My home warranty with Old Republic covers everything from my roof, to my plumbing to my a/c and heating, as well as appliances. And at under $500 a year it's paid for itself
every year we've had it. It's repaired: plumbing (multiple times, various leaks until we finally replumbed the house last yearish), the a/c and heater, the roof, our dishwasher a few times, and one electrical problem. It even replaced every ceiling fan in our house. (One died, the people who came out evaluated all the others and said they were ready to go too, our insurance gave us an option of having them replace them all (ppl who came out) or a flat amount for each fan. We took the money and put in much nicer ones with it ourselves
).
I would agree that someone buying a new home probably wouldn't need it. And one should exercise common sense. But I'm glad we got it when we bought the house.
And we can't "overpay" for service. It's either free for someone to come out, or our co-pay is $50. (Now its fifty bucks it was less 10 years ago, but fifty still isn't bad).
No offense Orme but it's like saying 'high priced vaccums are a rip off'...and you point to Oreck and Kirby. To which I'd say 'yes, no shit...but that doesn't mean all high priced vaccums are terrible'...my Dyson is the shit.
It's not that I got some magical lucky vaccum. Dyson is a good brand and a good company. But if you live in a small apartment, have no pets, and only a small amount of carpeting...then yes, paying $400 or whatever for my Dyson is retarded. If like me you have more pets than the local zoo...it's wonderful! Most people fall inbetween but generally speaking it's a good buy for most people who can afford it and it will save them money over time since they won't be buying the cheap shit they replace every 7 years or so that dings you for $150-200 a pop, plus bags.
YMMV. But it's saved us thousands of dollars and made repair hassles a lot easier overall. The few pain in the ass times WERE annoying...but it's probably a lesser ratio than we'd have had dealing with people we picked out of a phone book. (And we found good contractors that way too...unfortunately they keep retiring and shit).