Guides

Is your appliance worth repairing?

The honest version — including when the answer is no.

When an appliance breaks, you have one real decision to make: repair it or replace it. Plenty of companies will happily take your money either way, so here's the framework we actually use when we give people a straight answer.

Start with age

Most white goods are built for roughly ten to fifteen years of service; budget machines often less, premium brands often more. A washing machine that fails at four years old is usually well worth saving. The same fault at thirteen years is a different conversation — even a perfect repair leaves you with a thirteen-year-old machine.

Then weigh the repair cost against replacement

A rule of thumb that serves people well: if a repair costs less than half the price of an equivalent new appliance, and the machine isn't near the end of its natural life, repair is usually the sensible call. Repairs are also almost always the smaller bill — and keeping a machine running is far better for the environment than sending it to landfill.

Factor in what the fault is

Not all faults are equal. Worn brushes, a failed pump, a heating element, a door seal — these are bread-and-butter repairs that restore years of life. A cracked drum bearing housing on a sealed-tank machine, or a failed compressor on an older fridge freezer, can cost more than the machine justifies. An honest engineer will tell you which side of that line your fault sits on before you spend anything.

When replacement genuinely wins

• The repair would cost more than half of a comparable new machine
• The appliance is already well past its expected lifespan
• It's the second or third significant fault in a year
• It's an old, inefficient model whose running costs are quietly punishing you every month

The question to ask whoever you call

Before you book anyone, ask: "What will the total repair cost be, and is it worth it on this machine?" If they won't give you a straight answer to both halves, keep looking. We confirm a fixed price before anything is booked — and if a repair isn't worth your money, we say so.

Tell us what's broken and we'll give you the honest version for your machine — or read more guides.