Edited to add: I just read Austin Air's reply to a previous post about home warranties----food for thought for sure! I'm not surprised by his advice--maybe this is a case of "if it sounds too good to be true......"

Yeah pretty much. I could tell you some horror stories, I could also tell you some where the home warranty did this and that after long drawn out battles put in a free or nearly free unit and then that unit would work for a time -- only to fail a short time later.

I recommend the same as millworkman: take the $600 annual premiums you would pay the HW company put it in a savings account, hire the contractor of your choice. While that can be fraught with trouble too, it's the better way to do it as opposed to be limited by what the HW company will allow or what they may just simply deny as pre-existing or whatever excuse they come up with.

Also what ever the HW company is going to do it's always the cheapest equipment money can buy, you pay for those choices indirectly via your power bill. If you live in a high cost electric market or a high use market like me in Katy, Texas -- you pay for it one way or another.

When we bought our home it came with a home warranty. The furnace died a few weeks after we moved in. Fortunately, our previous home had not sold yet, so we stayed there. Unfortunately, it took the home warranty company three visits to even decide the furnace was really dead, then said it would be two weeks for a replacement to arrive. In February. In Michigan. When I asked if they were going to pay for my burst pipes the rep said that was an act of God. I try to very polite with folks, it's usually not their fault, but I lost it at that point. It was going to be a fairly substandard furnace any way. Save your money and your sanity and save up to replace it yourself.

The sellers of a place we bought a few years ago as a second home were devout home warranty insurance customers - so they told us. They included a one year policy with our purchase.

About 6 months into our new ownership, while washing pots, water started running out of the kitchen sink cabinet and onto the floor. I turned off the water, opened the door, and saw water freely running out of the bottom of the garbage disposal. OK, I thought, fair enough. The place is 20 years old and the unit looks to be original. Need a new one.

I started flipping through Yelp to find a plumber and remembered the home warranty policy. I called the company and they gave me the name of a plumber to call. I called and learned that there were no appointments available until the same day next week, 7 days away. I said something like "Are you saying I need to wait a week to get this fixed and be without a kitchen sink?" and the response was "No, we won't fix it on the first visit, we need to determine the cause of the leak. After that, we'll schedule another appointment to come fix it".

I hung up, found a plumber who showed up the next morning with a replacement unit in hand and fixed it. I think it was about $225 parts and labor in my high cost of living area, which I thought was quite reasonable and I gladly paid,

Which experience would you prefer having?

Thanks for the advice--pretty much as I expected. Kind of like flushing money down the toilet!

Managed care for appliances. Run, don’t walk away.