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America’s First Choice Home Club Review
America’s First Choice Home Club, also known as AFC, offers home protection plans to those who want more protection for their systems and appliances without having to pay significant out-of-pocket expenses.
Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Marrieta, Georgia, AFC currently services 47 states and has a B rating with the Better Business Bureau. One thing that sets AFC apart from other warranty companies is that you can customize your AFC plan and service, allowing you to choose the type of coverage you prefer, and you can set their own service fees and choose your private repair contractors.
America’s First Choice Home Club at a glance
| Company | Year Founded | Service Fee | Recall Period | States Available |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| America’s First Choice Home Club (AFC) | 2009 | $43 to $59 per month | Lifetime | 47 |
America’s First Choice Home Club home warranty plans
America’s First Choice Home Club has four different warranty plans to choose from, ranging from $43 to $59 a month, and offering various levels of coverage.
System Plan:
System plans are designed for homeowners who would rather prioritize their systems over appliances. In this plan, no appliances are covered under warranty. However, expensive systems such as heating, air conditioning, plumbing and electrical are.
Silver Plan:
Silver plans are among the most affordable plans that AFC offers and are designed to cover repairs for the majority of your household appliances. When subscribed to the Silver plan, customers will get complete repair or replacement coverage on their washer and dryer, oven, cooktop, water heater, dishwasher, refrigerator and other essential appliances.
Gold Plan:
AFC’s Gold Plan takes the comprehensive appliance coverage available with their Silver plan and adds systems coverage to the mix. The Gold plan upgrade covers most household appliances while also providing warranty protection for critical systems like electrical, plumbing, air conditioning and heating.
Platinum Plan:
For customers who want to maximize their warranty coverage on everything in their home, including all appliances and systems, AFC offers the Platinum Plan. Featuring all the benefits of the Gold Plan, AFC’s Platinum offers additional comprehensive coverage on things like built-in microwaves, plumbing stoppages, faucets and ice makers.
What we like about America’s First Choice Home Club
When it comes to the customizability of warranty coverage plans, it’s hard to beat America’s First Choice Home Club. AFC offers more options and more plans than most other warranty companies and has a lifetime guarantee on service repairs for the length of your contract. A unique benefit that AFC provides is the ability for homeowners to choose their own service contractor when getting repairs and replacements on their home systems and appliances. AFC is one of the only home warranty companies to offer this benefit on all of its service plans.
Things to consider
There aren’t too many downsides to consider when reviewing America’s First Choice Home Club. One of them, however, is that these plans are not available to all residents of the U.S. Currently, AFC only services 47 of 50 states with California, Hawaii and South Carolina being ineligible for extended warranty coverage. Another consideration is that while AFC seems like a winner in every category, they do have mixed reviews from their customer base. Many negative reviews seem to stem from the fact that the company requires all claims to be submitted within 24 hours of discovering an issue; otherwise, claims may be considered ineligible.
How TotalProtect Home Warranty compares with the competition
AFC Home Club vs. Choice Home Warranty
Home Warranty is warranty service company with a very similar business model to AFC. However, If you are a resident of California, South Carolina or Hawaii, Choice Home Warranty would be your only option between the two.
Choice Home Warranty does offer some advantages over AFC, including its more extensive pre-established provider base and claims processing center. AFC, however, outshines Choice Home Warranty when it comes to their workmanship guarantee, which covers the entire length of the contract as opposed to Choice Home Warranty’s 60-day term.
AFC Home Club vs. The Home Service Club
The Home Service Club offers an extensive list of systems and appliance coverage and provides similar benefits to AFC. They also are supported by an award-winning 24/7 service team and have strong online ratings and reviews.
The Home Service Club is known to be less flexible than AFC, offering only half the service plan options. When combined with the fact that AFC also offers additional membership benefits outside of standard warranty coverage, it’s hard to justify choosing The Home Service Club as a suitable alternative considering their slightly higher fees and much more limited workmanship guarantee.
AFC Home Club vs. American Home Shield
American Home Shield is an industry leader in warranty home repairs and services, and it has some of the most flexible plans available. Homeowners can customize a plan built around their own needs with American Home Shield’s “Build-Your-Own-Option” to ensure that they only pay for coverage they actually need.
One downside, however, is that American Home Shield doesn’t allow customers to choose their own repair technician. This differs from AFC, which allows customers to choose whomever they wish to work with on their repairs so long as they meet stipulated criteria. Regardless, both plan options are a good choice for anyone looking for extended warranty coverage on their home systems or appliances.
Too long, didn’t read?
When it comes to choosing the best home warranty service provider, it’s hard to go wrong with America’s First Choice Home Club. While there are some pros and cons to their fee structure when compared to other companies, AFC’s workmanship guarantee shines. On average, most other companies will only guarantee repairs or replacements on covered systems and appliances for 60 to 90 days. In some rare instances, companies may even provide a 180-day guarantee. However, AFC guarantees repairs on covered appliances and systems for the entire length of the contract, which is a major benefit over other companies. When you combine this feature with AFC’s extremely flexible plan options, it is easily one of the best home warranty service options available.
Keep Reading
Methodology
The SimpleScore is a proprietary scoring metric we use to objectively compare products and services at The Simple Dollar.
For every review, our editorial team:
- Identifies five measurable aspects to compare across each brand
- Determines the rating criteria for each aspect score
- Averages the five aspect scores to produce a single SimpleScore
Here’s a breakdown of the five aspect scores and their rating criteria for our review of the best home warranty companies of 2020.
Why do some brands have different SimpleScores on different pages?
To ensure the SimpleScore is as helpful and accurate as possible, we developed unique criteria for every category we compare at The Simple Dollar. Since most brands offer a variety of financial solutions, their products and services will score differently depending on what we’re scoring on a given page.
However, it’s also possible for brands to have multiple SimpleScores. For example, when we apply our methodology to Chase’s stock trading product, it scores a 3.6 out of 5. On the other hand, when we compare Chase checking accounts, it scores a 4.4 out of 5. this is because we each criterion for every category is different to account for different industry standards and product offerings.
Questions about our methodology?
Email Hayley Armstrong at hayley@thesimpledollar.com.
Average monthly cost
Many home warranty companies advertise a range of monthly costs for their home warranty plans. We took the average of these costs and assigned SimpleScore aspects based on the amount.
Add-on coverages
Home warranty usually just covers kitchen appliances and HVAC systems. However, homes have so much more than that. We gave higher scores to home warranty companies that offer a variety of add-ons to home warranty coverages, such as pool, washer/dryer, guest houses and more.
Customer support
When it’s time to file a home warranty claim or homeowners have questions, how can they contact support? The SimpleScore rewards home warranty companies with more channels of customer support.
Trade service fee
Much like a deductible, a trade service fee is the fee homeowners pay for each service call. The lower the service fee, the higher the score that the brand gets. If the trade service fee was a range or differed among plans, we took an average of the fees advertised.
Number of pre-made plans
Sometimes it’s just easier to pick a package and get your home warranty coverage started. That’s why we awarded companies with more premade plans higher scores.
