The washing machine has stopped mid-cycle, an engineer has been, and you now have a number. Whether that number is worth paying depends on rather more than the number.
Most advice on this reduces to a single percentage, which is a reasonable starting point and wrong often enough to be worth examining. The useful version accounts for what has actually failed, how old the machine is, and — a factor almost nobody mentions — whether it is built in.
The Short Answer
The 50% rule: if the repair costs more than half the price of an equivalent new appliance, replacement usually makes more sense.
Adjusted for age, which matters more:
- Under 3 years — repair almost always. Check the warranty first, and your statutory rights after that.
- 3 to 7 years — repair if it's under about half the replacement cost.
- 7 to 10 years — repair only if it's a cheap, well-understood fault.
- Over 10 years — repair only minor parts. Anything major is throwing money after a machine near the end of its design life.
Always worth repairing, at almost any age: filters, hoses, seals, door catches, belts, thermostats, pumps, elements. These are cheap parts on machines that are otherwise sound.
Rarely worth repairing: drum bearings on a sealed-drum machine, compressors, control boards on budget appliances, and anything where the part alone approaches half the replacement cost.
The exception that overrides all of it: integrated appliances. Replacing a built-in machine means matching the niche and refitting a door, which pushes the repair threshold substantially higher.
What Actually Matters
Four things, and the percentage rule only captures one.
What failed, not what it costs. A £120 pump replacement on a seven-year-old machine is good value because pumps fail in isolation — nothing else is implicated. A £120 repair to a control board on the same machine is worse value, because control board failures often follow from something else and the rest of the electronics are the same age.
Age against design life. Appliances are engineered for a number of cycles rather than a number of years. A washing machine designed for around 2,000 cycles lasts roughly ten years at four washes a week, or four years at ten. Heavy households reach the end sooner, and the calendar age understates it.
Whether it's the first fault or the third. One failure on an eight-year-old machine is bad luck. Three in eighteen months is a machine telling you something, and each repair buys less time than the last.
Installation type. This is the factor that genuinely changes the arithmetic and gets left out of every rule of thumb. A freestanding machine can be replaced by anything that fits the gap. An integrated one needs to match the housing aperture, and its decor panel needs a fitting system that transfers — which frequently it doesn't.
Detailed Analysis
What repairs actually cost in the UK
Rough figures, parts and labour, for a domestic call-out. Prices vary by region and by whether you use a manufacturer engineer or an independent.
| Repair | Typical cost | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Diagnostic call-out alone | £70-120 | Often deducted from the repair |
| Washing machine drain pump | £90-140 | Nearly always worth it |
| Washing machine door seal | £100-160 | Worth it |
| Washing machine drum bearings | £150-280 | Depends heavily on the machine |
| Dishwasher circulation pump | £130-200 | Borderline past year seven |
| Oven element | £90-150 | Nearly always worth it |
| Oven thermostat or sensor | £100-170 | Worth it |
| Fridge thermostat | £100-160 | Worth it |
| Fridge compressor or regas | £250-400+ | Rarely worth it |
| Control board, any appliance | £150-350 | Usually not on budget machines |
Set those against replacement. A competent freestanding washing machine is £300-450, a dishwasher £300-500, a built-in oven £250-450, a fridge freezer £350-600. The 50% line falls in a fairly narrow band.
The faults that are always worth fixing
These share a characteristic: the part fails on its own, and fixing it restores the machine rather than postponing something.
Pumps and filters. A blocked or failed drain pump is the single most common washing machine and dishwasher fault, and it's cheap. Worth knowing that many pump failures are caused by debris getting past a neglected filter, which means the fix is partly behavioural — see how often to clean the washing machine filter.
Heating elements. An oven that won't heat or a dryer that tumbles cold is usually an element, and elements are cheap and self-contained. A dryer that isn't heating is one of the most economic repairs in the house.
Seals, catches and hinges. Mechanical parts that wear predictably. A door that won't latch is not an expensive problem.
Thermostats and sensors. Small parts with large symptoms. A fridge that isn't cooling can be a £120 thermostat or a £350 compressor, and the diagnostic visit is what distinguishes them.
The faults that usually aren't
Drum bearings on a sealed drum. This is the big one for washing machines, and it's why the sealed drum matters so much. On older machines the drum split in two and bearings were replaceable. Many modern machines have a sealed drum assembly, which means replacing the entire drum — a part that can cost more than half the machine.
The symptom is a rumble on spin that grows over months and gets worse at higher speeds, covered in the piece on a washing machine that's loud on spin. If you have it on a machine over seven years old, start planning a replacement.
Compressors and refrigerant leaks. On fridges and freezers these are the terminal faults. A regas is rarely a permanent fix, because the gas escaped through a leak that's still there.
Control boards on budget appliances. Not because boards are unfixable, but because the economics don't work. A £250 board in a £300 machine is an obvious no.
Integrated appliances change everything
The rule of thumb assumes you can buy a replacement and slide it into the gap. With built-in appliances that assumption frequently fails.
A replacement has to match the housing aperture, which is not always a standard dimension, particularly in older or bespoke kitchens. It has to accept the existing decor panel, and door fitting systems vary between manufacturers — sliding brackets and fixed brackets are not interchangeable, and new bracket positions mean new holes in the back of a kitchen door that may no longer be available to match.
And it has to fit within the ventilation arrangement the housing provides, which is its own subject — see the ventilation gap integrated appliances need.
The practical consequence is that a £200 repair to a built-in appliance can be good value where the same repair to a freestanding equivalent wouldn't be, simply because replacement carries several hundred pounds of additional cost and disruption.
Running cost as a tiebreaker
Where a decision is genuinely marginal, the electricity is worth putting numbers on.
An old fridge freezer is the clearest case, because it runs continuously. A twelve-year-old machine with compressed door seals and a fouled condenser can use half again as much as its original rating, and its original rating was worse than a current equivalent. The gap can run to £40-60 a year, which changes a borderline repair decision over a few years.
Washing machines and dishwashers show a smaller gap, because they run for hours rather than continuously. The method for working it out for your own appliance is in how to calculate appliance running costs.
Worth being honest that the environmental argument frequently points the other way. Manufacturing a new appliance carries a substantial carbon cost, and repairing a machine that has years left in it is usually the better choice on those grounds even when it's marginally worse financially.
Real-World Considerations
Before paying for anything, check the warranty and then your statutory rights. Under the Consumer Rights Act, goods must be durable, and the period during which you can raise a claim runs to six years in England and Wales and five in Scotland. After the first six months the burden of proof shifts to you, which makes it harder rather than impossible — but a three-year-old machine with a failed motor is a conversation worth having with the retailer.
Get a diagnosis before deciding. A call-out fee of £70-120 feels like money spent on nothing if you then replace the machine, but deciding without knowing what failed means guessing. Many firms deduct the fee from the repair if you proceed.
Parts availability is a real constraint on older machines. Ecodesign rules oblige manufacturers to supply key parts for several years after a model is discontinued, but the list of covered parts is narrower than people assume and some are only sold to registered repairers. An engineer will usually tell you quickly if a part is unobtainable.
Repeat failures deserve weight. A machine that has had three faults in two years is usually near the end regardless of what the current repair costs, because the next failure is rarely far away and each repair buys progressively less time.
And there's a category of fault that looks like the appliance and isn't. A dishwasher that keeps failing to drain may have a plumbing problem rather than a pump problem; a machine that keeps killing pumps may have a filter nobody cleans. Fixing the appliance repeatedly without fixing the cause is the most expensive option available. Dishwasher drainage problems are a common example.
Common Mistakes Buyers Make
- Applying the 50% rule without adjusting for age. A £150 repair on a two-year-old machine and the same repair on a twelve-year-old one are completely different decisions.
- Replacing rather than paying a diagnostic fee. Deciding without knowing what failed is guessing, and the fee is usually deducted from the repair.
- Ignoring statutory rights on a three or four-year-old appliance. The Consumer Rights Act period is considerably longer than a typical guarantee.
- Treating integrated and freestanding the same. The replacement cost for a built-in appliance includes matching the niche and refitting a door.
- Regassing a leaking fridge. The gas escaped through a leak, and the leak is still there.
- Repairing the symptom repeatedly. A pump that fails twice usually means a filter nobody cleans or a plumbing fault.
- Forgetting running cost on an old fridge. The one appliance where the electricity gap is large enough to change a marginal decision.
- Assuming a noisy machine is finished. Bearings are terminal on a sealed drum; a squeal is usually a belt, and belts are cheap.
Alternatives Worth Considering
Where the repair is borderline, getting a second quote from an independent engineer is worth the time. Manufacturer engineers work to fixed-price schedules that can be higher than an independent's, and independents are often more willing to fit a pattern part where a genuine one is disproportionately expensive.
Fixed-price repair schemes offered by some national firms cover parts and labour for a set fee regardless of the fault. For an expensive diagnosis they can work out well; for a cheap fault they're poor value. Worth knowing which you're likely to have before booking.
If you're replacing anyway, reliability data is worth more than a review. Which brands actually last is a different question from which perform best when new, and it's covered in the piece on fridge freezer brands and reliability.
And for a machine you've decided to replace but that still works after a fashion, running it until it fails completely is a legitimate choice — provided the fault isn't a safety one. A dryer with an intermittent fault, a fridge running warm, or anything that trips the electrics is a different matter and should come out of service.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it worth repairing a 10 year old washing machine?
Only for cheap, self-contained faults — a pump, a seal, a door catch. Bearings or a control board on a machine that age is money spent on a short extension.
What is the 50% rule?
If a repair costs more than half the price of an equivalent new appliance, replacement usually makes more sense. It's a starting point rather than an answer, and age adjusts it substantially.
How much is an appliance engineer call-out?
Typically £70-120 for a diagnostic visit, often deducted from the cost if you go ahead with the repair.
Does the Consumer Rights Act cover appliances after the warranty?
Yes. The period runs to six years in England and Wales, five in Scotland, though after six months you have to show the fault was inherent.
Are integrated appliances worth repairing for longer?
Generally yes. Replacement involves matching the housing and refitting a door, which adds several hundred pounds and pushes the repair threshold up.
Is it greener to repair than replace?
Usually. Manufacturing carries a large carbon cost, so repairing a machine with years left in it is typically the better environmental choice even when it's marginally worse financially.
Final Thoughts
The percentage rule is a useful first filter and a poor final answer. What's actually failed matters more than what it costs, because some parts fail alone and some fail as the first of several.
Pumps, seals, elements and thermostats are worth fixing on almost anything. Bearings, compressors and control boards usually aren't, past about year seven. And if the appliance is built in, add a few hundred pounds to the replacement side before you compare.
Where it's genuinely close, pay for the diagnosis before deciding. Guessing is the one approach that reliably costs more than either option.
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