A roster is a list of who is registered to sell or obligate service contracts in a state. Where a state publishes one, it is printed in full on the state's own as-of date. Check that date on the copy you read, because a roster is only as current as the day it was printed.

What a roster tells you

Registration is a fact about a seller's status with the state. It tells you the seller appears on the list the state keeps. It is not a quality rating, it is not a measure of how claims are handled, and it does not tell you what any contract covers. Do not read a roster entry as a reason to prefer one seller over another.

Building the rows

Make one sheet with the same rows for every offer. Use the covered items, the exclusions, the waiting period and what starts it, the cancellation right and how a refund is calculated, the transfer rule, the repair-network rules, the renewal rule, and the regulator named on the paper. Fill each row from the contract itself, not from the sales page. If an offer does not state a row, write that down as missing rather than filling the gap with what you expect it to say.

Questions to ask before you choose

  • Is each seller on the state roster, and does the entry match the name on the contract?
  • Is the paper you hold the complete contract, including every attachment and endorsement?
  • Which regulator is named, and how would you file a complaint with it?
  • What must you do to make a claim, to whom, and within what time?
  • Which rows matter most for your household, given the unit and how it is used?

Once the rows match, the differences that remain are the ones to weigh. Choose on the rows that bear on your situation, and keep the paper for each offer together in one file so you can return to it after a failure.

What the comparison cannot settle

Terms on paper do not promise that a claim will be paid, and nothing in a roster, a guide, or a table on this site says otherwise. Read the state page for your state to see which rules apply, what the roster shows and when it was printed, and what this edition has and has not read.