan area residents for decades, so they know what the most common problems are. This is especially true when it comes to seasonal problems; the colder winters in Michigan make burst water pipes a common concern, for example.

Is It a One Price Deal?

Usually there is a fixed monthly or yearly price for the home warranty. Then, depending on the contractor who’s called out to work on a problem, there’s also a call out fee to pay as well. What the charges are differs from company to company, so make sure you get a home warranty that you’ll be happy to own.

Whilst the combination of fees may seem strange at first, the idea is to provide a comprehensive plan for when something goes wrong in your home. When something goes wrong, you know exactly which organization to get in touch with and they know what to do. There’s no panicking necessary. Also, the separate call out fee avoids time-waster calls which would otherwise unfairly push up the home warranty cost for other customers.

For busy homeowners who don’t want to try to maintain a list of local contractors who will come out to fix separate issues with the heater, electrical system, or plumbing issues, taking up a home warranty makes sense. It’s inevitable that things will go wrong eventually. Just having people to reach out to who’ll know what to do next provides peace of mind. Especially if you’re not great with a spanner or know how to fix things at home.

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