Thread: Microwave repair costs vs buying a new one.

We have an above stove microwave which stopped functioning over the summer. The light would come on when you press the start button however it would not cook or make any cooking noises. We have an appliance warranty through 2-10 Home Buyers Warranty, a warranty we continued every year since we purchased the house.

We went through 3 different appliance repair companies in a month all covered under warranty before the microwave was fully functional.

1st appliance company - handle was loose. Handle needs to be replaced. I paid $50, bill to the warranty company was $150.
Microwave worked for 2 runs after repair guy left. Called the warranty company again

2nd appliance company - seals on the door need to be replaced. Since this was a reopening a repair issue I did not pay the $50 co-pay. Cost to the warranty company on the bill was approx $130
Microwave worked for a few days before dying again.

3rd appliance company - entire door needs to be replaced. No charge to me since this was part of the initial repair ticket. Cost to the warranty company approx $190.
At least this fixed the problem.

I decided to price the microwave to see what it would have cost to just get a new one as a replacement. The brand is nothing fancy, a $269 Frigidaire. The sum of the repair cost to the warranty company was $470 minus the $50 I paid, so about $420, higher than the cost of the microwave. I wonder how warranty companies make the determination of when to replace an item vs keep repairing it.

At least our microwave works well....for now.