It is a given that most manufacturers provide a limited one year warranty on appliances. This warranty serves two purposes, the first being, should the appliance fail within the first year, the company can head off any negative attention by simply fixing the item. The second purpose of the warranty is to provide the customer reassurance that if something should go wrong the matter would be taken care of with limited or no hassle.

It is a rare person who can walk into a store, purchase an appliance and not be offered an extended warranty. Before you consider purchasing an extended warranty, please consider the following.

For the most part most extended warranties will not cover an item during, what this writer likes to call, the maintenance years, the period of time when the item is most likely to exhibit a problem. Generally, the maintenance years fall between 6 months and 5 years.

Extended warranty companies seldom if ever offer an extended warranty that will go beyond 5 years. You will find the extended warranty will be offered for a period between 1 and 3 years.

From the vantage point of the company offering the extended warranty, they feel certain that once an appliance makes it past the first year trouble free the odds of the appliance failing or needing major repair for the remainder of the contract are minimal.

The fact is there is very little competition amongst the extended warranty companies. However, this does not mean that as a consumer you are powerless to find the best deal for your money.

In order to have the opportunity to consider the pros and cons of an extended warranty, ask if you may purchase the extended warranty a week later, this will allow time to do your homework. Call around to get a feel for what a typical repair bill may be. Keep in mind that if the cost of the warranty, minus deductible is 75% or more, than the total cost of repair, then this may not be the best way to spend your hard-earned money.

Price shop extended warranty companies; once you have compiled all of your information then you will be ready to make an informed decision on the best way to spend your money.