What Is Home Repair Insurance?
Home repair insurance is meant to provide peace of mind when important items malfunction and cover the cost of expensive repairs and replacements. Unlike homeowners insurance, home repair insurance—also called a home warranty or home protection plan—covers major systems and appliances that break down from everyday wear and tear.
Below, we’ll give an overview of the best home warranty companies in the industry, break down the benefits of home repair insurance, and provide details on typical costs and coverage.
Top Home Repair Insurance Companies
Here are four of the best home warranty companies in the industry for their comprehensive coverage, affordable pricing, and excellent customer service. We recommend getting a quote from all four providers to help you find the best plan at the most affordable cost to you.
What Is Home Repair Insurance?
Home repair insurance is an annual service contract that includes coverage for major systems and appliances in the home when they break down due to normal wear and tear. It’s an additional form of protection for important home items if they unexpectedly stop working, and you don’t have an emergency budget to cover costs.
When you work with a home warranty provider, you also get the benefit of a built-in network of contractors who are pre-screened and trained to provide the necessary repairs and replacements to fix your broken items. This is a huge time-saver, preventing you from having to call multiple contractors in your area on your own and trying to weed out the best one for the job.
Types of Home Repair Insurance Plans
There are three common types of home warranty plans: an appliances plan, a systems plan, and a combination plan. In addition to these plans, home warranty companies will typically provide optional add-on coverage for items like a swimming pool, septic system, well pump, and roof leaks.
An appliances plan usually covers basic home appliances, such as your refrigerator, range, cooktop, oven, garage door openers, and your clothes washer and dryer. A systems plan will cover most major systems in your home, from your electrical system to your heating system. A combo plan protects systems and appliances, making it a good choice for homeowners who want comprehensive coverage of all major home items.
Here’s a quick breakdown of the appliances and systems you can expect to find covered under each plan:
Home Warranty Coverage
| Systems | Appliances | Combo |
|---|---|---|
|
Air conditioning |
Refrigerator |
Ductwork |
|
Heating |
Dishwasher |
Electrical |
|
Electrical |
Oven |
Air conditioning |
|
Plumbing |
Stove |
Heating |
|
Ductwork |
Range |
Plumbing |
|
Garage door opener |
Built-in microwave |
Refrigerator |
|
Trash compactor |
Garbage disposal |
Garbage disposals |
|
Freestanding ice maker |
Clothes washer |
Ceiling fans |
|
Built-in food center |
Clothes dryer |
Built-in microwave |
In general, a home warranty doesn’t cover pre-existing conditions or breakdowns that occur from improper maintenance or improper installation. This type of insurance also doesn’t cover the following:
- Rust and corrosion
- Unusual wear and tear
- Damage caused by natural disasters or environmental harm, including fires, floods, etc.
- Improper installation or maintenance
- Code violations
- Commercial-grade appliances
If you’re looking for comprehensive coverage, American Home Shield offers ShieldPlatinum™, ShieldGold™, and ShieldSilver™. Its ShieldPlatinum plan is the most comprehensive, covering 23 essential systems and appliances.
Get a free quote from AHS by calling 844-529-9298 or by filling out this quick online form.
How Much Does Home Repair Insurance Cost?
On average, home repair insurance costs between $300 and $600 per year. On top of this amount, customers will have to pay a service fee whenever a contractor comes to fix a broken system or appliance. Service fees typically range between $60 and $125. In some cases, like with American Home Shield, you can choose your service fee (between $75 and $125) and opt for a higher one to lower your monthly home warranty cost.
When shopping for home repair insurance, these are the cost factors to pay attention to:
- Monthly or annual fee (that this may increase with optional add-ons to your plan)
- Service call fee, which varies depending on the provider
- Coverage caps on certain systems and appliances
Our team has noticed that home warranty companies will adjust their plan pricing depending on the size of your home, the plan you choose, and where you live, so use our general cost estimates as a guide, but confirm them with each provider based on your zip code.
We recommend getting at least three quotes from different home warranty providers, then asking your favorite company to match the best offer you received—by doing this, you may shave some money off of your monthly premium and may even get one to two months off your overall payment.
How Does a Home Warranty Work?
Once you sign a basic service contract that outlines the terms and conditions, coverage options, and fees, and your coverage kicks in (typically 30 days after an agreement is signed), this is how a home warranty would work if a covered item in your home broke down:
- File a claim online or over the phone. Companies like American Home Shield have customer service teams that field service requests 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
- Once the claim is processed, the company will send a certified, pre-screened technician to your home within 48 hours to evaluate the problem and determine if a repair or replacement is needed. Companies like America’s First Choice Home Club allow customers to choose a service technician to complete the repair work for them.
- Every time a claim is fulfilled and a technician comes to your house, you’ll pay the set service call fee determined by your home warranty provider.
How to Choose the Best Home Warranty
Before buying a home warranty, there are a few factors to consider, such as coverage, price, and how the claims process works. We recommend reading a sample contract before signing up for coverage so you know exactly what is and isn’t covered. All covered items should be listed in the sample agreement, outlining coverage caps, total costs, and the process for claims requests.
If you want to learn more about the home warranty companies we recommend, read our in-depth company reviews:
Our Rating Methodology
The This Old House Reviews Team backs up our home warranty ratings and recommendations with a detailed rating methodology to objectively score each provider. We conduct research by speaking with company representatives, requesting quotes, analyzing sample contracts from each company, and conducting focus groups and consumer surveys. We then score each provider against our review standards for coverage, value, trustworthiness and transparency, availability, and customer service to arrive at a final score out of 100.
To share feedback or ask a question about this article, send a note to our Reviews Team at reviews@thisoldhousereviews.com.