Why is it cheaper to replace than repair?

Question

I have a flymo lawn chief 400, Which i purchased 5yrs ago for £75 new not alot i know but, I have maintained it, Oil change/Blade sharpened, kept in shed, The recoil starter has broken (unrepairable)it still runs fine, But no good if you can't start it. I've made some inquiries & it just seems it's cheaper to replace than repair, Anyone else found this?

Answer 1

Rather than repeat the above comments, I thought I'll add a little bit more. There's a combination of two factors :-

1) Consumers want to buy as cheap as possible (on the whole)

2) Retailers want to earn as much money as they can

So items are shipped in from China, and lets be honest, their quality can be questioned. When things use to last donkey years, this cheap tat now breaks sooner and because of the mass produced market and chuck away society we live in, labour rates out-weigh repairs. And lets be honest, how difficult is it to get spares on most items. When I worked in retail, you had to refund most far east products because it was not possible to get spares. The refunded item was crushed and skipped?

Answer 2

You will have to re glaze however,confused by the size are you saying 3ft 7ins high by 1ft 6ins wide if so that is small.Is it single or double glazed either way the price seems expensive.I have had quotes for a double glazed unit larger than this and the total cost was in the region of £85.Get more quotes and find an alternative supplier. Edit.My quote still remains the same you should not have to pay the sum quoted,even with hardened K glass etc.The fact it is on the inside helps a bit but it does need replacing and double glazing more often than not is easy to fit.Incidentally the crack is on the inside,that is not common and suggests a little accident somewhere,the pane I refer to down here had the same the fitter suggested it was likely to have been caused by an internal knock to the glass.Good luck.

Answer 3

Unfortunately we have changed into a wasteful society where goods are made cheaply, but the art off maintenance and repair is being lost due to cheap products being used which are cheaper to replace then repair.

The cheap products from the east started this trend and everybody else has followed.

Answer 4

Because this is the way society has gone,

The 'Microwave Generation', Everything is NOW,
Mass produced rubbish that falls apart, made out of
plastics etc etc (BAD for the environment... Since this is the new hot topic!!)

All to do with marketing, Sell you something new...

E.g The un-blowable lightbulb, this was actually invented, but bought by a Lightbulb manufacturer and the design / patent put on a shelf to gather dust. (Shant name here..).

Why sell a light bulb that never dies? you can only sell so many, But sell a light bulb that lasts 'X' Hundred hours and needs to be replaced, Mega £'s or $'s. You can keep selling.


Makes you sick eh?

Answer 5

This the very reason why we stopped buying product cover when we bought new appliances it would cost £90.00 for a microwave and £60.00 for cover for something like 5 years so we just don't get it any more if it breaks down in 5 years the chance are that it's cheaper to buy it new.

Answer 6

a lot of things are like that. when the motherboard broke in my dishwasher it cost about 20 euro less to fix then to get a new one!! how the hell does that work if i got the motherboard and everything else for only 20 euro more!! wtf!
in the end i just got a new dishwasher cause then i would have a new guarantee and it would last longer than the old one

Answer 7

If you cant fix it then bin it.Nearly all all goods are made
to have a 3 yr life or less.Same with house hold goods
like washing machines,my last washing machine lasted
two and half yrs and the call out was daunting,so
start with new one.

Answer 8

Absolutely true. Tried to explain this to someone else yesterday, but electric lawnmowers do have thier life span.
Just one of lifes little things.
You deserve a nice new one anyway.

Answer 9

I'm only vaguely familiar with your product, but usually it's the price of parts and labor that kills you on repairs.