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Top 5 Best Home Warranty Companies (2021 Comparison)
We’ve reviewed the top 5 home warranty companies and listed them side by side so you can compare the plans, costs, deductibles, exclusions, and coverages to find the best company for your budget.
Below you’ll find our custom-built interactive home warranty finder tool designed to help you locate the best home warranty that fits your specific financial situation in your local area and state.
The ReviewHomeWarranties.com team updates this tool with fresh data and rankings every day so you can be sure you’re getting the latest information!
Simply click the drop downs and select your preferred plan type (appliance, systems, or both), desired premium pricing, deductible, optional add-ons, how high you want your limits to be, coverage, and the state you live in. The tool will automatically populate with the home warranties that best match your needs.
Out of all the home warranty companies we reviewed, Choice Home Warranty has the most comprehensive plans, good payout limits, minimal number exclusions, quality customer service, and affordable cost.
Choice has two main home warranty plans. The “Basic Plan” and the more comprehensive “Total Plan” covering 15 home appliances (from dishwasher to garage door opener) and systems (ductwork, water heater, etc). They also have “Optional Coverage” for add-on items most homeowners don’t usually have, which include pools and spas, well pump, sump pump, roof leaks, other extraneous items.
Based on our review, Choice’s “Total” plan covers these items at a more affordable price point than its competitors. While CHS does have a few more exclusions, they offer lower monthly payments than its closest competitor, American Home Shield.
Beyond price, customer service is what wins the day. The thing about home warranties is that they are complicated with a lot of moving parts that may confuse most homeowners on what’s covered versus what’s not covered.
A key deciding factor in our review looking for the best home warranty company is finding one with top-quality customer service to help customers like you walk through the claims process so you don’t have to worry about nasty surprises when you need service.
That said, Choice has 24 hours a day 7 days a week 365 days a year availability, and a 48 hour response time to get a licensed contractor out to your home. Other providers tend to have slower response times and are less communicative about when technicians are assigned to your claim.
Policy On Pre-Existing Issues or Older Units?
Choice covers appliances regardless of age or existing wear and tear, so you don’t need to worry about signing up and not getting covered due to age as long as you’ve properly maintained the item over its life.
What’s not covered is if you or someone else breaks the unit regardless of when it happens. All home warranties, regardless of company, won’t cover a unit you break through negligence or misuse (i.e., baby sticks chocolate bar into VCR).
Far and away the most thorough and transparent home warranty company we reviewed is American Home Shield. In terms of being clear and comprehensive, they are the gold standard. If you spend any amount of time on their website, it’s clear that they are very upfront about what they do cover and don’t cover when compared to their competitors.
In fact, AHS goes out of their way to let you know the things they cover that their competitors don’t. This would include things like rust or plumbing stoppages.
They also have the widest-ranging home warranty coverage with an astounding 21 systems and major appliances including trash compactor, smoke detectors, and clothes washer. AHS will cover everything from a freestanding ice maker to instant hot/cold water dispensers.
They also have the fewest number of exclusions with the highest dollar limit payout amounts ranging from $1,000 – $3,000 per claim.
In this way, you could think of American Home Shield as the “BMW” or “Mercedes” of home warranty companies. More expensive than Choice, but with better coverage and limits.
Policy On Pre-Existing Issues or Older Units?
Very similar to Choice, American Home Shield covers old systems and appliances that break down due to wear and tear, but they do not cover pre-existing issues or negligence related to the misuse of your appliance or system. Very few home warranty companies do cover pre-existing conditions.
Select Home Warranty made our list as one of the best budget-friendly home warranty options. They have lower limits ranging from $500 – $2,000 per claim but also lower service fee costs and potentially reduced annual premiums as low $325 per year if you opt into multiple-year contracts, far below other competitors. They beat out First American Home Warranty, another low-price leader, with Select’s better options and service.
If you opt for their “Platinum Care” they are on-par with other providers in terms of what they actually cover, from HVAC to garbage disposal. They are unique in covering limited roof leaks in all their plans, not just as an option. They are available in all but four states, making them among the most accessible provider around the country. Also, if you move, you can transfer the policy to your new home with no fee.
Overall, a great budget option for people who want a home warranty but can’t afford Choice or American Home Shield. This is a good option for real estate agents or home sellers looking to offer something attractive to buyers without paying for the most expensive providers.
Policy On Pre-Existing Issues or Older Units?
Very similar to Choice and American Home Shield, Select covers old systems and appliances that break down due to wear and tear, but they do not cover pre-existing conditions or negligence related to the misuse of your appliance or system!
With a great reputation, competitive rates, and higher coverage limits, Amazon Home Warranty is another top choice. Their “Combo Plan” covers all the major appliances and systems, and notably includes coverage for a stand-alone freezer. Most companies offer that only as optional coverage. They also cover up to two air conditioning systems in the Systems and Combo Plans.
AHW offers optional additional coverage for things like whole-house humidifiers, lawn sprinkler systems, septic tank pumping, water softener, even wine refrigerators.
Amazon is a solid choice, with excellent plans, competitive pricing, and a higher than average number of options to chose from.
Policy On Pre-Existing Issues or Older Units?
AHW does not cover “known or unknown pre-existing conditions, deficiencies, and/or defects.” There is no limit on the age of covered systems and appliances, as long as they are in working order and otherwise properly maintained.
Pros
Market veteran
Limits up to $2,500
Cons
not available in eight states, including California, Minnesota, Iowa, and Maine.
Liberty’s “Total Home Guard” offers protection on all the major systems and appliances in your home, from heating and AC to garage door openers. While they are a newer company, our research shows that they get customer reviews that are well above the industry average in areas like communication and workmanship. They have a low rate of claim denial and have a good reputation when it comes to getting things done on time.
Liberty boasts an excellent online portal that allows you to track your claims and service from a mobile app or from your laptop or tablet.
Their service fee of $75 meets the lower end of industry averages, and with claim limits from $500 to $2,500, have among the more generous limits. Overall, they offer the basics and more at competitive prices. They are a provider to watch as they gain more experience and traction in the industry.
Policy On Pre-Existing Issues or Older Units?
Liberty will cover older units in working condition from the start date of coverage until the end date. Liberty Home Guard does not cover systems and appliances with pre-existing issues.
Now that we’ve gone through the top companies on our list, we wanted to put together our write-up to help you understand how we’ve rated each of these companies.
Your trust means a lot to us so it’s important that you know how our selection of top home warranty companies was made.
Our ratings are based on an analysis of 68 home warranty issuers as well as customer feedback.
This data helped drive which areas of home warranties we wanted to review and include in our write-ups. Specifically, we rated home warranty companies in the following areas:
Service Fee
Monthly Premiums
Coverage
Exclusions
Limits
Affordability
Customer Service
BBB Rating & Profile
We graded each company based on these areas. See below for a description of each and how we considered them in our review!
The “Service Fee” And Our Rating
If you’re unfamiliar with how home warranties work, you sign up for service, pay the yearly fee (or “premium”), and then if you ever need service you have to pay the “service fee” when a contractor comes out to inspect your broken appliance or system.
This fee is also called a “trade service call fee”, and it’s kind of like a deductible, but you pay it every time regardless if the home warranty company fixes your unit or not.
You can think of service fees like “co-payments” when you go to the doctor. They prevent homeowners from constantly calling the home warranty company by charging a fee so when there is actually a problem you’re willing to spend a bit of money for someone to come out and look at it.
Some home warranty companies have a set fee like Choice Home Warranty, which charges a flat $85 per service call. Other companies like American Home Shield, let you pick from a range ($75 – $125). If you pick $75 then your yearly premium for coverage goes up, if you pick $125 it goes down.
This is actually a good thing to have because if you think you’ll use your plan a lot, picking the lower fee will save you money. Either way, all home warranty companies will charge you this fee, so it’s important for us to call it out in our review.
Considering The Coverage In Our Rating
When picking your home warranty, you need to pay special attention to the coverages because this refers to what is actually covered in your plan. Some plans have systems and appliances bundled together, others do not.
To make it even more confusing, some plans cover as many as 21 systems and appliances, others cover only 15 leaving out key systems you might use.
In our review, we dig into the nitty-gritty details of the service contracts to vet out what’s covered and what’s not within each plan so you can make an informed decision.
How Exclusions Affect Our Rating
Exclusions are a critical facet in a home warranty service contract because it protects the home warranty company from things that may cause your home appliances or systems to break, which are unrelated to normal wear and tear. In our data, we found that heating and air conditioning were among the most common requests for in-home warranty claims. Below you can see our full breakdown!
If there are a lot of exclusions in your contract, it makes it easier for your home warranty company to try and disqualify your repair request.
For example, a common cause of disqualification often used by home warranty companies is “improper installation”. This means whoever installed the appliance or system didn’t do it correctly, therefore the unit was more likely to break down sooner than it would have through normal use, thus it is excluded from coverage.
Another example of a possible exclusion might be that all the parts of your clothes dryer are covered except for the knobs and dials on the actual machine! If you were to break off the knob on your clothes dryer, your home warranty service provider is not on the hook to help you fix it.
Perhaps there is rust buildup and corrosion in your plumbing system. Most home warranty companies explicitly exclude rust from coverage, but American Home Shield does cover rust-related repairs, which is great for you. Had you gone with a different provider like Total Home Protection, it would have been excluded!
So each company handles exclusions a bit differently, which we have accounted for in our review.
Now on one hand exclusions stink, but on the other hand, they are in place to prevent bad actors from abusing the policy. If home warranty companies DIDN’T have exclusions, it’s unlikely there would be any in business.
At the end of the day, what you need to know is that if you think your refrigerator is nearing the end of its life, and the home warranty plan you’re considering has a long list of exclusions related to refrigerators, you should probably look elsewhere or consider upgrading your plan for more robust coverage.
Also, our recommendation is to get a home inspection to really understand the current state of your home. Then get that home inspector to walk you through their report with a sample contract from your home warranty company so you know exactly what’s excluded and what’s not excluded BEFORE you want to make a claim.
How Limits Affect Our Rating
Where the “limits” come into play are the caps on actual payouts you can receive for repairs on covered items. You want this number to be as high as possible so you can get higher payouts.
For example, Choice Home Warranty has a limit of $1,500 for heating systems, which means that it will payout up to $1,500 on covered claims to help repair the unit. If the actual cost is $3,000 to repair the unit quoted by the contractor, you would need to cover the difference between the coverage and the final bill.
Similar to exclusions, limits are meant to protect home warranty companies and your limit will usually depend on how much you’re willing to pay for your annual premium.
For example, American Home Shield has some of the highest limits available (up to $3,000) but also charge close to the highest annual premium for coverage.
Part of our review was locating the best home warranty company with a good balance of the monthly cost for their plans and dollar limit payout.
Affordability of The Plan Importance
When reviewing each company, we also looked at the general affordability of each plan. The costs of home warranties of annual premiums and deductibles can vary by state. Below, you can find data for all 50 states including Rhode Island, Texas, New York, California, Alaska, North Dakota, Montana, and Hawaii.
Based on our data, we put together a graphic of what you can expect to be charged on average by state as well as the general availability of home warranty companies.
There needs to be a balance between coverage and the cost of coverage, which is your premium paid. More expensive providers like American Home Shield have higher limits but also cost substantially more than value-based providers like Choice Home Warranty.
Companies like Total Home Protection have very similar fees related to Choice but substantially lower limits. For example, Choice has $1,500 limits where THP has $500 limits, but Choice is a bit cheaper. This means if your furnace breaks down over the winter, THP will give you a maximum of $500 for repairs while Choice $1,500.
Also, when negotiating a contract with a home warranty provider, you’ll likely get offered multiple-year deals in exchange for lower yearly premiums. So keep that in mind if you find a home warranty company you like.
In our review, we call this out so you can make the right decision that fits your budget.
Quality Customer Service Rated
The last area we looked at in-detail was customer service.
Out of our data, we found that about 7% of the customers complained about tricky or vague terms and conditions, and more than 33% experienced problems with coverage of their home systems or appliances. See below for a breakdown of each of the complaints by type from our data.
Home warranties are notoriously difficult to navigate so it’s important that the company has a good customer service center to field your questions and set up service calls if something breaks.
For example, are the answers you get from the company consistent between customer service representatives? Do they quickly and promptly schedule contractors to come out on service calls? Do they offer to refund service fees if something goes wrong during the claim as a gesture of goodwill?
These are all things we’re looking for when reviewing each home warranty company below.
