When and How to File a Home Warranty Claim

Home warranties can provide financial peace of mind by stepping in and covering repair expenses that can be extreme. Homeowners can especially benefit from home warranties when they have appliances that may not be covered under the manufacturer’s warranty anymore but could cost thousands of dollars to replace or repair.

Today we will discuss how home warranties operate and when you should consider filing a claim under your warranty company instead of handling every pair on your own.

Understanding Your Home Warranty

Home warranties are often confused with homeowners insurance policies. Although both of these financial products are designed to protect you and your home, there is a stark difference between the two.

Home warranties primarily impact appliances and structural elements of your home. HVAC units, garage doors, water heaters, and inside plumbing all fall under the umbrella provided by a home warranty. If one of your appliances that are covered by the warranty breaks or requires a repair, you can file a claim through your warranty company, and they will dispatch a subcontractor to come and evaluate your appliance. If your warranty company deems the repair to be acceptable, they will pay for the repair and labor, and you will have to pay a service fee that usually ranges between $50 and $100.

Homeowners’ insurance policies are more comprehensive and are designed to protect you and your finances against litigation and liability. For example, if you are hosting a pool party and one of your guests slips and falls, you may be liable for their medical and legal costs. Your homeowners’ insurance policy would pay their hospital bills and any lawyer fees incurred throughout the process so that your assets are not up for grabs.

Some elements of a homeowner’s policy may overlap with a home warranty, such as a tree falling onto your kitchen and destroying your stove. Since this is not normal wear and tear, your homeowners’ insurance policy would most likely pay for the damage instead of your home warranty.

• Coverage

Home warranties generally range from standard coverage, which includes most internal appliances and plumbing, to robust coverage that includes pool equipment and other external features. As you shop around for the optimal amount of warranty coverage, it’s best to take inventory of what would be the most expensive replacement and ensure you have coverage for those items. For example, if you have a brand new air conditioning unit, it probably has a long life and its own manufacturer’s warranty; however, if your air conditioning unit is older, you may want to purchase coverage for it because it could cost thousands of dollars to repair or replace.

• Exclusions

There are certain exclusions from home warranty coverage, including discontinued items, brand names with a known reputation for poor quality, or other appliances that are custom and expensive to replace.

Before you purchase a home warranty, make sure you understand any exclusions so that when you go to file a claim, you have a higher chance of being approved by the warranty company.

Should You File a Claim?

Once you have your home warranty and you experience a covered loss, you may want to file a claim with your home warranty company. Before you schedule a service call, ensure that the service provider is an approved contractor listed with your warranty company, and understand that regardless of what they find, you will be responsible for paying a service fee to the contractor.

Submitting a Claim

• Verify Coverage

The first step in submitting a claim is to verify coverage. Although most home warranties have similar coverage limits, you should ensure that the appliance or structural item that you want to be repaired is covered and named under warranty. For example, If your dishwasher suddenly stops working, you should verify that your warranty covers dishwashers.

• Confirm and Pay Service Fees

Once your warranty provider dispatches the repair team, you will have to confirm and pay the service fee required for them to come out to your house. Although the warranty company will pay for materials and labor, you will still be responsible for the initial service fee, which ranges between $50 and $100, depending on the contractor.

• Finalize any Additional Expenses

There may be additional expenses associated with your repair that may or may not be covered by the warranty company. Make sure you get any extra expenses in writing provided by the contractor so that you can submit everything to your warranty company.

Common Mistakes

Many homeowners do not have a solid understanding of which items are covered by their warranty and thus will schedule a service contractor to come out only to find that the repair will not be reimbursed by the warranty company.

Other mistakes include making an appointment with a local contractor without getting approval from the warranty provider. This can be potentially disastrous because if the provider is not approved by the warranty company, you may end up having to pay for the entire repair out-of-pocket.

How Long is the Claims Process?

Thanks to online warranty portals, the claims process can be completed within minutes once you submit all of the necessary documents online. There may be additional document requests for certain repairs, but overall once you submit the documents in receipts, the warranty company should have enough information to process the claim.

Final Thoughts

Home warranties can be an amazing resource for saving money on home repairs, especially if you understand your coverage and how the claims process works.

If you want to learn more about home warranties, please check out our other guides and reviews!