HVAC payout caps of $1,500 on $8,000+ systems leave homeowners with 80% of the bill

Home warranty contracts bury per-item payout caps deep in the fine print, commonly limiting HVAC replacement payouts to $1,500-$2,500 when a full system replacement costs $8,000-$12,000. The homeowner discovers this cap only after the system fails and the claim is approved, meaning they paid years of premiums believing they had meaningful coverage, only to receive a fraction of what they need. This persists because warranty companies compete on low monthly premiums rather than actual coverage quality, and consumers have no standardized way to compare effective payout ratios across providers -- the caps are scattered across 30-page contracts in different sections with different terminology.