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Consumer Reports Offers Advice For When To Repair Or Replace Appliances

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Repair or replace?

That's always the question with appliances and electronics when they go on the fritz.

Many people have problem appliances.

Side-by-side refrigerators with icemakers are among the most problem-prone appliances, according to a Consumer Reports survey of its subscribers.

Thirty-one percent needed repairs by the time they were 4-years-old.

"Bottom-freezer refrigerators with icemakers needed repairs almost as often - 28 percent of them," Celia Kuperszmid Lehrman, of Consumer Reports, said.

Other products that tend to break within four years:

  • Dishwashers - 20 percent
  • Self-propelled gas mowers - 23 percent
  • Lawn tractors - 28 percent

So, when is a repair worth it?

"Our general advice for newer appliances and electronics is to fix them rather than ditch them if the cost of the repair is less than half the cost of replacement," said Lehrman.

Consumer Reports did find some products are getting more reliable.

LCD televisions now have a seven percent repair rate, compared to 15 percent in 2010.

Even laptops are improving -- it's 24 percent now. It was 36 percent.

"It's annoying when something breaks. And more than half the people in our survey opted to not go for repairs," said Lehrman.

Still, if it makes sense to fix it, Consumer Reports says go with an independent shop.

Those surveyed found independents better and cheaper than authorized repair centers.

RELATED LINKS:
More Consumer Reports
More Consumer News
More Reports by Susan Koeppen

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