Homeownership is expensive. Once you’ve completed the home-buying process and moved in, home maintenance and the associated costs become your responsibility. What do you do and who do you call when something major breaks down, and how can you afford it? Today, we’ll show you how a Home Service Plan from 2-10 Home Buyers Warranty (2-10) answers these questions and more.
What Is a Home Service Plan?
A Home Service Plan is an annual service contract. Home Service Plans help homeowners protect their home’s systems and appliances against routine breakdowns caused by normal wear and tear. A system is something like your plumbing and water heater, electrical system, or air conditioning. An appliance is something major like your dishwasher, refrigerator, or oven, not something like a juicer or blender.
In short, a 2-10 Home Service Plan can reduce the upfront costs of breakdowns, connect you with trustworthy local contractors, and give you peace of mind that you have a solution for breakdowns.
What Does a Home Service Plan Cover?
Different Home Service Plan companies cover different things. However, one consistent part of coverage across most Home Service Plan companies is that coverage applies to items that break down from normal wear and tear.
For example, if your refrigerator broke down and the cause was a fire, your Home Service Plan wouldn’t apply (but home insurance might—more on that later). Likewise, if you misuse or abuse a covered item—such as by not maintaining a system or appliance properly—coverage wouldn’t apply, since misuse and abuse preclude normal wear and tear.
While we can’t speak to what other Home Service Plan companies cover, we can give you an overview of what some of 2-10’s most popular plans cover. You can get a personalized, no-obligation quote on these plans via our Pricing and Plans page.
Simply Kitchen: 2-10’s Most Affordable Plan
With the Simply Kitchen plan, you can cover your kitchen’s most important appliances. Simply Kitchen includes base coverage for the following kitchen appliances:
- Built-in microwave
- Dishwasher
- Oven, range, and cooktop (electric and gas)
- Refrigerator with ice maker/crusher and beverage dispenser
This plan does an excellent job of keeping your home appliances protected against routine breakdowns. Plus, it’s 2-10’s most affordable plan.
However, this plan doesn’t cover things like plumbing systems, electrical systems, or air conditioning. But if you’re looking to protect kitchen appliances, this plan is a great option.
Complete Home: 2-10’s Best-Value Plan
When you need protection for more than just kitchen appliances, 2-10’s Complete Home plan gives you more. Complete Home includes coverage for appliances (see Simply Kitchen above) in addition to your most important home systems.
- Heating and cooling: Includes coverage for one centrally ducted electric or gas heating and cooling system, all thermostats, and interior gas lines (when applicable)
- Plumbing: Includes but isn’t limited to water, drain, waste, and vent pipe leaks and breaks; gas and electric water heaters; and tankless, power, and direct vent units
- Electrical: Includes wiring, switches, outlets, panels, and doorbell systems
Complete Home provides fuller coverage for common breakdowns. That means more comprehensive coverage for your home’s systems and appliances, and more time enjoying homeownership.
Pinnacle Home: 2-10’s Most Comprehensive Plan
Finally, 2-10’s most comprehensive plan is the Pinnacle Home plan. Pinnacle takes Complete Home coverage and adds even more protection to it.
When you purchase the Pinnacle Home plan, you get 2-10’s Supreme coverage, which provides deeper protection for the things that matter most in your home.
For example, with Pinnacle Home, you get coverage for your appliances plus coverage for things like clocks, racks, dials, springs, and handles and hinges. For a fuller list of things that Supreme offers, check out our article on our Pinnacle Home plan.
Do These Plans Cover Anything Else, Like Roof Leaks?
They can! For every plan 2-10 offers, you have the opportunity to add optional coverage. For example, if you wanted to make sure that you have coverage for roof leaks that occur over your home’s living space, you could add our roof leak coverage to your Home Service Plan.
You can see a complete list of available options on our Pricing and Plans page. You can also see some of our most popular options and what they do in our article about plan options.
Doesn’t My Homeowners Insurance Do the Same Thing?
No. This is common misconception that often catches homeowners by surprise.
Homeowners insurance usually covers instances like fire, theft, weather damage, and vandalism. It can also protect you if someone gets injured or dies on your property. It does not cover routine breakdowns to your home’s systems and appliances. Virtually every mortgage lender requires you to have this kind of insurance to obtain a home loan.
Home Service Plans, on the other hand, do cover routine system and appliance breakdowns. However, they don’t cover damage or breakdowns to your systems and appliances that are caused by things like weather. While mortgage lenders don’t require a Home Service Plan to obtain a loan, many homeowners and real estate agents choose to purchase a Home Service Plan to complement homeowners insurance coverage.
What’s an example of the difference in coverage?
Let’s use an easy example of a breakdown and collateral damage the breakdown causes to point out the difference in coverage.
Say you have a refrigerator that you use properly and maintain well (e.g., you vacuum the condenser coils regularly and don’t overload it). One day, after working well for years, it breaks down. Even worse, the water it leaks causes damage to your kitchen floor. Fortunately, you have a 2-10 Home Service Plan with refrigerator coverage, and homeowners insurance. But which covers what?
In this instance, your Home Service Plan would cover the breakdown of your refrigerator. However, for the damage to your kitchen floor, you’d need to reach out to your insurance company to see whether they cover that.
Check out our article about the differences between Home Service Plans and homeowners insurance for more information.
How Much Does a Home Service Plan Cost?
The cost of a Home Service Plan depends on your coverage. Because your home and needs are unique, the best way to determine what a Home Service Plan may cost is to get a quote.
What’s a Service Fee?
A Service Fee is a relatively small payment you make to the contractor when you submit a service request. When you choose 2-10, you’ll typically pay $100 or less to have a contractor service your breakdown. Then, 2-10 covers the rest of repair or replacement cost, up to the clearly stated limits in your service contract.
Why Do Home Service Plans Have Limits?
Another big question that homeowners have is “Why are there limits on my coverage?”
Before we answer that, it’s important to know that all Home Service Plan companies have coverage limits and exclusions. There is no such thing as limitless coverage. However, 2-10 clearly states our limits and exclusions in each of our Home Service Plans.
The biggest, simplest reason that limits exist is to provide the most robust coverage at a reasonable price. If Home Service Plans were limitless, their price would be astronomical.
As you’ve seen, the cost to repair or replace systems and appliances can get very expensive for the average homeowner. 2-10 helps you by having an extensive network of contractors. This network lets us leverage cost discounts on repairs and parts, often below wholesale price. And that’s how we can provide you affordable coverage at a fraction of the retail cost.
Am I Likely to Go Over My Limits or Can I Raise Them?
If you’re like 95% of homeowners, it’s unlikely that you’ll exceed your limits. While it does sometimes happen, it’s generally a rare occurrence. We’ve designed our Home Service Plan coverage to address the kinds of breakdowns that 95% of homeowners face. These limits protect the majority of homeowners from feeling the pain of unusually expensive claims other homeowners may face.
However, you can raise your limits in certain cases. 2-10 provides you with an industry-exclusive opportunity to raise some of your limits through our Luxury Package. For more information about limits, check out our comprehensive article on Home Service Plan limits.
Doesn’t My Manufacturer’s Warranty Do the Same Thing?
Manufacturer’s warranties are indeed similar to Home Service Plans in some ways. However, a Home Service Plan has several advantages over a manufacturer’s warranty.
The most obvious advantage a Home Service Plan has is that it’s generally more flexible than a manufacturer’s warranty. A manufacturer’s warranty typically covers one specific item and is brand specific. However, a Home Service Plan can cover several items and various brands. So right away, a Home Service Plan gives you a wider range of coverage.
Second, because manufacturer’s warranties only cover one specific item, you’d need to purchase multiple extended warranties to keep them covered. With a Home Service Plan, you can save money because it covers more things.
Third, manufacturer’s warranties aren’t always non-transferable, whereas a Home Service Plan is transferable. That’s a big deal.
Say you buy a house that includes new appliances that the old owner purchased, and those appliances have a manufacturer’s warranty. If an appliance broke down after you bought it, the manufacturer’s warranty may not apply to you. It may only apply to the original purchaser.
On the other hand, a Home Service Plan could cover that appliance breakdown regardless of who bought it.
For Comprehensive Protection, Choose 2-10
We’ve gone through quite a bit of information about Home Service Plans. To sum it all up, a 2-10 Home Service Plan makes protecting your home more affordable.
- 2-10 can help you reduce upfront, out-of-pocket costs when things break down from routine wear and tear.
- Our network of technicians makes finding the right person to call super easy, because we do it for you.
- You can request service, renew and review coverage, and access perks 24/7 through 2-10’s online Homeowner Portal.
Owning a home should be a good experience overall. But system and appliance breakdowns can turn homeownership into a hair-tearing experience. With coverage from 2-10 , you can better protect your budget, knowing that 2-10 is with you at every stage of your homeownership journey.
