Are you considering purchasing a home that offers a home warranty? Here are two reasons why I suggest not using home warranties, even if one is included with your home purchase.
Disclaimer: This blog post reflects my personal opinions and experiences and should not be taken as financial advice; I am not liable for any financial decisions made based on this content.
Our Experience with Home Warranties
Quick note here before we get into our experiences, a home warranty is different than home insurance. I highly recommend homeowners insurance and renters insurance.
A home warranty, on the other hand, is just for certain appliances or utilities within your home. That’s what I’m talking about in this post.
Our First Home Warranty Experience
Ten years ago my husband and I purchased our first home and it came with a home warranty. As new homeowners we were excited by this extra layer of protection.
However, within a few months of moving in, our air conditioning unit started to leak into our furnace and onto the floor of our utility room. We called the Home Warranty company and they suggested an HVAC company for us to call to check it out. The HVAC company came and told us that not only did we have a crack in the drain pan of the air conditioner that was leaking onto the floor, it was also leaking into the furnace and could cause more damage.
We also learned that the carbon monoxide levels of our furnace were at a dangerous level that we should have replaced, especially before having children. The HVAC worker called the home warranty company and told them this information.
The home warranty company told us they’d compensate us $515 for it. That’s it.
We paid $8,904 out of pocket for a new furnace and air conditioner and the home warranty company sent us a check for $515. Ugh…
Our Second Home Warranty Experience
Five years later, we moved to our forever home about 20 minutes away from where the first one was.
Being jaded by our first experience with home warranty companies, we didn’t care of this home included one or not. The seller did throw one in so we accepted.
Months later, we went downstairs to find the carpet of our finished basement was wet, our water heater had been leaking. We called the home warranty company who then told us who we could call for repair.
The company who was sent out was sub par, at best.
The man told us that it did need to be replaced and he’d tell the home warranty company that, that was the good news. From what I remember that was actually covered by the home warranty company and luckily the flooding wasn’t too bad so we were able to dry out the carpet and things were fine.
Here’s where things got weird.
We asked him about our water softener as we weren’t sure if it was working correctly. He said, he couldn’t touch it now because he was only called out for the water heater but instructed us to call the home warranty company again and tell them that we need him to come look at it and when they allow that then he’ll say it needs to be replaced.
Note that at this point he hadn’t tested anything or checked it out he just gave a blanket statement that he’d tell them it needed to be repaired and he’d get hired for the job.
This seemed odd but we wanted to know if it was actually working or not so we contacted the home warranty company and told them we also had concerns about our water softener.
We had to pay another $75 to have someone come out and that person, not the original guy or company who was replacing the water heater, came out and said it was fine. So, that was a waste of money but at least we knew it was working, at least for the one sink they tested which was closest to the water softener (we now know to have water tested further away from the water softener as it does vary within our home).
All that said, the guy who the Home Warranty company had us go with for the water heater was obviously a shady character and just wanted more business from the home insurance company, which they weren’t going to give him.
That’s one bad thing about not being able to pick your own company.
When the installer of the company with the shady guy came to replace the water heater, he reeked of cigarette smoke to the point it stunk up our whole home, which was especially concerning with twin toddlers in the home and a 3 year old, plus me with my asthma. Not good for any of us to be around cigarette smoke, even really stale smoke. He also looked quite disheveled and like he hadn’t showered in a week.
Beyond personal hygiene, the most concerning thing was he couldn’t even answer a simple question about a kitchen faucet that kept dripping no matter what we tried. He just didn’t seem to know what was going on, and this was the guy who we were trusting to work with the gas line in our home while the kids and I were home. Ugh. Also, while he was bringing the water heater into the house he dinged a wall on the main floor and in the basement by running the water heater into it. We had to fix that later on our own.
The whole thing was so odd and it’s frustrating that we had to go through that particular company when they were obviously subpar and shady. I would have rather paid out of pocket to have it repaired had I known the whole experience would be like that.
All in all, yes, that particular home warranty company DID actually cover the costs in full for the replacement of the obviously leaking water heater, so I guess that was good…
Final Takeaway
My final takeaway, home warranties aren’t worth it.
You’re better off putting money away each month into a savings account to save for future home repairs and have the ability to get quotes from quality businesses you’ll feel comfortable working with.
It’s great to know that you’ve done your homework and picked the company that you trust and feel will be best for the job. Obviously, we didn’t pay for more time with the home warranty and since then we’ve been glad to do our due diligence when researching companies to work on our home.
Throughout my parenting journey with 3 kids on a single income, I have become an expert in living comfortably within our means without feeling restricted and I will help you do the same.
I'm a former school psychologist who left my career to stay home with my children, hence the one-income family and needing to adapt to that mentality while still living comfortably.