I used to think everyone should have a maintenance and repair agreement, but I recently changed my mind.
I still think they should have one, but you have to read it closely before paying for it. When I lived in my old house, my husband and I always had a maintenance plan. The HVAC company would do all our yearly maintenance, and if there were repairs needed done, they would do it while doing the maintenance. They would change the air filters when doing the maintenance. If something went wrong through the season, the HVAC company would send a tech out. We would be top priority if we had an emergency. We paid for none of the HVAC tech fees, but we had to pay for the cost of the parts. This was a big savings for us. When we got a divorce, I bought a smaller house. We had no kids, so we split the home’s equity so we could both either get a nice apartment, or a small home. I called the HVAC company and told them I wanted a maintenance and repair agreement for my HVAC equipment. They sent a tech over so I could look at the agreement and sign for it. I assumed it was the same as the one we had, but I soon found out it wasn’t. Once the maintenance and minor repairs were done, I had no other benefits with the plan. I had to pay for everything, and they didn’t even put a new air filter in the AC unit or the furnace when they did the maintenance.