When we bought our home in 2004, a homeowner’s warranty was included for a year. Nothing happened in the first year, and because of the deductibles, exceptions,etc, we decided not to continue the policy in thereafter.
The only real things that “broke” was a water heater recently. All the other appliances and stuff still works, though we are replacing them because either they smell or we want something quieter,etc, so it wouldn’t have been covered by warranty policies anyway. Also, I’m pretty handy, so repairing appliances doesn’t usually cost me that much (parts are cheap, labor isn’t).
A few things about appliances/etc
1)Waterheaters: supposedly out here in san diego, they will last about 8-10 years (shorter if you run a water softener), Most home warranty policies prorate the cost of replacement, similar to your car battery, making this useless.
2)Fixtures: home warranties cover leaks and functional failures..They do not cover cosmetic things, such as tarnishing, chipping, peeling,etc…. However, most major brand fixtures offer no questions asked lifetime guarentee anyway. Rather than spending $$$$ on brand new fixtures, just call the manufacturer. If things are chipped, dinged, corroded,etc they will send you parts of the fixtures, repair kits, or a brand new faucet (if your part requests are too many, they just send you a brand new faucet) free of charge. I replaced about 8 fixtures that retailed for about $200 without having to spend a dime. And mostly, the replacements were done for cosmetic reasons (things were tarnished,etc.
3)Appliances. In my experience, when your appliance gets to a condition that they need to be “repaired”, it’s more cost effective just to get a new one. A dishwasher for example might not be “cleaning enough” anymore, but good luck getting a warranty company to “fix” that.
Often times, home warranty don’t pay for replacement, just repair. The only exception might be built in fridges. I wouldn’t know though, because I don’t have one.
