Published 2026-09-28 · 9 min read

Choice Home Warranty vs Select Home Warranty for Landlords (2026)

Choice Home Warranty and Select Home Warranty are the two budget home-warranty brands that show up on every "cheapest plans" list, and landlords are their natural audience: predictable repair costs matter when a broken A/C means a hot tenant and an emergency call-out. Both promise low monthly premiums. But for rental owners, the difference that matters isn't the monthly price — it's what happens when something expensive breaks. Here's the head-to-head, built for landlords.

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Pricing: both are cheap, but the sticker price varies by quote

Choice Home Warranty sells a simple two-tier catalog. The Basic Plan typically runs about $46.67/month (~$560/year), while the Total Plan runs about $55/month (~$660/year). Sources disagree more than you'd like: some 2026 reviews show Basic as low as $420–$540/year and Total at $600–$720/year depending on state and quote. That's the nature of this industry — pricing is quote-based, so treat any number you see as a range, not a promise. Annual prepayment usually earns you one free month.

Select Home Warranty uses a three-tier structure: Bronze (appliances), Gold (systems), and Platinum (both). List prices sit around $60–$64/month, but Select runs standing discounts that bring all three plans under $50: roughly $44.42/month for Bronze and Gold and $47.75/month for Platinum at discounted rates (data accurate as of May 2026; pricing varies by location). The discounted Platinum plan is genuinely one of the cheapest full-coverage warranties in the industry.

Landlord takeaway: month-to-month, discounted Select Platinum (~$48) undercuts Choice Total (~$55). But monthly premium is the smallest line item in the warranty math. Keep reading before you decide.

Coverage caps: the single biggest difference for landlords

This is where the comparison tilts hard, and it's the section most landlords should weigh first.

• Choice: $3,000 per item per term across the board — systems and appliances alike. Water heaters, refrigerators, HVAC components, dishwashers: all capped at $3,000 each.
• Select: $500 per appliance on the Bronze/appliance side, with $3,000 per HVAC unit on the systems side and $500 each for electrical and plumbing systems. Some review sources describe Select's cap more generously as "up to $3,000 per system," so plan documents differ from marketing copy — read the sample contract for your state before buying.

For a landlord, the $500 appliance cap is the painful one. A replacement refrigerator runs $800–$1,200; a range or washer-dryer set easily exceeds $500. Under Select's terms, a dead appliance at a rental could leave you paying the difference between a $500 payout and a real replacement — which turns the warranty into a partial rebate instead of real protection. Choice's flat $3,000-per-item cap covers a full appliance replacement in most cases. If you rent properties with furnished kitchens or provided laundry, that difference alone can decide this comparison.

Our broader rankings explain where caps sit across the whole market: see best home warranty plans for landlords in 2026.

What's actually covered: A/C, roof leaks, and the fine print

Choice Basic covers 14 items — heating, water heater, electrical, plumbing, oven, cooktop, dishwasher, built-in microwave, garbage disposal, whirlpool tub, garage door opener, ductwork, and fans. Notably, it does not cover air conditioning, refrigerators, or washers and dryers. You need the Total Plan for those, which is the realistic choice for almost any landlord: rentals without working A/C and refrigeration are a tenant-satisfaction disaster. Roof leak coverage is only available as a paid add-on, capped at $500 and limited to single-family homes.

Select splits coverage across its three tiers: Bronze for appliances, Gold for systems (A/C, ductwork, heating, plumbing, electrical, water heater), and Platinum combining both. Its standout perk is free roof leak protection included with all plans — something Choice charges extra for. Optional add-ons start around $3.33/month.

Landlord takeaway: Select's bundled tiers are flexible if you only need one side covered — say, systems-only coverage on an older building with tenant-provided appliances. But Choice's Total Plan covers everything a rental needs in a single purchase, and the A/C question is settled by one upgrade rather than a tier decision.

If you're still deciding whether rental properties belong on a warranty at all, read is a home warranty worth it for rental properties.

Service call fees: flat vs fuzzy

Every claim triggers a service call fee, paid to the technician — and landlords file more claims than homeowners, so this adds up.

• Choice: a standard $100 per claim, flat. Some older customer reports mention discounted fees around $65–$85 during promotions, but current 2026 sources consistently show $100 as the standard. The fee applies per claim submission, even if Choice denies the claim after the technician diagnoses the problem.
• Select: no standard published fee. Customer reports describe per-claim costs of $65–$100, varying by plan and location. That range might mean you pay less than Choice — or the same. The uncertainty is itself a drawback: you can't budget precisely.

For a landlord running several units, fee predictability matters more than shaving $20 off one visit. Choice wins on clarity here.

Claims process and contractor quality

Both companies assign the contractor — you don't pick your own tech, a real constraint for landlords who already have trusted handymen on speed dial.

Choice accepts claims online, by phone, or through its mobile app, with a 24-hour claims line. Repairs carry a workmanship guarantee of 60–90 days depending on the source, and Choice's policy is not to demand proof of maintenance unless you're disputing a denied claim. Response times are marketed as quick (as fast as four hours in some markets), though customer experiences vary widely.

Select is reported to require proof of maintenance before a claim is processed — more red tape at exactly the moment you want speed. Multiple review sources also cite slower claim processing relative to Choice. For landlords, where every day of a broken appliance is a potential tenant complaint or habitability issue, a slower pipeline is a genuine cost. See our landlord emergency maintenance playbook for how to handle breakdowns while claims are pending.

Neither company lets you reliably use your own contractor, so landlords with strong vendor relationships may find the contractor restriction more annoying than the premium difference. That's also why many experienced owners pair a warranty with a preventive maintenance calendar — fewer breakdowns, fewer claims, fewer arguments.

BBB complaint patterns landlords actually care about

Let's be blunt: both companies have mixed reputations, and the complaint themes are the same ones that matter most to landlords.

Choice Home Warranty holds a B rating from the Better Business Bureau (some sources list B- or C in recent snapshots), with USA Today noting more than 11,000 complaints in the last three years. Trustpilot sits around 4.0; Google reviews around 3.0. The recurring landlord-relevant themes: frequently denied claims, long customer-service wait times, and poor contractor performance — the tech who shows up late, does a partial fix, and leaves you managing the tenant fallout.

Select Home Warranty holds a B- BBB rating, with Trustpilot around 2.2 and Google reviews around 2.9. Themes echo Choice's — denied claims, slow service — with added emphasis on slower claim processing and frustration with the low coverage caps: customers discover the $500 appliance ceiling only when they need it most.

Our full deep-dive on Choice covers more of this: Choice Home Warranty review for landlords.

The honest summary: complaint patterns are industry-wide — denied claims and contractor issues plague nearly every budget warranty brand. Neither company is clearly cleaner here, though Choice's higher review scores and faster reported claim handling give it a modest edge.

Rental property and multi-unit rules

Here's the section where landlord marketing meets contract reality.

Select's sample agreement covers systems and appliances in a single-family dwelling, individual condo unit, townhouse, or modular home listed as the covered property. It explicitly excludes commercial properties, common areas of multifamily buildings, and systems designated for commercial use. Translation: a single-family rental is fine on a per-property contract, but a duplex or apartment building's shared systems are not covered.

Choice likewise sells per-property contracts with no dedicated landlord or portfolio program — each rental address needs its own plan. Neither company publishes a multi-unit or portfolio plan, so landlords with larger buildings should confirm in writing exactly which units and shared systems are covered before buying; multi-unit coverage is the grayest area in both companies' paperwork.

Neither brand scales elegantly: at roughly $600–$800 per property per year, warranty costs compound across a portfolio. For guidance on whether that math works at all, see our landlord home warranty guide.

Head-to-head summary

The verdict by portfolio type

• Single-family rentals with older HVAC or appliances → Choice Total. The $3,000-per-item cap is worth more than the ~$7/month you save with Select. When a compressor or refrigerator dies at a rental, Choice pays for the whole replacement; Select pays $500 and leaves you the rest.
• Newer properties, systems-only coverage, tight budget → Select Platinum (discounted). At ~$48/month with free roof leak coverage, it's the cheapest way to cover the big-ticket systems on a newer build. Just budget for appliance replacements out of pocket.
• Furnished rentals or units with provided laundry → Choice. Select's $500 appliance cap is a dealbreaker when you're responsible for every appliance in the unit.
• Multi-unit buildings → neither is purpose-built. Both sell per-property contracts with gray areas around shared systems. Confirm coverage in writing or consider how to handle maintenance requests with an in-house system instead.

Overall for most landlords: Choice Home Warranty Total wins because coverage caps — not monthly premiums — determine whether a warranty actually protects your cash flow. Select is cheaper month-to-month, but a warranty that caps a dead refrigerator at $500 isn't cheap; it's incomplete.

Getting Choice coverage for your rentals

If the higher caps won you over, Choice's Total Plan is the one built for rentals — A/C, refrigerator, and washer/dryer coverage plus the $3,000-per-item caps discussed above. Get a quote for each rental address (pricing varies by state) and read the sample contract for your state before enrolling.

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