I want to buy a warranty policy to cover the appliances etc at my rent house. I've heard of American Home Shield, but I've also heard they are a bit horsey about paying claims. What other companies should I consider?
Looking for recommendations and personal experience.
Rex B
None. Put some money in the bank and you will come out thousands of dollars ahead over the years.
Home warranty companies do just that. They take your premiums,and spend less than they take in to make a profit. They use the cheapest materials and labor to fix your problem as cheaply as possible. I've owned homes for the past 40 years. If I had a home warranty all those years and paid premiums, I'd be out thousands of dollars compared to what I've had to spend out of pocket. Better the money should be in my pocket than theirs.
Do a Google search on this newsgroup and you will find may negatives and people that have had problems with home warranty companies. Just not worth it.
Ripoff, Sears offered stuff like this, for way too much money.
each year replace something, with the $ you would of spent on insurance.
it keeps your home looking fresh, and prevents a bad day when a lot breaks together...
Paying for extended warranties on most things is a poor choice. You are much better to self insure, as Edwin suggested. There have been plenty of posts here over the years of folks having all sorts of problems trying to get repairs made or collect on warranties after paying premiums for years.
My recommendation is to do it yourself. Put the money in the bank and use it if you need it.
The only thing worse are the extended automotive policies and the ones they sell when you are buying an appliance.
Over 50% of what you pay immediately goes to pay the store and salesman. (maybe closer to 40% for the whole home policies) So on average you are going to get 50% or less back. Also the policies are written to same the insurance company (they are not really warranties) money by not paying for common or expensive items and or limiting repairs to the minimum and often poor contractors.
Do yourself a favor and skip this idea.
I agree with all of the posters, wholeheartedly, having had to sell those warranties for years. Plus, I think you'll find that they usually are not available for rental units...too much chance the company might have to pay a claim. I know Sears "Maintenance Agreements" or whatever they now call them, only covered appliances in single family residences. A landlord wasn't allowed to purchase them, although the salesmen sometimes sold them to meet their quotas, knowing full well that when and if the landlord scheduled a service call the service tech would not honor the agreement and would refund the purchase price of same. Of course, by then the salesman had met his quota, got paid, and made his supervisor happy. Being honest, seldom made the supervisor happy..go figure.
Tom G.
i sold a rental home recently. Many folks have a BAD attitude about being a landlord:(
The common idea is spend nothing, give the tenant zip and basically be greedy wring every last dime out of the property.
This ignores some VERY important issues. A good tenant is a happy tenant
wheen they get unhappy they tend to leave, and then you MUST fix up the place anyway, its really cheaper to invest some back in the property, after all its YOURS you own it. Less churn people moving in and out saves you bucks and tons of hassles. the NEXT tenant might be a really bad pay, run drugs, any number of terrible troubles...
Now if you spend a little on a ongoing basis, then a vacancy wouldnt be a complete disaster, sure paint and clean but hopefully not replace EVERYTHING in the home.
It bugs me when I hear people save give them nothing, because thats how they had been treated in the past. as a landlord we are responsible for the property and should within reason care for it....
rant over.....
anyhow get a plan each year replace something major, mark each one with put in service date. My approach may mean you dont get the last day from your hot water tank but replacing them say every 10 years means I get to pick the time and date of the job. better than replacing one christmas eve when they have a housefull of guersts and I have a family party out of town........
much better investment than wasting money on insurance, plus the building is kept up to date
Wasn't thrilled with said company when we had them. They have so many exclusions on the contract (no hose bibs, no mold, no plumbing/burst pipes, etc.) and when we called them on something that should have been covered, we got flack because the unit hadn't been maintained. It should be noted that our complaint was electrical in nature concerning the power to the A/C - yet they wouldn't cover it because our evaporator coils hadn't been sufficiently cleaned (note - we had only been there a few months). And at that point they refused to cover anything A/C related until we paid $400+ to have the evaporator coils cleaned.
My parents also utilize said company, they seem to like them but have run into problems where an unrelated problem prevents them from attending to the real problem. For example, the water heater failed but they refused to replace it because something connecting to it was out of code (i.e. pay $$$ to get the wiring or plumbing up to code before we cover it).
We found that the benefits didn't warrant the cost. Personally I'd like to see the home warranty companies forced to cover these systems regardless of how well they were maintained - place the burden of inspecting systems on those companies so the warranties are actually worth something. :)
-- gorf
Put the money in the bank. Or if really desparate to waste it, paypal it to me.
Art Paypal. sent. When can you come by and replace the garbage disposal?
Rex
Art wrote:
These companies are rip-off artists. What good are insurance companies who won't settle quickly then give you the cheapest replacement? Best to create your own insurance by keeping $1000 in an interest bearing money market account.
you know the home warranty companies dont even LOOK at the home before insuring it, since they know they have so many exclusions and rules they are safe
consumer rip-offs such as this only illustrate how hosed up our government (specifically DOJ) was when they prosecuted a huge case against Microsoft.
In the name of "protecting" consumers.
Well, I feel so happy I was protected from buying an operating system that gives me a choice of removing the browser ! hooray.
Meanwhile, AHS is happily ripping off people left & right & doing more damage to consumers than the imaginary damage DOJ claimed Microsoft perpetrated on all of us.
Select the coverage and company you want.......... Whats the charge?
Then put that many bucks in a special account each year:) use funds only for fixing stuff
after 10 years take a hawaii cruise:)
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