DTE here offers a warranty for $30 a month (other levels as well). I was thinking of getting it and using it when our central air takes a dump. It's at least 18 years old and last time the yearly maintenance was done, they said it's probably close to needed replaced. Would this avenue be worth it? I have a downdraft furnace and the central air would be more expensive due to this. Not sure how the warranties work, if it's worth it, or if you are stuck with them for so long after filing a claim?

We have AHS, need to dump it. The A/C people, including their own contractors tell me they'll NEVER replace your system. They'll keep it patched up as long as it can be patched. Our system uses R-22, the price of R-22 is crazy high, they pay a max of $10.00 / pound, the rest is on us. In our experience with water heaters and A/C we've found VERY little advantage over retail. The only "win" we scored is when the washing machine failed, they were generous with that. At least with AHS there's a $75.00 charge for every claim.

Almost forgot, code upgrades are NOT covered. The trades seem to get these changed pretty often. 2¢

Complete waste of money, IMHO. We had one on our first house for the first year we owned it. It was paid for by the seller. It's a "feel good" item so you think you'll be OK after you stretched yourself financially to buy your first house. Ours was through AHS. I called them when we had a slow running laundry sink in the garage. First of all, it's a $35 charge for them to come out. The guy shows up, doesn't want to crawl under the sink to use the cleanout there. Too lazy to get under there, I guess, so he says he wants to take his power snake up on the roof to go through the drain vent. At the time, we had a very flimsy metal roof for our patio cover. It already had some leaks and was not strong at all. He told me I had to sign a waiver saying he is not responsible for any damage to the roof. I asked him, "So you're telling me if you drag your equipment across my roof and damage it, you won't pay for it?" He says yes. I sent him away, but he wouldn't leave without the $35. I argued with him until he put me on the phone with AHS, who told me they would credit me back the $35, which they eventually did. I ended up finding a local guy to clean the drain line out for not much than what AHS wanted and he used the cleanout under the sink.

My father in law got taken for a ride by a home warranty company for his furnace and AC. He had to pay tons of money even though it was "covered"

The short answer is, they are a scam.

They will absolutely patch up any AC units until it's a dead player.

We had the feed line compressor to condensor break loose. The repair guys said it really should be replaced but the warranty company would rather pay him $800 to fix it.

Thanks for all the replies, I often wondered about them and if they were any better than the Freebie ones you get when buying a house..
When we bought our current house in 94, winter came around and when it got really cold the electric heat ( All electric with heat pump) wasn't keeping up. We too had gotten a 1 year warranty. So they send a guy out and he say's it's all good. After he leaves I crank the electric heat up full bore and grab my Amp probe. Hmm, 1 bank is not drawing any current. Investigation reveals a blown thermal fuse. Replace the fuse for a couple of $ and life is good. I sent the fuse to his business asking them which job their were recently on that the tech ( by name) missed the mark. I did not include any other info or return address but did say I would not be using them in the future and i would pass their name and my experience around LOL