Every time I turn on the T.V. I see some advertisement that’s trying to get me to buy a policy that would insure all my appliances or an extended warranty on anything that could go wrong with my car. Sounds good!
I live in a condo and my air conditioner was 16 years old. It wasn’t working at what I thought should be 100%. But it was working! It would come on and it would blow cold. On one occasion when I turned on the switch it wouldn’t come on. So! I thought this would be an excellent time to get some of this appliance insurance that way when it “conks out” I won’t have to pay because I have one of these home appliance warranty policies. Right?
I went online and found several companies and selected one with a high feedback rating. When I tried to read their terms and conditions the contract only stated they are number one at paying claims and for around $42.50 a month I would have coverage on all my appliances.
I wanted to sign up right away. I didn’t want to wait for my air conditioner to break and then and call them to make a claim cause that would be fraud.
I found my credit card, gave them a call and asked them if they wanted to do a home inspection before they wrote the policy. That way they could see that everything was in good working order.
The man on the phone said home inspection was not needed, and they would take my credit card information and write the policy without the inspection.
This sounded too good to be true. So, I asked “how do you know that I haven’t lied to you?” Without coming out and doing an inspection anybody could buy this policy and one or two months make a claim and you would have to pay it! Right?
His answer was “we will know if your air conditioner had a pre-existing condition.” I said “I am 65 years old. I have a pre-existing condition. What kind of pre-existing condition could my air conditioner have?”
He said “well when was the last time you changed the filter on your air conditioner?” I said “I didn’t know my air conditioner had a filter.” He said “well when was the last time you had it serviced?” I said “serviced? What kind of service do you do for the air conditioner? and how often do you have to do this?”
He went on to explain the number of things that happens when you do a yearly service for your air conditioner. I asked him where this was in the contract and he directed me to the page in the contract where all this information was given. I stated that even though the air conditioner was still working I had done none of these things the entire time I had the unit, and so I would have no coverage by this insurance company.
Had I taken this policy without doing my research I would’ve paid several months premium and would NEVER have been paid any money for my repair. Furthermore, I would not be entitled to ANY refund of premium since all this information was stated in the contract.
I decided to investigate car extended warranty insurance policies. I found one with a good feedback rating and began to read their policy requirements. Same GARBAGE! They stated the number of claims they’ve paid and that their number one at paying claims. Their terms and conditions of repair were not easily put into plain English. The contract did not easily give me that information. When I went to consumer reports, I got some positive and some negative reviews. It was very difficult to find out what they would pay, if they would pay, and how much would they would pay.
I DID NOT call them. But I’m going to assume these companies are NOT going replace your engine or transmission or anything else if you haven’t changed oil in the last 30,000 miles, done a tune up in the last 100,000 miles and never serviced the transmission. Save all your receipts. Make sure that if you have a used car the previous owner has some documentation of regular maintenance. Understand these contracts and call these companies if you have questions. Make sure you understand any REQUIREMENTS your car must meet in order to qualify for this insurance. Remember, these companies are selling insurance, they are not charities.
