Home warranty maintenance

What to keep. Dated, itemized invoices from licensed contractors for every routine service on covered equipment. Photographs of equipment nameplates with model and serial numbers. A written note of each item's condition when coverage began. Filter change dates if your contract mentions them.

Why it matters more here than elsewhere. A company may inspect your home before issuing a contract, but is not required to — California law permits a home protection company to conduct an onsite inspection before issuing a contract without mandating it. That means the condition of your equipment at the start of coverage often goes undocumented by the company, leaving your own records as the only evidence.

Some plans sell maintenance as an add-on. HVAC maintenance coverage runs about $10 to $15 a month. Whether that's worthwhile depends on what a local tune-up costs you and whether the contract conditions HVAC coverage on documented maintenance — if it does, the add-on may be doing two jobs at once.

Do the maintenance anyway. Even setting warranties aside, documented servicing extends equipment life and gives you a record for resale. A home inspection at sale runs about $300 to $500 and covers HVAC, plumbing, electrical, roof and appliances; a maintained house shows better in that report.

How to choose

One folder, every invoice, dated

Improper maintenance is a standard exclusion. Invoices are the cheapest possible defense.

Document condition at the start of coverage

The company may not inspect. Your photos and notes become the baseline evidence.

Read what maintenance your contract requires

Some contracts name specific intervals. Not doing them is a denial waiting to happen.

Use licensed contractors and keep itemized receipts

A handwritten note isn't evidence. An itemized invoice with a license number is.

Consider whether the HVAC maintenance add-on pays for itself

$10 to $15 a month against what a local tune-up costs — and against the denial it may prevent.