Home warranties and vehicle service contracts, checked against real regulation — not a marketing page
A home warranty or vehicle service contract is not insurance. It's a contract, regulated state by state in the US and province by province in Canada, sold in an industry whose single most common complaint is a claim denied over fine print almost no one reads before signing. We check real providers against the actual licensing rules and disclosure requirements that apply, and report what we find honestly — no paid rankings, no pay-to-list badge.
What that means in practice
- No sponsored placements, ever
- Every finding checked against a regulator's own record, not a provider's claim
- A failing verdict never named — only a passing one
- No paid "verified provider" badge, at any price
Start here
All explainers →United States
How home warranties actually work
It's a service contract, not insurance — and whether it's regulated like one depends entirely on which state you're in.
Canada
How home warranties work in Canada
Ontario's Tarion and similar provincial programs are not the same thing as a purchased home-systems warranty — the two get confused constantly.
Auto
Extended warranty vs. manufacturer warranty
An "extended warranty" is legally a service contract, not a warranty at all — the FTC says so directly, and it changes who's actually on the hook.
Where we are right now
The Register →This site just launched. The standard is published and the Register is open, honestly, at zero providers assessed so far — see Updates for a dated record of everything that changes from here.
One email when the Register opens
A new state or provincial deep-dive, and a heads-up the day the first providers get assessed — this site is at zero right now, and that's the whole point of checking rather than assuming. No launch hype, no affiliate blasts, unsubscribe in one click.
Recently updated
All updates →September 14, 2026
4 more Library pages: Washington, Nevada, Ontario, and Manitoba
Washington regulates home warranties, vehicle service contracts, and even rustproofing add-ons under one repeatedly-amended insurance-code chapter; Nevada gives a provider three genuinely different ways to prove it can pay claims, after a 2019 law brought home warranty protection plans under its service-contract statute; Ontario — Canada's largest province, and new to our coverage — treats an extended vehicle warranty as a consumer contract rather than insurance, under a law now mid-transition to a not-yet-in-force replacement; and Manitoba makes the seller of an extended warranty answer for its performance, whether or not that seller is even a party to the contract.
September 14, 2026
4 more Library pages: Arizona, Saskatchewan, recalls vs. known-defect exclusions, and warranty transferability
Arizona had no dedicated home warranty law at all until 2018, and still runs a bonded-permit system rather than an insurance license; Saskatchewan both treats extended vehicle warranties as insurance and writes a mandatory minimum drivetrain warranty into every used-car dealer's licence; the real legal difference between a federally mandated safety recall and a service contract's 'known defect' exclusion; and how transferring a home warranty or vehicle service contract to a new owner actually works when a house or car is sold.
September 14, 2026
5 more Library pages: New York, Illinois, British Columbia, and two cross-border consumer guides
New York and Illinois each regulate home and auto service contracts under one statute rather than splitting them the way California does; British Columbia's own insurance regulations classify most home and vehicle warranties as insurance outright; a US-vs-Canada comparison of whether the individual salesperson (not just the company) needs a personal license; and how to actually compare two home warranty contracts' aggregate vs. per-item coverage caps.