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Best Home Warranties in Arkansas for 2023
By Susan Doktor MONEY RESEARCH COLLECTIVE
Experts recommend that homeowners budget 1-4% of their home’s value for yearly maintenance and repairs. To minimize home repair expenses, some homeowners choose to buy a home warranty. While home warranty agreements can’t minimize all of the costs of keeping your home in top shape, they can reduce the expense of unexpected repairs to your home appliances and major systems.
Our guide to the best home warranty companies in Arkansas includes reviews of 7 home warranty companies. For each company, we examined the home warranty plans offered, what’s covered under each plan and how much each plan costs. To standardize the information we provide, we requested quotes for a single-family home in Little Rock under 5,000 sq. ft. We report on the lowest premiums available with the highest deductible offered.
Table of contents:
Our Top Picks for the Best Home Warranties in Arkansas
Guide to the Best Home Warranties in Arkansas
Best Home Warranties in Arkansas FAQs
How We Evaluated the Best Home Warranties in Arkansas
Summary of our Guide to the Best Home Warranties in Arkansas
Our Top Picks for Best Home Warranties in Arkansas
Liberty Home Guard
- Choose among systems-only, appliances-only, and combination plans
- Customize your plan with a wide range of add-on coverage options
- Chat available to answer your questions
- Systems coverage capped at $2,000 per system
- High standard deductible with no option to customize
| Plan name | Plan cost |
| Appliance Guard | $49.99 |
| Systems Guard | $54.99 |
| Total Home Guard | $59.99 |
Liberty Home Guard presents three flexible options to suit a variety of customer requirements. The plans are named in a straightforward manner, making it easier for homeowners to compare home warranty coverage.
Liberty Home Guard stands out by offering a wide range of additional coverage options, including uncommon household features like swamp coolers, professional series kitchen appliances and reverse osmosis water filtration systems.
The Systems Guard plan offered by Liberty protects key systems in your home, such as your heating and cooling system, plumbing and electrical system. The Appliance Guard plan, on the other hand, covers common appliances like washing machines and clothes dryers, built-in microwaves, and smaller items like garbage disposals, ceiling fans, and garage door openers. The Total Home Guard plan combines both systems and appliance coverage, and is available at a reasonable price.
Liberty Home Guard offers various add-on coverage options including lawn sprinkler systems, pools and spas, roof leak coverage, septic systems, and central vacuum systems. Interestingly, you can also add coverage for certain services, including pest control, carpet cleaning, and gutter cleaning. That may be a handy feature for some homeowners.
In general, Liberty Home Guard charges reasonable monthly premiums, which may be offset by its standard service fee of $125, depending on how many claims are filed.
Choice Home Warranty
- Get one month free with an annual contract
- Two combination systems-and-appliances plans to choose from
- Wide range of optional add-on coverage
- No systems-only or appliances-only plan
- Can't choose your preferred deductible
| Plan name | Plan cost |
| Basic plan | $50.87 |
| Total plan | $59.47 |
Choice Home Warranty offers two whole-home plans — Basic and Total — which offer a combination of coverage for both systems and appliances. Plans differ in price and by which systems and appliances are eligible for coverage.
The company does not offer the option of purchasing separate coverage for systems or appliances. If you have confidence in your home’s systems, but have appliances that are unreliable or reaching their end of life, you may not want to invest in the comprehensive coverage. And vice versa. But both of Choice Home Warranty’s plans are reasonably priced. They offer peace of mind that a large portion of the repair issues you encounter will be accounted for in your plan.
The Basic Plan covers cooktops, ovens, built-in microwaves, dishwashers, and garbage disposals, but does not include coverage for refrigerators, clothes washers, and dryers. The plan does provide protection for electrical, plumbing, and heating systems, as well as water heaters, but excludes air conditioners and air conditioning systems.
For those who are willing to pay a bit more each month, the Total Plan provides coverage for the items not included in the Basic Plan. This plan covers clothes washers and dryers, as well as air conditioning systems. When considering the two plans, we believe that the Total Plan represents a better value, due to its broader range of coverage for common home appliances and systems.
Choice Home Warranty offers a single deductible option: $85 per service call. That’s on the lower end of the spectrum and, in practice, makes the company’s plans more economical.
American Home Shield
- Very high, $6,000 per appliance coverage limit (ShieldPlatinum only)
- Covers poorly maintained or undocumented appliances
- Choice of two deductibles ($100 or $125)
- Appliances-only plan not offered
| Plan name | Plan cost |
| ShieldSilver | $85.82 |
| ShieldGold | $105.82 |
| ShieldPlatinum | $135.82 |
American Home Shield is a major force in the home warranty industry, operating for more than 50 years.
AHS offers three customizable plans — one just for home systems and two that cover both systems and appliances. Their home systems plan covers 14 different systems, including your heating and air conditioning systems (ductwork included), your electrical, and plumbing systems, and your water heater.
While some home warranty companies only cover normal wear and tear, American Home Shield is one of the few that covers appliances and systems that haven’t been properly maintained.
Their combination plans offer comprehensive appliance coverage and include both major systems and kitchen and laundry room appliances.
With the ShieldGold plan, you get coverage for your systems plus protection for popular kitchen and laundry room appliances like refrigerators, ovens, cooktops, dishwashers, and built-in microwaves.
Upgrade to the ShieldPlatinum plan and you’ll also get limited roof leak repairs, free HVAC tune-ups, unlimited AC refrigerant refills, and coverage for code violations, permits, and modifications. For $30 extra per month, the Platinum plan can pay itself back if you make use of these added benefits.
AHS offers optional coverage for a limited number of optional coverages, including electronics, pools, guest units, but excluding some important home features such as sump pumps, septic systems, and more.
Overall, we note that home warranty plan premiums for Arkansas residents are definitely on the high side, and some may find the company’s high premiums a little beyond their budget.
ARW Home Warranty
- Offers coverage for home electronics (separate or combination plans available)
- Kitchen Plus appliance plan also covers water heaters
- Very low service call fee ($55)
- High premiums overall
- Low coverage limits on systems ($1000)
- Low coverage limits on appliances ($500)
| Plan name | Plan price |
| Ultimate Electronics Protection | $24.99 |
| Kitchen Plus | $34.99 |
| Platinum Premier | $64.99 |
| 4-in-1 Bundle | $129.99 |
Nowadays, most homes are chock full of electronic equipment, including laptops, tablets, and multiple TVs. ARW distinguishes itself by offering coverage for our beloved devices, either in a single separate plan or as part of its most comprehensive plan. Most home warranty companies don’t cover electronics at all and the few that do offer it as an add-on option to their packaged plans at an additional cost. If you’re an electronics aficionado, ARW’s Ultimate Electronics Protection plan may offer you an attractive solution to keeping all of your devices in good working order.
The company goes on to offer three other plans. Its Kitchen Plus plan covers refrigerators, ovens, ranges, and cooktops, built-in microwaves, garbage disposals and kitchen exhaust fans. It also offers protection for your water heater and your internal electric system — something many appliance plans don’t include. That’s the “plus” in Kitchen Plus.
The Platinum Premier plan combines system and appliance coverage. In addition to the systems and appliances covered in the Kitchen Plus plan, it covers all major home systems, including heating and central air conditioning (including ductwork) and plumbing systems (including plumbing stoppages). It also covers humidifiers and garage door openers.
Finally, ARW offers a 4-in-1 Bundle that enhances the coverage in the Platinum Premier plan with coverage for your electronic equipment and your washer and dryer.
The company offers a medium-sized list of add-on coverage options, including pools and spas, well pumps, external water and sewer lines, and, interestingly, protection against food spoilage. If you have a freezer stocked with rib eyes and lobster tails, that’s an interesting proposition.
Integrity Home Protection
- Low $75 service call fee
- Competitive coverage limits on appliances
- Can't get a free quote online
- No simple way to compare plans
- Maintenance records may be required when you file a claim
| Plan name | Plan cost |
| Silver plan | Not stated |
| Gold plan | Not stated |
| Platinum plan | Not stated |
Integrity Home Protection is a Better Business Bureau-accredited business and receives an A rating from the organization. More surprising, though, is its average rating from the customers who review the warranty company on the BBB site: it earns a near perfect 4.8 out of 5-star score. That’s pretty unusual among home warranty companies.
Despite its positive reputation among consumers and its low $75 service call fee, we can’t say that Integrity Home Protection provides a particularly positive online experience. The company’s website is cumbersome to use and doesn’t allow homeowners to easily compare coverage among its three plans.
To understand what’s covered under each plan, you need to consult a lengthy warranty contract, which, to its credit, the company does publish. But wading through the 24-page document just to get an idea of what’s covered isn’t something consumers relish at the beginning of their shopping journey. In addition, the company doesn’t provide free quotes online. To learn how much its plans cost, you must speak with one of the company’s “analysts” — a step that many consumers will find too arduous.
Home warranty contracts contain a lot of important details that consumers should examine before purchasing a plan. Among them are the coverage limits — the most a warranty provider will pay to replace a particular appliance or system. On that account, Integrity Home Protection does moderately well. For refrigerators and stoves, the company will pay up to $1,000 — not enough to buy the plushest appliance at Home Depot perhaps, but the payment will get you part-way there. Washers and dryers are covered up to $500, as are built-in microwaves, ice makers and wine coolers. The company’s coverage limits on heating and air conditioning systems is respectable, too, at $3,000. But coverage limits are low on electrical and plumbing systems.
Cinch Home Services
- Excellent 180-day workmanship guarantee
- Low starting premiums for all plans
- Choose your deductible
- Pays a portion of your homeowner's insurance deductible (conditions apply)
- Higher-than-average service call fees
- Shorter list of add-on options than some companies offer
| Plan name | Plan cost |
| Appliances plan | $44.99 |
| Built-in systems plan | $49.99 |
| Complete Home Plan | $54.99 |
Cinch Home Services provides three different options for customers — a plan covering only systems, one covering only appliances, or a combination plan. One of the best features of these plans is their low starting monthly costs. To receive the most competitive rates, one must choose a plan with a relatively high $150 deductible. However, Cinch does give the option for customers to adjust their service call fee, which could result in lower premiums.The three protection plans remain competitively priced, even with the highest deductible.
Unfortunately, customers with homes with a lot of special features may not find what they need in the company’s add-on coverage, which is limited to covering pools and spas, septic tanks, well pumps, and repairs caused by code violations.
On the positive side, Cinch Home Services offers some excellent benefits. First, they provide a very lengthy workmanship guarantee. Repairs performed by the company’s technicians are guaranteed for 180 days. This is a much longer warranty than many other home warranty companies offer. From what we’ve seen in the industry, the most common workmanship guarantee is only 30 days. We like to see a company that has confidence in its contractors. But more importantly, the guarantee prevents homeowners paying multiple service call fees to fix a chronic problem.
Another great benefit of a Cinch Home Services warranty is that if a home warranty claim is made for a repair covered under homeowner’s insurance, and the homeowner proceeds to file a claim for damages with their insurance, Cinch will reimburse them for a portion of their homeowner’s insurance deductible, up to $500. For example, if a pipe bursts and damages your ceiling, Cinch will not cover the ceiling repair. But if you file a claim with your insurance company for the cost of repairing your ceiling,, Cinch will reimburse you for part of your deductible. This reimbursement benefit has the potential to offset the entire cost of an annual Cinch Home Services plan.
First American Home Warranty
- Three combination plans to choose from
- Select your preferred deductible ($75, $100, or $125)
- Sample contract provided on website
- No opportunity to buy appliances-only or systems-only coverage
- Starter plan offers relatively thin coverage
- Limited add-on coverage options
| Plan name | Plan cost |
| Starter plan | $57.00 |
| Essential plan | $67.00 |
| Premium plan | $82.00 |
First American Home Warranty gives homeowners the choice of three plans, all of which offer protection for a combination of systems and appliances.
The company’s Starter plan comes with the lowest premium, but its coverage is limited to eight items: Stoves/cooktops, dishwashers, refrigerators, built-in microwaves, electrical, heating, and plumbing systems. The plan does not cover laundry appliances or air conditioning systems. It also excludes water heaters from coverage.
If you choose First Home Warranty’s Essential or Platinum plan, you will have access to a more comprehensive coverage. Both plans protect clothes washers and dryers, garbage disposals, air conditioning systems, and the energy-efficient ductless mini-split systems. Window air conditioners are also included.
Homeowners can select their deductible from $75, $100 or $125. First Home Warranty also provides eight additional coverage options, including pools and spas, septic systems, well pumps, and more.
Across the board, First American Home Warranty’s premiums are on the high side compared to other plans we’ve reviewed. But in some cases, these costs are offset by high coverage limits, including $3,500 for refrigerators with the Starter plan—a great feature if you have a premium brand fridge in your kitchen.
The Home Service Club
- Moderately-priced combination coverage
- Both plans include washers and dryers
- Coverage available for less common issues like gas leaks, smoke detectors, and security system wiring
- Separate coverage not available for systems or appliances
- Some common systems excluded from basic coverage
| Plan name | Plan cost |
| Standard plan | $50.41 |
| Comprehensive plan | $62.91 |
The Home Service Club provides homeowners with two options for combined systems-and-appliances coverage. Here’s what’s included in each plan:
The Standard plan covers air conditioning, heating, and electrical systems, water heaters, ceiling fans, central vacuums, dishwashers, food centers, garage door openers, garbage disposals, trash compactors, washers and dryers, refrigerators, stoves/cooktops, and built-in microwaves. That’s a lot of coverage for an opening price point home warranty plan and is a relative bargain at $50.41 a month.
The Comprehensive plan covers everything included in the Standard plan, plus ductwork, plumbing stoppages, alarm wiring, gas leaks, hot water pumps, smoke detectors, sump pumps, hot water dispensers, and whirlpool baths. It also includes coverage for pest control, a fairly unusual feature that isn’t generally part of packaged plans, but sometimes available as add-on coverage for an additional fee.
The Home Service Club offers add-on coverage for pool and spa equipment, additional refrigerators, jetted bathtubs, sewage ejector pumps, dual compressor refrigerators, second freezers, water softening systems, well pumps, additional dishwasher water heaters, range/oven/cooktops, and microwaves, and plumbing sprinkler service lines.
Guide to the Best Home Warranties in Arkansas
Main things to know before purchasing a home warranty in Arkansas
Home warranties are legal contracts. In return for a fee, home warranty companies agree to pay the cost of repairing or replacing home systems and appliances, up to the limits set out in the contract. Home warranties are generally sold in one-year terms. Most companies allow you to cancel your warranty at any time, but you may be required to pay a prorated fee for any time remaining on your contract.
Every home warranty plan is a little bit different. The task of comparing companies and plans can be very time-consuming. But it’s essential that homeowners dig into the details of the plans they are considering, including monthly costs (premiums), service fees, coverage limits and exclusions. Some home warranty companies will deny coverage when they determine a breakdown is due to a pre-existing condition. Others only cover repairs due to normal wear and tear. You may be surprised to learn that a company covers your refrigerator, but not the built-in ice maker it houses. For that, you might need separate coverage.The type of information is typically contained in the sample contracts home warranty companies publish on their websites. Reading a contract carefully is essential when figuring out whether a home warranty is worth it.
What does a home warranty cover in Arkansas?
Depending on the home warranty plan you choose, you may get coverage for major home systems, appliances, or both. It’s common for less expensive appliance plans to exclude washers and dryers. More comprehensive plans cover minor appliances like food waste disposals and ceiling fans. They can get pretty granular and cover garage door openers and water dispensers, for example. Systems plans may cover all major systems, including electrical, HVAC, and plumbing, but they may exclude air conditioning or plumbing stoppages. That’s one way home warranty companies incentivize homeowners to purchase their more expensive combination plans.
How much does a home warranty cost in Arkansas?
Home warranty costs are all over the map. Your actual costs will differ depending on the type of plan you choose: combination systems-and-appliances are pricier than plans that only cover one or the other. The size of your home will also influence the size of your premiums. Plans with high coverage limits cost more than those with low coverage limits. Finally, the deductible you pay will also affect the cost of your plan. Higher deductibles drive premium costs down.
Who regulates home warranty companies in Arkansas?
In Arkansas, the Arkansas Insurance Department regulates home warranties.
How does a home warranty work?
Home warranties are not insurance policies, but they resemble them in certain ways. Homeowners pay a monthly or annual premium for coverage. When something goes wrong with a covered system or appliance, they file a claim and request service.under the warranty plan. At that point, the home warranty company will send a technician to diagnose and repair the problem. For every service provider visit, homeowners must pay a service call fee, which is akin to an insurance deductible. These fees vary from plan to plan, but generally run between $75 and $150. Home warranties also resemble auto or homeowner’s insurance in that they have coverage limits. Some may only cover appliance repairs or replacements up to $1000, whereas more generous plans cover appliances up to $6000.
Best Home Warranties in Arkansas FAQs
Is a home inspection needed before purchasing a home warranty?
How much is the service fee for a home warranty in Arkansas?
Does a home warranty company have a limit on repairs?
How to cancel a home warranty in Arkansas?
How We Evaluated the Best Home Warranties in Arkansas
We used the same methodology to conduct all of our home warranty reviews. We looked for companies that provided a range of base plans, including coverage for major appliances, systems, and full home protection. We gave extra points to appliance plans that included coverage for both laundry room appliances and a broad range of kitchen appliances. Systems-only plans that covered air conditioning and plumbing stoppages rated highly with us. We also sought out companies that offered customers flexibility, such as the option to personalize their deductibles and choose from a wide array of optional coverages. We took the online experience each company offered. How easy was the company’s website to navigate? Did the company offer customers a simple way to compare plans side by side? Did the company offer a free, fast quote? We also considered how transparent each company was around coverage limits, exclusions and service fees.
Summary of our Guide to the Best Home Warranties in Arkansas
Arkansas homeowners have numerous choices when it comes to choosing a home warranty provider and plan. On the one hand, this offers the benefit of being able to customize your coverage to your home’s unique features and find a plan that suits your budget. On the other hand, it puts a burden on homeowners to conduct extensive research to figure out which plan offers the most value. Each company we evaluated gives the option to get a free quote and compare different plan options. Some even publish a sample contract on their websites. Sample contracts give homeowners better insight into the coverage offered by a company.
Our Guide to the Top Home Warranties in Arkansa is a great starting point for your research. Nevertheless, to guarantee your satisfaction with your home warranty, it’s crucial to thoroughly review the details of each plan you’re considering. Investing in a home warranty plan can bring peace of mind, but not fully comprehending one can result in a lot of frustration and disappointment.


