Home Warranties And AC Repair: What You Can Expect When You Buy A Home Warranty
Home warranties sound like some hokey business concocted by a master con. A lot of homeowners are wary of such products, believing that their homeowner's insurance already covers repair issues with major home systems. Sadly, that is not the case unless a tornado or fire destroys your heating, cooling, ventilation, and plumbing systems. However, if you buy a home warranty, and you have read the fine print, you will see exactly what is covered. Here is what happens when you buy the warranty and your A/C needs repair.
You Contact the Home Warranty Company for a Technician
These home warranties require that you contact them to get a repair technician. You are not sure who will show up, but it is usually someone the warranty company has contracted to work for them. An appointment for repairs is scheduled. You will need to be home for the repair technician, even though most of your central A/C unit is located outside. A nominal service call fee is usually charged in addition to the monthly warranty charge.
The Technician Assesses the Problems with Your Air Conditioner and Determines Cost of Parts
The technician will arrive, take apart the air conditioner to examine the parts, and then determine the best course of action to fix the unit. If the unit needs a complete replacement, you may just end up with a completely new unit for the cost of the nominal service call fee and the monthly premiums you have been paying on the warranty. If that is the case, that is a monumental savings to you because most A/C units cost a couple of thousand dollars and up these days. Of course, you may only need a few replacement parts too, in which case the parts are replaced, usually for free, when you have the warranty.
The First Hot Day Where You Cannot Sleep at Night
If you already know that your air conditioner may need replacing, wait until the very first hot day and hot night where it is too uncomfortable to move or sleep. Then the warranty company is more likely to believe that your air conditioner is not working, rather than trying to get someone to fix it in winter or the middle of spring when it has not been hot enough yet to turn on the air conditioner and determine that the unit no longer works. You may have to wait for a technician to be dispatched by the warranty company because this is the busiest time of year for A/C repair, but at least you will get the appliance fixed and/or replaced.
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