Understanding Select Home Warranty: Coverage, Costs, and Customer Insights

Your homeowner’s insurance covers damage from disasters like fires and storms, but what happens when your air conditioning system fails on the hottest day of summer, or your water heater stops working? Most standard homeowner’s policies won’t pay for appliance breakdowns or system failures caused by normal wear and tear. This is where select home warranty plans step in. These service contracts provide an alternative safety net to help homeowners manage unexpected repair and replacement costs for covered home systems and appliances. Select Home Warranty, a New Jersey-based provider operating for over a decade, has become a notable player in this space, offering multiple plan options with various coverage levels and discount opportunities.

This comprehensive guide examines what select home warranty delivers, how it compares to competitors, and whether it might be the right fit for your household’s protection needs.

What Makes Select Home Warranty Stand Out

Select Home Warranty distinguishes itself through several key features:

Attractive Savings Opportunities: The company offers two months of free coverage when you pay annually upfront—a meaningful discount compared to month-to-month payments. Additionally, periodic promotions can reduce sign-up costs by $100 to $200 for new customers.

Roof Leak Protection: Unlike many competitors in the industry, select home warranty coverage includes roof leak repairs at no additional charge, which is genuinely rare among home warranty providers.

Flexibility in Contractor Selection: While the company maintains its own network of service technicians, you’re permitted to use your own preferred contractor if you prefer. Select Home Warranty will vet the contractor for proper licensing, insurance, and bonding before authorizing repairs.

Age-Agnostic Coverage: Covered appliances and systems receive protection regardless of their age, meaning older equipment still qualifies for coverage as long as it meets other policy requirements.

However, the company does have notable disadvantages. Most prominently, select home warranty has accumulated a substantial complaint history on its Better Business Bureau profile. Additionally, if repairing an issue requires multiple tradespeople to visit, you’ll pay a separate service call fee for each visit—a cost structure that can add up quickly.

Select Home Warranty’s Plan Options and Pricing Structure

Select Home Warranty offers three distinct tiers to accommodate different coverage needs and budgets:

Bronze Care Plan (approximately $44/month or $479.99/year): Covers clothes washers, garbage disposals, refrigerators, stoves/ovens, microwave ovens (built-in), cooktops, dishwashers, and plumbing system issues.

Gold Care Plan (approximately $44/month or $479.99/year): Expands coverage to include air conditioning and cooling systems, heating systems, and electrical system repairs in addition to all Bronze-level items.

Platinum Care Plan (approximately $47/month or $524/year): The most comprehensive option, adding ductwork, water heater coverage, plumbing stoppages, garage door openers, and ceiling fan repairs to the protection portfolio.

All select home warranty plans include optional add-ons for an additional monthly fee. These include central vacuum systems ($3.33/month), lawn sprinkler systems ($5.83/month), pool equipment ($8.33/month), septic systems ($5.83/month), spa systems ($5.83/month), standalone freezers ($3.33/month), sump pumps ($3.33/month), and well pumps ($3.33/month). Notably, roof leaf coverage carries no additional monthly cost.

When you select home warranty coverage with annual prepayment, you unlock two months of complimentary protection—effectively reducing your annualized cost significantly.

How the Claim Process Works with Select Home Warranty

Filing a claim with select home warranty is straightforward. You can submit claims through their online form or via email at [email protected]. Upon submission, the company dispatches a technician from its network to evaluate and repair the issue.

Each service call incurs a fee of $65 (occasionally $75 in certain situations). This fee applies every time a contractor responds to a claim. If your repair requires multiple different trades—say, both plumbing and electrical work—you’ll pay the service fee separately for each tradesperson’s visit.

Deductibles vary by state, ranging typically from $60 to $100. Should an appliance or system prove irreparable, select home warranty may offer a cash settlement based on the item’s depreciated value rather than replacement cost.

The 30-day waiting period begins from your enrollment date before you can file your first claim. If you decide to cancel within 30 days, you receive a full refund. Cancellations after this period incur a $75 fee, with refunds prorated to your annual payment.

Key Limitations and Coverage Exclusions

Before committing to select home warranty, understand what the company explicitly does not cover:

Hazardous Materials and Safety Issues: Any systems or problems involving hazardous substances (asbestos, lead, lead-based paint), red-tagged units, gas leaks, carbon monoxide leaks, or other toxic contaminants fall outside coverage.

Pre-Existing Conditions and Maintenance Failures: The company won’t cover damage from neglect, human error, prior repairs performed incorrectly, or systems that lack documented maintenance records from the past three years.

Specific Components and Issues: Shelves, doors, hinges, handles, knobs, buttons, door seals, freon leaks, clogged drains, cosmetic damage, noise complaints, light fixtures, timers, leveling equipment, and similar minor components remain uncovered.

Natural Disasters and Structural Problems: Damage from acts of nature, foundation issues, and manufacturer defects are explicitly excluded.

Coverage Caps and Limits: Select home warranty establishes specific maximum reimbursement amounts:

• Heating and cooling equipment: $3,000 maximum
• Appliances, plumbing, and electrical repairs: $500 maximum
• Additional coverages: $500 maximum
• Freon coverage: $250 maximum

Company Credentials and Regulatory Standing

Select Home Warranty operates as a legitimate business registered with the State of New Jersey, having maintained operations for more than a decade. The company has not faced any identified pending lawsuits, though consumers should always conduct independent verification of any legal actions.

The company displays several award badges, including Editor’s Choice designations from HomeWarrantyReviews.com (2021 and 2022), a Best Home Warranties award from Consumer Advocate (2019), and a Best Overall Score recognition from Top10.com. However, select home warranty is notably not accredited by the Better Business Bureau.

Geographic Availability and Service Accessibility

Select Home Warranty’s service footprint covers 46 states, excluding New York, Nevada, Washington, and Wisconsin residents. Claims can be filed 24/7 through phone or email, with standard dispatch occurring within 48 hours (two business days). Weekend response times may extend to four days.

The company’s website allows instant free quotes and online policy purchases. However, it lacks a customer portal for tracking active claims, billing history, or renewal dates—information you’ll need to manage through direct contact with the company.

Customer Satisfaction: The Mixed Picture

Third-party ratings reveal an interesting paradox for select home warranty:

Google Business: 4.0 out of 5 stars (based on 15,229 reviews) Better Business Bureau: 1.55 out of 5 stars (based on 1,642 reviews) Trustpilot: 3.7 out of 5 stars (based on 3,102 reviews)

While Google and Trustpilot ratings suggest reasonable customer satisfaction, select home warranty’s BBB profile presents a starkly different picture. The company’s BBB rating of 1.55 out of 5 stars reflects a preponderance of one-star complaints, resulting in a C grade from the bureau (though the company is not BBB-accredited).

Common Customer Complaints consistently center on three themes:

1. Contractor Dispatch Delays: Customers frequently report significant delays in dispatching technicians to address claims despite the stated 48-hour response window.

2. Coverage Interpretation Disputes: Many complaints involve disagreements over what the company considers covered versus excluded, with customers feeling misled about coverage scope.

3. Claims Resolution Difficulties: Customers report challenges resolving issues related to claim approval, billing discrepancies, and payment processing.

These patterns suggest select home warranty may struggle with customer service execution despite having a competitive product offering.

Is Select Home Warranty Right for You?

Select home warranty provides standard home warranty protection through a service contract model. Like most competitors, it excludes pre-existing conditions, natural disasters, human error, neglect, and systems lacking documented maintenance.

The company’s strength lies in its competitive pricing, the unusual inclusion of roof leak coverage, and the option to use your preferred contractor. Its significant weakness is the persistent customer service complaints and notably poor BBB standing, which contrasts sharply with better ratings on other platforms.

Before selecting any home warranty provider, thoroughly review the specific contract terms, coverage limits, and claim procedures. Compare the total annual cost (accounting for monthly fees and service call charges) against establishing a dedicated home repair fund. For some households, saving money in a dedicated account monthly may prove more cost-effective than paying for coverage you might not need.

If you determine that a service contract aligns with your financial strategy, ensure you understand exactly what your select home warranty policy covers, what it excludes, and the process for filing claims before problems arise.