Care and service
Repair or replace?
A rule you can apply from your own service history, not a guess.
The machine has broken again, the technician has a quote, and you have about five minutes to decide whether to pay it or buy a new one. Most people decide on the number in front of them. The better answer is in what already happened to the machine.
The usual mistake
A repair quote on its own tells you almost nothing. The same amount is sensible for a machine that has never failed and wasteful for one on its third visit this year. What turns a quote into a decision is the history behind it: how many times, which part, who paid, and how much warranty is left.
That history is exactly what nobody has written down when the technician is standing in the kitchen.
Five questions, in order
| Ask | If yes |
|---|---|
| Is the failed part still under warranty? | Repair. It may cost you only the visit, or nothing. |
| Is this the same fault as last time? | Lean towards replacing. A repeat is a pattern, not bad luck. |
| Is the part still made? | If the service centre cannot get it, the decision is made for you. |
| How close is the quote to a new one? | The closer it gets, the more a new machine — with a new warranty — makes sense. |
| Did you pay for the last repairs yourself? | Count only what you paid. A repair the warranty covered cost the machine nothing. |
The first question carries the most weight. On an AC or a refrigerator the longest warranty is usually on the compressor alone, and it can run for years after the rest of the machine's warranty has ended — what six AC makers' pages say is in our note on servicing. A compressor fault inside that period is a repair, not a replacement.
The quote is one number. The history is the decision.
Where the answers come from
Every one of the five questions is answered by records you probably have somewhere: the bill with its date, the warranty card, the service visits and what each one replaced, and whether you or the warranty paid. Put them together once and the next decision takes a minute instead of an argument.
- The purchase date — from the bill — tells you how much warranty is left on each part.
- Each service visit tells you whether this fault has happened before.
- The parts replaced tell you whether the machine is being rebuilt one part at a time.
- Who paid tells you what the machine has really cost you so far.
The rule, in one line
Repair while the failed part is covered or the fault is new; replace when the same fault keeps coming back, the part is gone, or the quote has crept close to the price of a new machine that would come with a new warranty.
In HomeButlr
Log each service on the thing's page: the kind of service, who paid, what it cost you when you paid, and the parts replaced. The warranty dates sit on the same page, so all five answers are in one place.
