How a Home Warranty Saves you Money
How a Home Warranty Saves You Money
If you’ve recently purchased a home, chances are that you’re looking for a few different ways to save money. It also likely means that if a huge, unexpected expense were to come along, you’d have to scramble in order to find a way to make ends meet.
Having a home warranty can save you money, and even better, protects your budget from unexpected circumstances. Home warranty providers such as American Home Protect do this by covering your appliances and home systems against natural wear and tear. And should anything ever break, we’ll repair or replace it for far less than it would cost to buy a new appliance or hire a technician yourself.
But those aren’t the only ways that a home warranty can help you maintain your budget. We’ll show you how a home warranty saves you money and take a look at how these policies work in the following sections:
What is a Home Warranty?
A home warranty is a service that covers your appliances and home systems in the event that they ever break down and need to be repaired or replaced.
While a home warranty may sound similar to a homeowners’ insurance policy, they are actually quite different. Homeowner’s insurance covers the home itself and protects against things like natural disasters and vandalism. A home warranty, on the other hand, doesn’t cover your house, but rather your major appliances and home systems. Another difference is that homeowner’s insurance won’t cover normal wear and tear, but a home warranty protects your home systems and appliances from issues arising from proper normal use.
Some examples of items that are covered by a home warranty include:
Kitchen refrigerator
Dishwasher
Cooking range
Washers and dryers
Water heaters
Electrical systems
Central heating systems
Central air conditioning
How Do Home Warranties Work?
As mentioned above, home warranties cover items against breakages due to proper use-related wear and tear. When an item breaks, you’ll report it to your home warranty company as soon as you notice the issue, and then discontinue your use of the item.
Next, the company will start a claim and send a technician out to diagnose and repair the issue. At this point, one of three things can happen:
The technician diagnoses the issue and is able to repair it. In some cases, they may have to return at a later date with specialized parts if those are required.
The technician determines that the issue was not due to wear and tear and is not covered by the home warranty. This is unlikely, but a possible outcome.
The technician determines that the issue was due to wear and tear, but it is not feasible to repair. Should this happen, you will receive a replacement appliance. The appliance you receive will depend on the appliance that broke, and also your coverage terms.
Once any of these three things have happened, your home warranty company will contact you to see if you need any further assistance. If you do not, the claim will then be closed.
3 Ways a Home Warranty Can Save You Money
A home warranty can save you money in a variety of ways. A few of these may surprise you even if you are familiar with how home warranties work. Here are three different ways that a home warranty can help you save money:
1. Save on Home System Repairs and Replacements
This is one of the most notable ways that you can save money with a home warranty. Replacing home systems like central air, heat or electrical systems can be extremely costly. A home warranty plan can cover that entire cost, turning a year-altering breakdown into a minor inconvenience.
2. Save on Appliance Repairs and Replacements
While not quite as costly as home system issues, a broken appliance can be costly to repair, and absurdly expensive to replace. If your appliances are covered by a home warranty, fixing them is as simple as making a call to your provider, and is destined to be cheaper than hiring someone yourself.
3. Also Save with Handyman Services
Handyman services aren’t offered by every home warranty company, but at American Home Protect, all of our customers have access to affordable handyman services. These services are available at a great price and can be used to clear brush, hang a door or install a new sink for a fraction of what it would cost to hire a handyman yourself.
Home Warranty FAQs
What is the best way to use a home warranty?
While everyone has different opinions on how to best do anything, we believe that the best way to use a home warranty is to take advantage of all its benefits. This way, you can rely on the peace of mind the standard coverage provides, while still receiving useful benefits from things like handyman services.
What does a home warranty policy protect against?
A home warranty policy protects against the breakage of appliances and home systems due to natural wear and tear.
How many years is a home warranty good for?
Most home warranty policies last for about a year. However, at American Home Protect we offer a three-year home warranty policy that can help you spread the cost of your policy over a greater length of time and reduce the chance of an unintentional policy lapse.
Is a home warranty a waste of money?
No, a home warranty is not a waste of money. While there is always the potential of a home warranty policy going unused, that still is not a waste of money. A good way to think of it is to imagine that you have car insurance for a year and never crash. You likely wouldn’t consider the car insurance a waste of money even if you never drew a claim on the coverage.
Additionally, that’s one reason we added access to affordable handyman services — to ensure that everyone has a chance to experience benefits from their coverage.
Are home warranties worth it?
Yes, a home warranty can absolutely be worth it. While you may be thinking about the costs of the home warranty, it’s more helpful to think of the costs of not having one. The expense of replacing a central air conditioning unit on your own likely exceeds the cost of your coverage. And unlike a home warranty, which has its cost spread out over monthly increments, an appliance or home system breakdown expense hits all at once and can seriously disrupt your budget.
Save Money with a Home Warranty Today
Now that you know how a home warranty can save you money, you have all the information you need to decide whether or not a home warranty is for you. If you’d like to save money using a home warranty, we can help! Get a free quote today to see how a home warranty from American Home Protect can help you stabilize your budget and defend against unexpected events.