Home warranties cover the service, repair, as well as replacement of major household appliances and systems. Signing such a contract is an excellent option to protect your home investments once their warranties have expired. Although home warranties cover consumer products and don’t share as many similarities with homeowner’s insurance. While homeowner’s insurance provides financial relief in unexpected catastrophes like fire, hail, wind, vandalism, and theft, home warranties cover damages for basic home-based devices and machines listed in the contract between the company and the customer. Home warranties take care of paying for unforeseen big expenses of fixing or replacing such items.

Check the appliances that need coverage
Home warranties normally cover these household systems and appliances:

• Ductwork
• Heating
• Electrical
• Plumbing
• Water heaters
• Dishwasher
• Air conditioners
• Oven, cooking range, or cooktop
• Refrigerator
• Pool equipment
• Spa equipment
• Garage-door opener

The appliances covered may vary on the basis of the plan you sign up for.

Know the functional aspects of a home warranty
Companies that provide home-warranty plans usually have agreements signed with approved service providers. When a household appliance breaks down, homeowners call the home-warranty company, which will then send one of its service providers to check out the problem. If the repair or replacement is approved as covered by the warranty, they complete the work and the homeowner pays a service fee, whereas the warranty covers the replaceable parts.

Understand the costs involved
A home warranty can cost several hundreds of dollars a year, These costs are paid up-front or in quarterly or half-yearly installments, provided the warranty company offers this payment option. In addition to annual premium payments, home warranties charge a service call fee, also called a trade call fee, of $75 to $125 every time the warranty holder requests for a service provider to come and examine the house for defects in equipment.

Types of home-warranty plans
Some of the plan options for home warranties are

• Specific plans
  This option suits you if some of your appliances are covered by manufacturers’ warranties. You only need to cover those without them in your home warranty policy. The plan covering certain heating, ventilation, plumbing, electrical, or air-conditioning systems.
• Robust plans
  As the name suggests, robust plans offer a comprehensive home warranty that includes the coverage of appliances like ceiling fans, motors and pumps, trash compactors, and ice machines.

Some of these plans even include pest control coverage.

Check for optional coverage
An important tip for getting the right home-warranty plan is to check the equipment covered by home warranties as you need not add them to the policy. Study the policy and add them if need be, keeping in mind the environment. If you have more than one refrigerator, ensure that the additional refrigerators are added to the policy as some warranties cover only the primary refrigerator.

Best home warranty companies of 2021
The varied coverage options a company offers and plans with high coverage limits and an easy claim process decide the top warranty plans. These companies promise plenty of details about their offering on their websites and make it early to purchase the coverage. They are flexible when choosing a contractor to fix the problems. Some of the best home warranty companies are

• AFC Home Club
  One of the most flexible companies for getting fast, reliable service is AFC Home Club.
• First American Home
  When it comes to reliability, First American Home is considered the best.
• Sears Home Warranty
  If you’re looking for a company that’s known for transparency of policies, the one to pick is Sears Home Warranty.
• The Home Service Club
  For comprehensive coverage plans, The Home Service Club is who you need to call.
• One Guard Home Warranty
  One Guard Home Warranty is the best choice in terms of their convenience of service.
• Clinch Home services
  Clinch is the best when it comes to service guarantees. They do not deny coverage for an unknown preexisting defect. Clinch offers you a 180-day workmanship guarantee, whereby they fix a problem if it recurs within 180 days, at no additional cost.