American Home Shield Home Warranty Review: Is it Really the Number One Choice?

American Home Shield claims to be the best way to insure your house. Worries about repair bills piling up will become a thing of yesterday, as your home appliances would be covered and fixed at no additional cost to you.

I liked:

• Multiple plans that different types of home appliances and systems.
• They cover duplicated appliances and systems when others may not by citing redundancy
• Covers all appliances regardless of age, while others will not cover very old items.

I didn’t like:

• No coverage for stand-alone refrigerators. 
• Relatively expensive compared to other home warranty providers

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American Home Shield Plans and Pricing

American Home Shield has three separate plans for customers to choose from ShieldSilver, ShieldGold and ShieldPlatinum.

Regardless of which plan you choose, you will have to pay a Trade Service Call fee for each request. You can opt to pay $75, $100 or $125 per call. 

The entry-level ShieldSilver plan costs $29.99 to $44.99 monthly. The second level plan is ShieldGold. It costs $39.99 to $54.99 monthly. Finally, ShieldPlatinum will run you from $54.99 up to $69.99 monthly.

When the call fee is lower, the monthly plan fee is higher, and vice versa. The costs given above are with the highest and lowest call fees respectively.

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American Home Shield Plans

The ShieldSilver plan is the basic one. It is focused mainly on the essentials of your home – heating and cooling, plumbing, and electricity. Issues with these systems can be extremely problematic and also extremely expensive to fix. So, getting them covered is a good idea. However, other appliances are not covered. 

The next level up is ShieldGold. In addition to covering the essentials, it adds some of the most important appliances to the list. This means kitchen and laundry appliances such as the cooker, ovens, dishwashers, washers, etc. Basically, everything that might need coverage is covered here.

Finally, the highest level plan is ShieldPlatinum. This one actually covers everything Shield Gold does. The main benefits of this plan are all the bonuses.

Roof Leak repairs, normally an add-on, is provided baseline in the Platinum plan. HVAC Tune-ups are free. Unlimited AC refrigerant is provided. They will even check for code violations and help you work through permits as needed.

One of the best aspects of American Home Shield is that they will cover appliances that would normally be excluded by others. 

They will cover all items regardless of age, and also ensure the safe removal of old, defective items. Appliances damaged by a lack of maintenance or through corrosion will also be covered.

American Home Shield Add-Ons

After purchasing any one of the American Home Shield plans, customers can also purchase add-ons.

If you are on the Silver or Gold plans, you can get Roof Leak repair as an add-on for $10.00 instead.

Home electronics, such as TVs, Desktop and Laptop Computers, Home Theater Systems, Smart Home devices, Consoles can all be insured under the Electronics Protection Plan. This costs $14.00 a month.

There is no limit to the number of devices you can cover under this plan. If it is damaged by a power surge, or simply because of wear and tear, you can get tech support, repair or replacement.

If you own a pool or spa, it can be insured with an add-on at $24.00 a month.

Similarly, a guest house up to 750 sq ft can be covered under a Guest Unit add-on for $20.99 a month. If the guest house is bigger than that, it will be considered a house and will require separate home insurance.

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American Home Shield Caps or Limitations

American Home Shield’s plans do have some caps on the payout. For the Electronics Protection Plan, there is a cap of $2,000 per plan. For Roof Leak repairs, the payout for repair services are capped at $1,500 per contract term.

For general appliances that are covered under the Gold and Platinum plans, there is also a cap. The gold plan has a cap of $3,000 per appliance. The Platinum plan has a limit of $6,000 per appliance.

American Home Shield Coverage Exclusions

Certain types of systems and issues are not covered by the insurance. For Air Conditioning, window units, water towers, chillers and diagnostic testing fees are not covered. For heating, fuel storage tanks and any portable or wood-burning source of heat are excluded.

When it comes to water and plumbing, a lot of things are excluded. Bathroom fixtures are not covered, nor purification systems and storage tanks. If the problem in the plumbing is caused by a blockage or damage outside the house’s foundations, they will not be covered.

To view the coverage exclusions comprehensively, you can download a sample contract from American Home Shield’s website.

American Home Shield: The Bottom Line

So, what’s the bottom line? Is American Home Shield the number one choice?

American Home Shield has a lot of positive points over other insurance providers. While the range of problems they cover is a little limited comparatively and there are lots of exclusions, there’s a plus side to that.

For devices that are covered and not excluded, nearly every type of problem is covered. Whether it's an undetectable defect, a lack of maintenance, or simple wear-and-tear, American Home Shield will cover it.

So, we recommend that potential customers go through the full contract and list of exclusions. If you find that the exclusions won’t come up very often for you, then American Home Shield is an amazing choice.