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GEICO Home Insurance is a property insurance policy that provides coverage for your private residence. A homeowner's policy typically covers loss and damage to a personal residence, as well as furniture and certain other assets within your home. Home insurance can also provide liability coverage against certain types of accidents that occur inside your home or on your property.
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What is a home warranty?
A home warranty (or Home Warranty Service Agreement as we call it) is a powerful budget protection tool for homeowners. Learn more about why a home warranty service agreement is a smart investment below.
Why a Home Warranty Service Agreement is important
A home warranty service agreement is an annual service contract that can provide coverage for things that home owner insurance does not.
For example, if your furnace or air conditioner were to break due to routine use, homeowners insurance would not cover it. Without a Home Warranty Service Agreement, you may be on the hook for costs.
What's the difference between a home warranty and home insurance?
A home warranty is an annual contract that can help reduce the cost of repairing or replacing covered systems and equipment that fail from normal wear and tear.
Homeowners insurance covers losses from incidents such as fire, storms or vandalism. The coverages provided by a home warranty and homeowner's insurance usually do not overlap and often complement each other to provide comprehensive protection.
What does a home warranty cover?
A 2-10 Home Buyers Guarantee (2-10 HBW) is an annual service contract. This can protect your budget from the unexpected costs of routine outages of many of your home's most important systems and appliances. Addressing breakdowns for these items can be expensive, especially when you least expect it. This is where a 2-10 HBW home warranty can come in handy.
Here are some of the more common systems and appliances covered under a 2-10 HBW home warranty.
- HVAC systems (furnace and air conditioner)
- Electrical and plumbing systems, including water heater
- Major appliances: refrigerator, dishwasher, oven/range, washer and dryer
So say you have a 2-10 HBW home warranty and your fridge breaks. Instead of searching for a reputable technician and paying completely out of pocket, you'll submit a service request. We will assign a service contractor to your request and they will schedule an appointment with you. You'll pay them a small service fee, they'll diagnose the problem and report back to us, and we'll authorize a repair or replacement if your fault is covered by your coverage.
If the problem is covered by your coverage, 2-10 HBW can significantly reduce the cost of repairing the problem or replacing the system or device with something similar, under the terms of the Service Agreement.
What types of coverage come with a Home Warranty Service Agreement?
Your service agreement may cover various systems such as central air conditioning, heating and water heaters, along with appliances such as refrigerators, stoves, washers and dryers. You can see the specific details of each plan in the section above.
How to Get a Home Warranty Quote the Right Way
A home warranty service agreement (commonly called a home warranty) can be a powerful way to protect your budget. Getting an offer can be easy, but there are a few things to think about once you have your offer. So, here's how to get a home warranty quote the right way.
1. Don’t jump at the lowest home warranty price first
One of the most common mistakes that homeowners make is jumping at the first low price they see.
It may be true that the plan with the lowest price is the best for you. However, it is important to think about the type of coverage you are getting for that low price.
For example, 2-10 HBW offers the Simply Kitchen plan for as little as $19 per month. This is an incredible value for protecting the most important kitchen appliances in your home (oven, fridge, dishwasher, etc.).
But if you need coverage for your HVAC, electrical or plumbing system, this plan may not be the best for you.
It is extremely easy to get caught up in the race to the finish line. So before you jump at a low price, consider the following steps.
2. Understand what a home warranty does
If you've never had a home warranty before (and even if you have), it's important to know what it does and doesn't do.
A home warranty service agreement is a service contract that can provide budget protection when certain home systems and appliances fail from routine use.
In other words, less jargon, a home warranty can help you pay less when important household items break down from normal wear and tear. This often means that you cover things that your homeowner's insurance does not.
However, this is not a card that does not pay to break or upgrade for free. For example, if something breaks down due to lack of maintenance, abuse or a weather-related incident, your Agreement will not cover it.
Likewise, if your defect is covered, your Agreement will first attempt to repair the problem. If it fails, you can get a replacement of a similar type.
What is a Service Fee?
A service fee is a relatively small payment you make to the contractor when you submit a service request. When you choose 2-10 HBW, you'll typically pay $100 or less to have a contractor service your demolition. 2-10 HBW then covers the remaining covered repair or replacement costs, up to the limits clearly defined in your employment contract.
What is a Home Warranty Service Agreement?
The home warranty service agreement is an annual service contract. Home warranty service agreements help homeowners protect their home systems and appliances from routine breakdowns caused by normal wear and tear. A system is something like the plumbing and water heater, electrical system or air conditioning. An appliance is something basic like a dishwasher, fridge or oven, not something like a juicer or blender.
Why does that matter to you?
- Nearly 7 out of 10 homes experience a home system or appliance outage in any given year.
- The initial cost to repair or replace breakdowns in systems and equipment can range from more than $250 to $6,400 on average.
- If you are new to the neighborhood, it can be difficult to find reliable contractors to fix your demolition.
In short, a home warranty service agreement of 2-10 HBW can reduce initial breakdown costs, connect you with reliable local contractors and give you peace of mind that you have a breakdown solution.
What does a Home Warranty Service Agreement cover?
Different home warranty companies cover different things. However, a consistent part of coverage with most home warranty companies is that coverage applies to items that break from normal wear and tear.
For example, if your refrigerator broke down and the cause was a fire, your Home Warranty Service Agreement wouldn't apply (but your home insurance might - more on that later). Likewise, if you misuse or abuse a covered item—such as by not properly maintaining a system or device—coverage will not apply, as misuse and abuse excludes normal wear and tear.
While we can't speak to what other home warranty companies cover, we can give you an overview of what some of HBW's most popular 2-10 plans cover.