You’ve heard of home warranties, but maybe — like most people — you’ve mistakenly believed that you don’t need them because you have a standard homeowners’ insurance policy. Home warranties provide vastly different coverage options compared to most standard insurance policies, making them beneficial when it comes to protecting your home’s appliances, service lines, and more — as well as your financial budget.

Home warranties vs homeowners’ insurance

So, what exactly is the difference between the two? Standard homeowners’ insurance policies are required by your mortgage provider, and they cover incidents involving things like natural disasters, fires, vandalism, or some events that are out of your control. Home warranties, however, can cover necessary repairs or replacements for your heating/air conditioning systems, water lines, sewer lines, plumbing lines and fixtures, kitchen and laundry room appliances, and more.

Basically, a home warranty helps with repairing or replacing appliances, lines, or systems in your home when a covered problem occurs, whereas a standard homeowners’ insurance policy typically won’t provide any aid for you and your family unless a disaster or theft occurs.

When should I enroll in a home warranty?

Now that you understand the difference between a warranty and a standard insurance policy for your home, it’s time to determine when you should sign up for one. Many realtors urge their clients to sign up for a home warranty plan, or for multiple plans, after they’ve purchased a new property.

These plans offer peace of mind and protection for the appliances, plumbing, service lines, etc. in a homeowner’s new space, and they give them one less thing to worry about. It’s no surprise that buying a new home puts a dent in people’s savings. New furniture, moving fees, home inspections, remodeling, and so on can cost thousands of dollars, and having a protection plan or two in place to cover any required repairs or replacements needed for the appliances, systems, and lines your family depends on means one less thing you have to set aside money for.

What if I’m not a new homeowner?

Even if you aren’t a new homeowner, it’s still recommended that you enroll in a warranty plan to protect your family’s spending budget, and to prevent a great deal of frustration. We’ve all been there before — it’s the middle of the night and you wake up to a freezing home — the furnace stopped working! You scramble and jump out of bed and put on as many clothes and blankets as you can while you try and do a quick search online to find someone who can diagnose the problem with your heater and fix it right away.

But when you’re enrolled in a home warranty and a covered problem occurs with your furnace — or AC, water heater, plumbing, etc. — you can often just pick up the phone and give the warranty company a call to schedule a time to get the problem taken care of.

What home warranty should I sign up for?

Spending budget

The first thing you should consider when shopping for a home warranty is your spending budget. One of the benefits of a home warranty is that spending a little money to be enrolled in a plan can save you a lot of money when you have a covered problem. When shopping for home warranties, beware of “hidden” fees like deductibles and trip charges that a warranty company may impose on you when you make a claim. (Most of the plans offered by Oncourse Home Solutions have no deductibles or trip charges.)

Age of your appliances

Also, you should consider the age of your appliances. Many new devices will come equipped with a manufacturer’s warranty. For example, it wouldn’t make much sense for you to sign up for a warranty plan to cover your new water heater if the manufacturer is already covering any issues for the next ten years.

If you have an aging air conditioner, furnace, water heater, stove, refrigerator, washer, dryer, etc. and they’re beyond their manufacturer’s warranty, then the time is right to look for a warranty to cover these appliances in case of a breakdown that would require a repair or replacement. Be mindful, however, that most warranty providers (including Oncourse Home Solutions) will not cover repairs/replacements for units that have pre-existing conditions.

What else do you want to protect?

Among the many warranty plans available from Oncourse Home Solutions — including protection for your home’s appliances, gas and electrical lines — we offer protection for your water or sewer service lines in many of the areas we serve. Typically, repairs to these service lines are not covered by standard homeowners’ insurance policies. And repair work can be quite expensive, to say the least. This is why you may consider enrolling in a service line protection plan that will take care of any covered issues that may occur.

In many areas, Oncourse Home Solutions offers protection plans for the electronic items in a home, such as laptops, gaming consoles, cell phones, and so on. We all know how expensive items like these are, and it’s important to keep them protected in case of a power surge or other type of device failure.

Ready to learn more?

Oncourse Home Solutions has been providing affordable home warranty plans to customers just like you since 1992. We offer a variety of protection plans, including repair and maintenance plans for heating and cooling systems, as well as plans for kitchen and laundry room appliances, and even plans to cover your water and/or sewer service lines.

To see what plans are available in your area, visit us online and enter your ZIP code in the upper right corner of the page. Have questions or concerns? Feel free to call us at any time, or you can chat live with a customer service representative during standard business hours by clicking the “Click to Chat” tab on the right side of the page.