America’s Preferred Home Warranty review: A comprehensive guide to cost and coverage

America’s Preferred Home Warranty at a glance

America’s Preferred Home Warranty has more than two decades of experience and a history of above-average customer service, based on reviews filed with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) — these place it among our best home warranty companies.

Fast facts

What we like

America’s Preferred Home Warranty (APHW) has some of the lowest available service call fees, starting at $50. Compared to companies like American Home Shield — which have service call fees of $100 and $125 — APHW should save you money throughout your contract(s).

APHW is one of just a handful of home warranty companies that lets you choose your contractor, a wonderful perk if you already have professionals that you know and trust.

What we don’t like

Choosing your contractor is an upside to working with APHW, but it has one drawback. The claims process involves added work because you must call APHW to get a claim number, hire the contractor yourself and then call again once the contractor is on-site to get pre-approval for the claim. This process is convoluted and time-consuming compared to using a company that picks the pre-approved vendors and sends them to you.

APHW has only two available plans: the Legacy Plan and the Enhanced Plan. They cover most of the same appliances and systems. The exception is for washers, dryers and pipe leak coverage, which APHW only includes in the Enhanced Plan. Also, there’s minimal room to customize your coverage.

*BBB scores are accurate as of August 2024.

America’s Preferred Home Warranty pros and cons

America’s Preferred Home Warranty works best for homeowners who want complete protection for all systems and appliances but don’t need to customize their coverage. That’s because its two plans are nearly identical and cover so much. The company has 10 optional add-ons that you can use for more customized coverage, though.

Unfortunately, APHW has an outdated claims process. Companies like American Residential Home Warranty have multiple ways to submit claims, such as online chat, phone calls, email and mobile app. With APHW, you can track claims on the online platform and start a claim online, but you’ll always have to get on the phone at some point to get approval.

Pros

Cons

How much does America’s Preferred Home Warranty cost?

America’s Preferred Home Warranty costs between $47.91 and $58.25 per month without add-ons and without factoring in discounts. The price you pay depends on the plan you choose and the service call fee you pick, either $50 or $100 per call. The table below breaks down pricing based on plan and service fee. These prices are for a property in Suffolk County, New York. Your price may differ.

America’s Preferred Home Warranty has 10 add-on elections, each of which has an added per-month price. Note that prices differ by ZIP code:

Savings and discounts

As of this writing, I have not found any discounts or special offers from ARHW. However, you can save some money on your monthly charges by choosing a higher service call fee, which the company refers to as a deductible. Your monthly costs will be $4 lower per month if you pick the plan with the $100 deductible. However, even the lower price could cost you more over time if you make a lot of service requests.

According to the company’s website, America’s Preferred Home Warranty is the only home warranty company backed by TrustDALE’s $10,000 Make It Right Guarantee, which is a third-party guarantee that ARHW will provide the service its promises, or you’ll get your money back. This guarantee could be a way of saving money over choosing a competitor that doesn’t hold true to its claims.

What services does America’s Preferred Home Warranty offer?

America’s Preferred Home Warranty has two plans, both of which cover most appliances and home systems: the Legacy Plan and the Enhanced Plan. The difference between the two is that the Enhanced Plan includes washer, dryer and extended pipe leak coverage. The table in the following section includes a breakdown of the individual items that each plan covers.

Both plans have a 30-day waiting period. The company won’t provide coverage for claims submitted in the first 30 days following the start of your policy. One month is standard in the industry.

There are add-on options available to customize your plan, including eight options for the Enhanced Plan and 10 for the Legacy Plan.

America’s Preferred Home Warranty services

America’s Preferred Home Warranty add-ons and optional features

There are a few opportunities to customize your plan with add-on coverage. Most of these add-ons are consistent with what you’d see from other home warranty providers, but one notable add-on is termite control. This is a rarity in the industry, and can save you up to $500 if you need to call an exterminator for a termite infestation.

Enhanced Plan add-ons:

Legacy Plan add-ons:

If you want extra coverage, you can upgrade either plan to Premier for $13 to $16 per month. This additional coverage adds items and situations not typically covered, such as code violations and toilet replacement.

For $19.99 per month, you can get APHW’s Home Entertainment and Technology Plan to cover your electronics, devices and computers. This plan has a $75 deductible.

What does America’s Preferred Home Warranty not cover?

With its waiting period, America’s Preferred Home Warranty won’t cover any work needed in the first 30 days after your contract begins; this is standard across the industry. Check the terms and conditions for information on which items APHW covers before you sign up.

The terms and conditions spell out coverage limits per-item, ranging from $500 to $2,250 for the primary covered items and from $200 to $1,200 for add-on items.

America’s Preferred Home Warranty customer experience

You can sign up for coverage through America’s Preferred Home Warranty by phone or online, which is convenient. However, when it comes to filing a claim, the process seems unnecessarily complicated because APHW doesn’t dispatch service providers directly.

Instead, you will have to contact a contractor — either one you know or one APHW recommends to you — and then file the claim separately. You can begin a claim online, but you must still call APHW when your service provider is onsite to get approval for the claim. Companies like Select Home Warranty that can dispatch in-network providers make the process more streamlined.

I called APHW to gauge the company’s response time, and waited on hold for six minutes before I talked to a live representative. Six minutes is longer than I’ve waited on hold with other companies that I shopped secretly. There was an option to hang up and reserve my place in the hold line to get a callback, but the wait was still longer than expected. I suspect that getting approval for a claim and calling when you have a contractor onsite might include similar delays.

APHW has an above-average customer rating with the BBB (3.18 stars out of 5), while most competitors score between one and two stars. The company’s rating with Trustpilot is 1.5 out of 5, which is on par with its competitors.

Although I’m not impressed by the response time from APHW, its customer service seems better than you’d get from a direct competitor. The following America’s Preferred Home Warranty reviews give a snapshot of what you can expect from the company.

The fine print: Terms and conditions you should know

According to APHW’s terms and conditions page, APHW has excluded components for every covered item. So, it is important to understand what the company does and doesn’t cover before you sign up for a plan. In addition to the excluded components, there are coverage limits for each item, as follows:

America’s Preferred Home Warranty vs. competitors

APHW has a solid number of add-on coverages. But for base coverage, customization options are minimal. There are only two plans, and both cover most appliances and systems. America’s Preferred Home Warranty is not the company for you if you want coverage for specific things in your home. In that case, you’re better off checking out a different top home warranty provider.

The prices for base coverage are below average. However, a lot of the coverage limits are lower than you’d expect from premium home warranty companies like American Home Shield, which has coverage limits as high as $5,000 for things like ACs and heating systems.

America’s Preferred Home Warranty competitor comparison

Methodology

In an effort to bring you accurate and unbiased information, the CNN Underscored team reviewed 25 of the top home warranty companies in the country and compared them based on just under 1,500 data points. We weighted each of our ranking categories — which include plans and coverage, pricing, guarantees, customer service, customer ratings, availability and coverage flexibility — based on what we believe is most important for homeowners like you. All of our scores are objective. We are never influenced by company partnerships.

The author has also researched and written about home warranty companies for the past four years, which allows him to compare this provider to others and to industry averages and tendencies he has observed through his experience.

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