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Hundred of thousands of people every year buy new HVAC systems and are faced with the question. Should I buy the extended warranty? Well that is a great question and I am writing this article to help you with that very decision. There are a lot of things to consider when it comes to spending the money on an HVAC extended warranty. The most important and most often overlooked is the "piece of mind. " When you purchase the extended warranty you are giving yourself the luxury of not having to worry about spending money to fix it for however long your warranty coverage is for. If you find value in the piece of mind then the warranty is always worth the money.
There are really two major kinds of HVAC extended warranties out there. Ones that are backed by the manufacturer and ones that are backed by the HVAC contractor. It is very important to know who is holding the liability in your HVAC warranty. Ones backed by the manufacturer basically allow you to have any of their authorized dealers service your system under the coverage. If your warranty is held by the HVAC contractor, then you are most often married to that HVAC contractor. Meaning that when you have a problem you will be required to use that company to fix your system. Usually when the extended warranty is held by the contractor the price is cheaper because they are not sharing the profit with the manufacturer.
If the extended warranty that you are looking at purchasing is backed by your HVAC contractor, you should verify the following. Make sure that the contractor is licensed to sell warranties in your state. Make sure that the contractor has insurance covering your investment in the rare chance that he goes out of business. If the contractor does not have the insurance they are required to hold the money in escrow taking annual withdraws from it over the life of the warranty coverage. Also make the HVAC contractor provide you with a copy of the state required surety bond. This is also for your protection to cover you if the HVAC contractor goes out of business.
When you purchase your extended warranty that is backed by the manufacturer there are a lot of things that they consider in coming up with the price. The most important is how close the system is to corrosive environments like salt water. The closer you live to the ocean the more you are going to pay for your extended warranty coverage. So for example to purchase an extented warranty on Air Conditioning Boston, it will cost you a bit more than an extended warranty on and air conditioning system in Dallas. Another thing that they consider is the cost of the system that you purchased. The more expensive the system the more expensive the warranty coverage is going to be.
One major point of confusion is what the extended warranty covers. When you buy a new HVAC system most of them come with a ten year parts warranty. What is not covered is the labor to diagnose and replace the broken part. So basically you are buying an extended labor warranty. Some people do not realize that the parts warranty comes with the new HVAC system. Depending on the brand of system sometimes the coverage that comes with the system is for five years and when you buy the extended warranty the coverage extends to ten years.
In summery the price is about the only thing I have not covered. If your HVAC system cost you between $3,500 and $5,000 I would advise you that a fair price for an extended labor warranty should be between four hundred and six hundred. For Air Conditioning systems that cost between $5,000 and $9,000 you should pay between six hundred to eleven hundred for your extended labor warranty coverage. Anything over eleven hundred dollars is going to be a hard sell because there are not many repairs that cost that amount of money. Chances are if you need to spend that kind of money to fix your system you should just consider replacing it.
