Last reviewed: 15 September 2026

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Indiana regulates a vehicle service contract in detail — and a home warranty not at all

Every other state deep-dive in this Library's home-warranty section covers a state with some dedicated law on the books, even a light one. Indiana is the first genuinely different case: a real, detailed statute exists for a vehicle service contract, and nothing comparable exists for a home warranty at all.

Chapter 43.2 is real regulation — written for a motor vehicle

Indiana Code Title 27, Article 1, Chapter 43.2 (Service Contracts), administered by the Indiana Department of Insurance, defines "service contract" to mean an agreement to repair, replace, or maintain — or indemnify for the repair, replacement, or maintenance of — a motor vehicle following operational or structural failure from a defect, accidental damage, or normal wear, plus incidental coverage like towing or a rental car. A provider can't sell one in Indiana unless it's insured under a reimbursement policy from an authorized insurer, or maintains its own funded reserve of at least 40% of gross consideration received (less claims paid) on outstanding Indiana contracts — the same insurance-or-40%-reserve shape our Missouri page and Washington's law already describe elsewhere in this Library. The chapter's service-contract-form requirements also make a provider spell out, in the contract itself, whether consequential damages and pre-existing conditions are covered or excluded.

That definition is written to cover a car — not a furnace or a water heater

Nothing in Chapter 43.2's own definition of "service contract" reaches a home system or appliance; its scope, by its own text, is motor-vehicle-specific. Indiana has no parallel chapter for what other states in this Library call a "home warranty" or "residential service contract." A 2014 proposal, House Bill 1377 ("Regulation of home warranties"), would have created Indiana Department of Insurance licensure specifically for home warranty providers — it did not become law, and no successor provision exists in the current Indiana Code.

What actually applies instead: general deceptive-sales law

With no service-contract-specific statute reaching a home warranty, a dispute in Indiana falls under the state's general Deceptive Consumer Sales Act (Indiana Code § 24-5-0.5), enforced by the Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division. That Act prohibits misrepresenting a product's quality, warranty terms, or price, and lets a consumer recover actual damages or $500, whichever is greater — with treble damages available for a willful violation — plus attorney's fees for a prevailing consumer. That's a real remedy after something goes wrong, but a fundamentally different kind of protection than points 3 and 4 of our standard check for up front: there's no state license or registration to verify before you buy a home warranty in Indiana, and no funded-reserve or reimbursement-insurance requirement mandated the way Chapter 43.2 requires for a car.

What this means for an Indiana buyer

A national home warranty provider selling in Indiana is very likely registered in other states that do license this product — checking that provider's status in a state where registration is actually required (see this Library's other home-warranty state pages) tells you more about its real financial backing than anything Indiana law obligates it to disclose. And read the contract's own backing statement directly: with no state mandate forcing that disclosure, whether a reimbursement insurance policy, a funded reserve, or nothing at all stands behind an Indiana-sold home warranty is a question only the paperwork in front of you, not state law, will answer.