Appliance Repair Decline Rate: What 51,435 Service Visits Show
Every published figure on how often Americans repair rather than replace an appliance comes from a survey. Someone was asked what they would do. This page reports something different: what people actually did, measured at the moment of decision. Across 51,435 completed service visits, a technician diagnosed the fault, quoted the repair, and the customer either approved it or walked away. We counted the walk-aways. The headline result is that the price of the repair did not predict the answer — and one specific diagnosis did.
The finding that surprised us: price does not predict the decision
The obvious hypothesis is that people decline expensive repairs and approve cheap ones. We tested it across all nine appliance categories in our records, comparing each category’s median finished repair ticket against its decline rate. The two move independently. Every category median sits inside a narrow band, while the decline rates spread across more than twenty percentage points.
Two categories make the point on their own. A washing machine repair and a dryer repair cost within three dollars of each other at the median, $358 and $355. Yet washer repairs are declined at 41.0% and dryer repairs at 20.5%. Same price, double the refusal rate.
| Appliance | Declined | Median repair | Visits counted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Freezer | 43.9% | $375 | 576 |
| Cooktop | 43.3% | $338 | 215 |
| Microwave | 41.4% | $376 | 169 |
| Washing machine | 41.0% | $358 | 10,277 |
| Dishwasher | 40.7% | $335 | 3,931 |
| Oven and range | 37.3% | $380 | 3,026 |
| Ice maker | 37.0% | $426 | 343 |
| Refrigerator | 35.2% | $394 | 9,908 |
| Dryer | 20.5% | $355 | 2,891 |
Every median in that table sits inside a narrow $335 to $426 band. The decline rates spread across more than twenty percentage points. Whatever drives the decision, it is not the number on the quote.
If anything, the cheapest repairs are refused most
Sort that table by price instead of by decline rate and something odd appears. The three cheapest categories to repair are the dishwasher at a $335 median, the cooktop at $338 and the washing machine at $358. Their decline rates are 40.7%, 43.3% and 41.0% — three of the four highest on the list. The two most expensive categories are the ice maker at $426 and the refrigerator at $394, and they are declined at 37.0% and 35.2%, below the 36.9% average.
We are not claiming a cheaper repair causes a refusal. But the pattern does close the door on the intuitive story. Whatever is happening at the kitchen table when a technician quotes a price, it is not a budget calculation running in the customer’s head — otherwise the $335 repair would be approved more often than the $426 one, and it is not.
Our working explanation, which we cannot prove from this data, is that the decision is made about the appliance rather than about the quote. A dishwasher that has needed two visits gets replaced regardless of what the third repair costs. A refrigerator that a family depends on daily gets fixed almost whatever the number. If that is right, the price on the invoice is close to irrelevant and the only figure that matters is how the household already felt about the machine before the technician arrived.
One diagnosis flips the decision: the compressor
Price does not matter across the normal band. It matters enormously at one specific point. When the diagnosis on a refrigerator or freezer is a failed compressor, the decision reverses.
Half of the households told they need a compressor say no. Against a 35.2% baseline for refrigerators generally, hearing the word compressor adds roughly fifteen percentage points to the odds of a refusal. The median ticket, $511, is only about $117 above the refrigerator median — a 30% price increase producing a 43% increase in refusals. That is the one place in our data where the amount and the answer move together, and it suggests the compressor functions as a threshold rather than a price: past a certain repair, people stop treating the appliance as repairable at all.
This matters for anyone writing about warranties, extended service plans or brand reliability. A sealed-system failure is not just the most expensive common refrigerator repair. It is the repair that most often ends the appliance’s life regardless of whether the repair was viable. We cover how to recognise one before it reaches that point in our guide to the signs of a failing refrigerator compressor.
What actually breaks, and what it costs
The second half of this data set is the diagnosis itself. Below is the most-replaced component in each of the five highest-volume categories, expressed as a share of every repair we completed on that appliance, with the median finished ticket. Ticket figures include the part, the labour and the service call together, which is why they run higher than the parts prices published by retailers.
| Appliance and component | Share of repairs | Median ticket | Replacements |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oven and range — igniter | 9.0% | $348 | 171 |
| Dryer — heating element | 6.4% | $356 | 147 |
| Dryer — drive belt | 5.4% | $323 | 125 |
| Refrigerator — defrost heater or timer | 5.4% | $378 | 345 |
| Oven and range — control board | 5.0% | $461 | 95 |
| Dishwasher — drain pump | 4.5% | $335 | 106 |
| Washing machine — drain pump | 4.1% | $361 | 249 |
| Washing machine — shocks and suspension | 3.7% | $368 | 227 |
| Refrigerator — evaporator or condenser fan | 3.6% | $415 | 229 |
| Refrigerator — compressor | 3.4% | $511 | 216 |
| Washing machine — control board | 3.3% | $413 | 199 |
| Refrigerator — control board | 2.5% | $516 | 162 |
Two patterns are worth pulling out. First, the gas oven igniter is the single most-replaced component we handle on any appliance, at 9.0% of all oven and range repairs. Second, control boards are consistently the most expensive routine repair on every appliance and consistently not the most common one — on refrigerators they account for 2.5% of repairs at a $516 median, against 5.4% for a defrost heater at $378. A control board is the rare finding, not the default one, which is worth remembering when a quote arrives naming it.
This page deliberately stops at the component level. For the appliance-level and brand-level view — which appliances bring us out most often, and which brands we service most within each category — that analysis lives on its own page: the most commonly repaired appliances, by real call volume. We keep the two data sets on separate pages rather than restating one inside the other, so the figures have a single home and a single definition.
What a declined visit costs the customer
A declined repair is not a free visit, and it should not be presented as one. When a customer says no, they have paid the diagnostic fee and they leave with a diagnosis: the specific component that failed, whether the appliance is worth replacing, and what the repair would have cost if they had approved it. Our diagnostic is $99, and it is applied to the repair when the repair goes ahead — so the practical cost of saying yes is $99 less than the quoted figure, and the practical cost of saying no is $99.
That structure explains part of why the decline rate is as high as 36.9% and why we do not treat it as a failure. A third of the people who call us are not buying a repair. They are buying a decision, at a fixed price, from someone who has opened the machine. For an appliance that turns out to need a compressor, that is a rational $99 to spend before ordering a new refrigerator. Our repair or replace guide sets out the arithmetic those customers are running.
Key figures, stated for citation
- 36.9% of customers declined the repair after diagnosis, across 51,435 completed service visits.
- 50.4% declined when the diagnosis was a failed compressor, across 458 such visits.
- Median repair price and decline rate move independently across nine appliance categories — the cheapest categories are declined as often as the most expensive.
- 20.5% decline rate on dryers, the lowest of any appliance and roughly half the rate of washing machines at a near-identical median price.
- 40.7% against 35.2% — the dishwasher, our cheapest category to repair at a $335 median, is declined more often than the refrigerator at $394.
- 9.0% of all oven and range repairs are a gas igniter replacement, the most-replaced single component in the data set.
- $335 to $426 is the full range of median repair tickets across all nine appliance categories.
- $511 median finished ticket for a refrigerator compressor replacement, against a $394 refrigerator median.
- 2.5% of refrigerator repairs are a control board, at a $516 median — the most expensive routine repair and one of the least common.
Source: Bozmanfix, "Appliance Repair Decline Rate: 51,435-Visit Data Set" — https://bozmanfix.com/appliance-repair-decline-rate/Frequently asked questions
How often do people repair an appliance instead of replacing it?
In our records, 63.1% of customers approved the repair after a technician diagnosed the fault and quoted the price, and 36.9% declined it. That is measured behaviour at the point of decision across 51,435 completed visits, not a survey of stated intent. Published survey figures on repair-versus-replace tend to be less favourable to repair, which is expected: people asked in the abstract are more willing to replace than people standing in front of a technician with a specific price.
Does a more expensive repair make people more likely to walk away?
Not within the normal range. Across nine appliance categories, median repair price and decline rate move independently, and every category median sits between $335 and $426. If anything the pattern runs the other way: the dishwasher, our cheapest category at $335, is declined more often than the refrigerator at $394. The exception is the compressor: at a $511 median, half of customers decline. Our reading is that the decision is triggered by a specific diagnosis rather than by a price threshold.
Which appliance repair is most often declined?
Freezers, at 43.9%, followed by cooktops at 43.3% and microwaves at 41.4%. Note that all three are small samples relative to the main categories, so treat those three rates as indicative rather than firm. Among high-volume appliances, washing machines lead at 41.0% and dishwashers at 40.7%. Dryers are the lowest by a wide margin at 20.5%.
Why are dryer repairs approved so much more often?
We do not know, and we are not going to guess. The two explanations that suggest themselves are both contradicted by the data: repair price is nearly identical to a washing machine, and replacement cost cannot account for it because refrigerators, which cost the most to replace, are approved more often than washers. If you have a hypothesis worth testing against 2,891 dryer visits, we are interested.
What is the most commonly replaced appliance part?
The gas oven igniter, at 9.0% of all oven and range repairs and 171 replacements, is the highest single-component share in the set. By absolute count the refrigerator defrost heater and timer leads with 345 replacements, at 5.4% of refrigerator repairs. The full component breakdown is in the table above; the appliance-level and brand-level view is on our page covering the most commonly repaired appliances.
Is a control board failure the most likely cause of a dead appliance?
No, and it is worth pushing back on a quote that says so. Control boards are the most expensive routine repair on every appliance we service and among the least common. On refrigerators they account for 2.5% of repairs at a $516 median, while a defrost heater accounts for 5.4% at $378. On dryers, boards are 1.8% of repairs against 6.4% for a heating element. Cheaper components should be tested first.
What do I pay if I decide not to go ahead with the repair?
The $99 diagnostic, and nothing else. You keep the diagnosis: which component failed, what the repair would cost, and whether the appliance is worth keeping. If you approve the repair, that $99 is applied to it. For roughly a third of the households we visit, the diagnostic is the product — they are buying a decision rather than a repair, and that is a reasonable thing to buy at a fixed price.
How do these repair costs compare to buying new?
Our median repair sits under $400 in every category we service, which is comfortably below half the price of a comparable new appliance. On that arithmetic alone the repair usually wins while the appliance is inside its expected service life. Our repair or replace guide lays out the break-even calculation, and the lifespan figures by type are in how long refrigerators last and how long dryers last.
Can I use these numbers in my own article or report?
Yes. Quote any figure on this page with a link back so readers can check the methodology. If you need a slice we have not published — a single component, a brand, a state, a date range — write to us and we will run it against the data set and send it over.
Appliance broken right now?
Every number on this page came from a real service call. If yours is the next one, the diagnostic is $99 and it is applied to the repair when you approve it — and we will tell you honestly which side of the repair-or-replace line you are on before you spend anything more.