On Mon, 02 Jul 2012 15:34:01 -0700, Ashton Crusher
wrote:

A friend of mine was telling me how his Home Warranty helped him pay
for a new AC unit. So I started looking into adding such a warranty
to my house. In researching companies on the web it seems that almost
all of them have dozens and dozens of complaints and reports of them
refusing to pay for repairs because of the "lack of maintenance
records", esp for any big dollar items like AC. I got "on line"
quotes from a couple of them and literally within a minute or two of
my hitting the enter key with my info my phone was ringing.

Anyone on here have any experiences? .. either as a user or doing work
for them?


Get your head straight man! Think about this for just a second. Are
these companies in business to help you or to make profit from you?

Take the premium and put it in the bank. After a few years, you'll
have enough money to repair or replace anything covered.

There are differences though, YOU get to choose the service company.
YOU get to choose the replacement unit if needed. YOU get to choose
the quality level you want. Do you want to make those choices or some
adjuster on the phone that is looking to get a big bonus this year by
saving his company money?

I've been a homeowner for 46 years. At today's rates, that means I'd
have spent over $18,000 in premiums. What would my return be? Maybe
$3000. Two years ago, I replaced my oil fired boiler. It was still
working so the home warranty company would not pay me anything, but
I'm saving enough on fuel to pay for it. I've had a couple of other
appliance repairs out of pocket.

I said $3000 because that is about what I spent to replace a couple of
appliances with top of the line stuff. The warranty company would
either repair them or give me a low end product.

I cannot think of an investment that is worse than extended warranty
or home coverage. Very few people come out ahead on them short term,
but long term, still better to bank that money.