What is a home warranty policy?
A home warranty plan is an annual or monthly service contract that covers the repairing or replacing of critical home appliances and systems for a specific tenure. As a buyer, you have to comply with the maintenance schedule verified by routine inspection from the contract date.
In the US, a home warranty is not treated as a legal warranty, rather it’s a home service that covers most of the components of a house that include appliances and systems.
How does a home warranty work?
Buying a home is one of the crucial investments that people make in their lives. the truth is that the maintenance history of a home may not be well familiar to the buyers. A lot of property owner often ignores the job of home servicing. A home warranty plan eliminates the time constraints and high cost of servicing a home before its acquisition. As a homeowner, you should check the contract thoroughly to know about the coverages and exclusions. Some home warranty companies may charge you an additional amount for periodic maintenance.
It’s time to know about the home warranty companies:
A home warranty plan meets the costs required to maintain the functionality of household appliances and systems. You can purchase additional coverage for items that are not included in your home warranty plan. These additional coverages are known as add-ons and they include automatic garage doors, swimming pools, spans, automatic garage doors, roof leakage, garbage disposal, etc.
Always remember that your home warranty company may deny your service claim for items that have not been maintained properly or with pre-existing conditions. This is the reason why you should make sure that you maintain home appliances and systems properly.
Filing a home warranty service claim:
If any of your covered items wear down due to regular usage, you need to file a service claim to your home warranty company online or call them. The home warranty company will send a professional repair executive from their network to your doorstep to inspect the issue. Based on the diagnosis, the service professional would repair or replace the faulty component. In return, you have to pay a small service fee called the deductible. Usually, the deductible amount ranges between $30 to $120. The higher the premium amount is, the lesser the deductible amount is. The deductible is negotiable and you can do it at the time of purchasing a home warranty plan.
Home warranty policy Vs home insurance
A lot of people still misunderstand a home warranty plan with home insurance but they both are different investment options. Home insurance covers the structural damages to your home against the perils like theft, fire, hailstorms, floods, and other natural calamities. Like a home warranty plan, it doesn’t cover home appliances and systems.
Having home insurance is a must if you have a mortgage but a home warranty plan is an optional investment.
If you are planning to purchase a plan from the most well-known home warranty company in the US market, click here.
