Introduction to American Home Shield Warranties

Home warranty is a kind of insurance that protectsrecommended to go with the home inspector
your home appliances. You pay annual premium and insuggested by real estate agent as it creates a conflict
addition, you will pay service call fee per repair incident.of interest.
American home shield is one of the leading providersChoose the company that has good reputation. After
of home warranty services which are also known asall, you need an insurance that helps you in tough times.
home service contracts. There are many suchIf the company is provides shady service, then what is
providers and some are limited to one or few states.good is the insurance for? Make sure you check
Other companies such as American will providereviews of the company online and offline. Call up your
nationwide coverage.friends and check which company they are using and
American home shield is also known by the nameask if they are happy with the service they are
AHS warranty which is a subsidiary of Service Masterreceiving. Most importantly check if they had to get
Company. If you are looking to buy home warrantyany major appliance such as heater or air conditioner
coverage, then AHS is definitely one of your toprepaired or replaced. If the warranty company did a
choices. However, do not limit your selection choices.good job, then you may want to check their offer and
Review the offers from other companies in theprice. AHS prices are generally bit expensive when
market. Some companies offer really low rates, butcompared to other offers. So if you find a reasonable
that does not mean you have to go with the companycompany that offers good service and rate, why not
that offers lowest of rates. As the saying goes, yougo for it?
generally get what you paid for. So you must beNew home warranty coverage is effective from 30
cautious whenever you choose a service based ondays of purchase date with most insurance
the rate only.companies. However, American Home Shield policy is
Before you decide to buy the policy, determine if youeffective immediately, which is a great offer
really need home warranty. General rule of thumb isconsidering that you do not need to wait 30 days
that if your major appliances are older than 10-12before you file your first claim. You can also cancel
years, then you probably need to plan for maintenanceyour policy within a month if you are not satisfied with
and repair work. The replacement cost of bigthe coverage. If you need to cancel after 30 days, you
appliances such HVAC far exceed what you typicallyshould call the customer service number but you may
spend on the premium of the policy, so your decisionhave to pay some fees unless you are moving.
would be justified. However, please be aware that allThe busy homeowners who do not have time or
home warranty companies require YOU to do get theinclination to fix minor problems with home appliances,
annual maintenance inspection done by a professional.this kind of insurance comes handy. If do not have
Failure to do or keep records of such maintenance issuch coverage, then you will have to screen few
considered to be a violation of your contract they yourcontractors, check their references and wait until show
reject your repair claims.up for work. This may take some time and if you are
Aged homes generally need home warrantynot willing to wait, you may want to consider home
protection as they tend to have appliance reaching theservice contract. As with any insurance, do not
end of the life and replacement costs will be on theassume that you have blanket coverage. Problems
higher end. Most of new and existing homes are soldcaused due to care negligence or lack of maintenance
with home warranty policies as an incentive to thewill not be covered and you may have to spend your
buyer. This is also one of the reasons warranty isown money to get the repair work done in such
overused as a sales utility rather than the actualscenarios. Overall, if you have aged appliances and if
insurance. For the same reason, home buyers arethey are costly to repair or replace, you should get
recommended to have a professional inspectorsome kind of coverage.
inspect appliances before the closing date. It is NOT