Paid placement. Click 4 Coverage home coverage is a client of OwnersFirm, which publishes this site and is paid when a reader who arrives from it buys coverage. Where a card for it appears on this page, that card is advertising. Its row in any table is scored by the same published rules as every other company. No other company on this page paid to appear.
The home flagship ranking
The best home warranty companies, ranked on the terms they print
We read each company's own site and sample contract, scored what it publishes on a 100-point rubric, and put the arithmetic on the page. A home warranty is a home service contract: not a warranty in the legal sense, and not insurance.
Scored on paperEvery point traces to a page a company publishes or to a state roster.
Four buckets, 100 pointsTransparency 30, consumer terms 35, standing 25 and public record 10. The figure out of 5 is the score divided by 20.
Silence scores zeroA service call fee, cap or waiting period kept off the public pages earns nothing, whatever the contract later says.
One paid card, always labeledClick 4 Coverage home coverage pays for the card above. Its row in the table is placed by the rubric alone.
Left out on purposeWe do not score reviews, cost or customer service, because none of them can be checked against a primary source.
The table: every company, every point
Each row is one company, scored from its own public pages and from state rosters. Read across a row for the terms you can check before paying; read down the score column to see who prints the most of them. Ties are listed alphabetically.
15 companies scored. The highest score is 100 of 100, held by Home Warranty of America. Click 4 Coverage home coverage, the advertiser, scored 40 of 100 from what its site prints and sits at row 13.
Scored from home_warranty_providers.json, facts read 2026-10-16. Not published means we did not find the term on the company's public pages; it scores zero. Ties are listed alphabetically.
#
Company
Score
Out of 5
Money-back
Waiting period
Service call fee
Sample contract online
Online quote
Rosters (VA, IA, NY, NV, TX)
1
Home Warranty of America
100
5.0
30 days
30 days
from $75, varies by plan and state; prices shown at $100
yes
yes
4
2
American Home Shield
90
4.5
30 days
30 days
$100 or $125
yes
no
4
3
Select Home Warranty
82
4.1
30 days
30 days
$65 to $200 depending on plan (FAQ says typically)
yes
no
3
4
2-10 Home Buyers Warranty
80
4.0
30 days
30 days
not published
yes
no
4
5
Liberty Home Guard
80
4.0
30 days
30 days
not published
yes
no
5
6
Choice Home Warranty
79
4.0
30 days
30 days
$100 trade service call fee
yes
no
2
7
ARW Home
75
3.8
30 days
30 days
not published
yes
no
4
8
AFC Home Warranty
73
3.6
30 days
30 days
$75, $100 or $125
yes
no
0
9
HomeSafe
68
3.4
not published
25 days
not published
yes
no
0
10
Old Republic Home Protection
57
2.9
none stated
not published
not published
yes
no
3
11
First Premier Home Warranty
55
2.8
30 days
30 days
not published
yes
no
0
12
Cinch Home Services
54
2.7
30 days
30 days
not published
no
yes
3
13
Click 4 Coverage home coverage advertiser
40
2.0
30 days
30 days
not published
no
yes
0
14
First American Home Warranty
40
2.0
none stated
30 days
not published
no
no
4
15
HomeServe (site could not be read by script)
22
1.1
not published
not published
not published
no
no
4
Seven fact sheets
These cards take the seven highest-scoring rows and set out what each company prints, with the page every fact came from. The large "best for" label on each card is always a rubric field, such as the shortest waiting period or the lowest service call fee across the whole table, and the score sits beside it.
Best forSample contract online
Home Warranty of America
Monthly prices printed on the homepage; sample terms PDF online; $15,000 aggregate cap; 30-day waiting period; same obligor as Choice Home Warranty.
Score
100 of 100 (5.0 of 5)
Legal entity
American Global Obligors, Inc. (obligor; HWA Home Warranty, Inc. on the site)
Headquarters
Bedminster, NJ
Money-back
30 days
Waiting period
30 days
Service call fee
from $75, varies by plan and state; prices shown at $100
Sample contract online
yes
Online quote, no call
yes
Obligor named
American Global Obligors, Inc. or the state Home Warranty Administrator entity
Points: transparency 30, terms 35, standing 25, record 10.
The product sold as a home warranty is a contract: you pay a yearly or monthly price, and the company agrees to repair or replace listed systems and appliances that fail from normal wear. Despite the name it is not a warranty, which is a promise that comes with a product from the maker or seller. It is not homeowners insurance either, which pays for sudden damage rather than wear. Many states regulate these contracts under service contract law, and a few publish a roster of the companies registered with them; Virginia and Iowa are two of the rosters behind our standing scores. The contract you sign is what governs, which is why a sample contract you can open before buying is worth more points than any other single field.
The service call fee
The service call fee, sometimes called a trade call fee, is the flat amount you pay each time a technician visits for a claim, whatever the repair ends up costing. Some companies let you choose a higher fee in exchange for a lower price; others set one figure for everyone. Two questions matter: what the fee is, and whether you pay it again when the same technician returns for the same problem. A company that prints the fee earns five points, and the table sorts on it in one of our lists.
The waiting period
The waiting period is the stretch between buying the contract and the first day a claim is accepted. It exists so nobody buys coverage the afternoon the air conditioner quits. Thirty days is the figure most companies we read print. The rubric gives eight points for thirty days or fewer, four for thirty-one to sixty, and the full eight when there is no waiting period at all. Do not confuse it with the money-back period, which is how long you can cancel for a refund; the two often run side by side, and the rubric scores them separately.
The annual cap
The annual cap is the most the company will pay in a contract year. It may apply per item, per system or to the whole contract, and it decides what happens when a repair turns into a replacement: the contract pays up to its limit and the rest is yours. Caps usually sit deep in the contract rather than on the sales page, so a company that publishes them earns five points. Read the limits for heating and cooling first; those are usually the costliest systems to replace.
Before you pay, read these five lines
The list of covered items, and the separate list of exclusions.
How the contract treats a problem that existed before coverage began.
Who pays for permits, code upgrades or removing the old unit.
The cancellation terms after the money-back period ends.
The name of the obligor, the company legally responsible for paying claims.
Is a home warranty the same thing as homeowners insurance?
No. Homeowners insurance pays for sudden damage, such as a fire, a storm or water pouring through a ceiling. A home warranty, which is legally a home service contract, pays for covered systems and appliances that stop working from ordinary wear.
Why are there no prices in the table?
Prices depend on your address, the size and type of your home, the plan and the service call fee you choose, and most companies quote them one household at a time. We could not check a single published price for every company on the same terms, so cost is not scored and not printed. Get quotes for your own address and set them beside the table.
What does "not published" mean?
It means we did not find that term on the company's public pages on the pull date. It does not prove the company lacks the term; it may only appear in the contract you receive after you pay. Under our rubric an unpublished term earns zero points, because a homeowner cannot weigh what they cannot read before buying.
Where does Click 4 Coverage home coverage fit in?
Click 4 Coverage pays OwnersFirm, the publisher of this site, for the labeled card near the top and bottom of this page. Its row inside the table is scored from what click-4-coverage.com prints, with the same rules and the same zero for anything unpublished. It sits where those points put it.
Can any company pay to move up the table?
No. The only payment is for the labeled card. A company moves up by printing more of its terms: a sample contract anyone can open, its service call fee, its annual caps, its legal name and the company that stands behind the contract.
What is an obligor, and why does it earn points?
The obligor is the company legally on the hook to pay your claims. Sometimes it is the brand you bought from; sometimes it is a separate company named only inside the contract. Naming it publicly lets you check it against a state roster, which is worth eight points.
Do waiting periods apply when coverage is bought at a home closing?
Sometimes not. Some companies shorten or drop the waiting period on plans bought through a real estate sale, and some waive it if you can show earlier coverage with no gap. The table records the waiting period the company prints for a homeowner buying on their own. Check the contract for the version you are offered at closing.
In the queue, published once enough companies qualify: Home warranties with a sample contract you can read before buying; Home warranty companies sorted by service call fee; Home warranty companies sorted by waiting period; Home warranties you can price online.
How the score works
Transparency is worth 30 points, consumer terms 35, standing on state rosters 25, and a clean public record on government sources 10. Every field, every rule and every source is listed on the methodology page, with the corrections policy.