Is the Extended Labor Warranty on a New AC Unit Worth The $$?

We're in the middle of considering this. We got a 19 seer unit and some of the parts are warranteed for 5 yrs and some for 10 yrs. I talked to one of the guys who came out to service the unit. He said that a service call is $75 just to come out, and then his labor is extra. So if we were to have the compressor replaced (warantee is 5 yrs on that), for example, it's about $1K for the labor plus the freon. If you were to have something like that go out, it's definitely worth it. I'm not sure what we're going to decide either.

We redid our entire system about 4-5 yrs ago and never paid extra for a warranty.

We upgraded and completely removed anything the builder put in when we built in 2000 and replaced with upgraded materials and units. Collin Air is who we use.

They have come out at no charge to make sure everything was working well at the beginning of the season. About 3 months ago there was an issue with a part on the furnace and they replaced it at no charge as well.

I know the system came with a good warranty. I guess it depends on how much you trust the people doing the install. You can have the best of the best units and if they are not installed exactly right, have issues and they not save money in the long run. We completely trust Brian and his guys.

That said, I probably would not spend the extra money on the warranty.

Have you ever thought about doing American Home Shield. It covers items in the house, as well as the AC. I find this much more worth the money.

I had this conversation with a friend of mine from church last month. She had a new unit installed 10 years ago and bought the additional labor warranty. She said it was some of the best money she had ever spent. A problem occurred with her unit right before the 10 years was up and she didn't have to pay anything for the repair.

In my opinion, $55/year for that kind of peace of mind is well worth it. Not to mention it's quite possible you could recoup the entire value with only one repair. I would ask myself this question: Will I regret spending this money more if after 10 years, I never used the warranty, or if within 10 years, I need a repair (or more than 1 repair) that costs me more than it would have cost for the warranty? My answer, in this case, would be to spend the money on the warranty, but I will admit I tend to over-insure.

Three things that might sway your decision one way or the other though: I'm assuming this is a manufacturer's warranty, so the warranty goes with the unit, not the homeowner. 1) This could be a good selling point if you ever need to sell your house. 2) Do you feel comfortable that the manufacturer will be around for the duration of your warranty? 3) You usually have to pay to have your unit serviced twice a year in order to keep your warranty active. This can be quite costly when they have to clean the coils or do other "maintenance" to keep the warranty in effect.

Whatever you decide, I'm sure you will enjoy your new AC! We're without AC at present, so I'll be sitting here in front of my fan, being jealous. :-)LOL

Blessings,
N.