SaveMillions - Other aspects of financial planning

If you've been frustrated in your attempts to have a product professionally repaired, you're not alone. Particularly in the case of TVs and other electronic gear, our "fix it or nix it" surveys have shown that the process is full of roadblocks, and a large number of readers simply give up.

Couple costly, problematic repairs with falling prices for new products and it's easy to see why readers repaired far fewer products than they did only a few years ago.

But how do you know whether a repair is worth the hassle, and how much is too much to spend? Consumer Reports' repair-or-replace timelines can help you decide. From laptops to lawn mowers, the timelines draw on the experiences of thousands of subscribers who answered our Annual Product Reliability Survey conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center and the expertise of our market and engineering staff.

You'll find year-by-year advice on when to fix or toss electronic equipment, appliances, and mowers. Our data cover the mid-priced items most people buy and include common repair problems, repair and replacement costs, and the extent to which new technologies, features, and efficiencies make replacement a no-brainer. Buying new: What you'll find, reveals the latest developments for a wide range of products to make your keep-or-toss decision easier and better-informed.

Want to keep your new TV, mower, or refrigerator working for as long as you plan to keep it? You'll also find preventive maintenance tips from our on-staff experts and from the Professional Service Association, a service-industry trade group. Our basic advice for products that need professional repair: Replace any for which you paid less than $150 and nix any repair that costs more than half the price of a comparable new product. For example, it doesn't pay to repair off-warranty toasters, countertop microwave ovens, cordless phones, CD players, and analog TV sets. Many such products aren't even serviceable. Indeed, unless you've bought a pricey, high-end model, it might not pay to professionally repair many out-of-warranty products that are more than three years old.

OTHER FINDINGS

Since 1997, readers have repaired fewer and fewer broken, off-warranty items themselves or professionally. More than half the broken products in many categories went unfixed.
Readers with a broken product often started the repair process but threw in the towel because they felt the cost was excessive. A significant number said they felt that the process would be inconvenient-something that proved to be true for a significant number of readers who went through with repairs.
While costs for diagnosing and making repairs have risen significantly in the last few years, prices have dropped for comparable new products in nearly every category we analyzed, which helps to explain why more products are being replaced with newer models.
Appliance repairs usually involved the fewest problems. Repairing digital cameras, camcorders, computers, and lawn equipment proved to be more problematic. Readers complained that repairs for digital cameras often took too long and cost too much. Replacement parts were hard to find for wall ovens. And many desktop computers weren't fixed right the first time or didn't work well afterward.
Although junking nearly new products can make economic sense, it makes no environmental sense. There are alternatives to tossing unwanted appliances, electronic devices, and batteries. See Where to recycle.