I'm interested in learning more about home warranties. First, are these things even worth messing with? Second, if they are, what companies do y'all recommend looking into?

General consensus on this board, and an opinion I share is they're worthless. You don't get to choose the repair contractor, so you'll wait a few days for the sketchiest low bid fella will be in your home to make whatever broke limp along till you pay another service call when it fails again. Wash, rinse, repeat...

If you are semi handy, i.e. can replace a dishwasher or install a toilet, then pass on the warranty and fix things yourself. If you struggle changing air filters, might want to buy one.

I ran a company that handled a few warranty calls. The contractor typically gets 100% of the sales call charge. There are quite a few in the industry that this is all the money that they will make and they are just chasing calls with no intention to make a repair which the warranty company applauds. They have a price list that pretty much calculates the absolute lowest possible cost to replace or repair an item. For instance, a water heater replacement may cover the cost of the cheapest water heater possible. If they don't hit you for a bunch of add ons, they may not make a dime doing the install or in some cases lose money. They will want to bring you up to "code" which may not be necessary or it doesn't include basic items like connecting the item.

Can you save money having one? Yes. It is quite a bit of effort to make it work to your favor. You are still going to have quite a bit of out of pocket expenses even when they actually replace something.

The best ones are the ones sellers pay for and allow cancellations. Have the seller pay for it then immediately cancel and pocket the $ they paid for the premium.

Aggiemike96 said:

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If you are semi handy, i.e. can replace a dishwasher or install a toilet, then pass on the warranty and fix things yourself. If you struggle changing air filters, might want to buy one.

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Still don't see how the mechanically inept should waste their time with these things. How many threads have there been about someone having to spend hours on the phone with the home warranty company concerning a problem with their coverage or crappy work?

Seems like the better avenue is to set aside what you would have paid for the home warranty in an account just for home stuff. Then go about choosing whomever you want to fix your problems when they happen.