Whenever you are moving into any sort of new home, one of the biggest expenses you will be facing will be the purchase of new appliances.
There are hundreds of appliances, features, and costs to choose from, making it very confusing when it comes to getting the best appliances to meet your needs.
If you are moving into a multi-million-dollar property, it makes sense to buy the most expensive appliances to match the home.
But if you are moving into a rented one bedroom flat, or have limited funds to spend, then it might be more sensible to buy second-hand appliances and take out home appliance insurance.
Used appliances are more likely to break down, but with this insurance in place you are covering the cost of someone coming to your home and repairing your appliances.
Why buy the best?
The more expensive the appliance, the greater the quality and you can expect more features too. Buying the top of the range appliance has these advantages:
- Life expectancy – they will last longer than other appliances as they are built to last. However, most appliances last for many years regardless of their cost or quality.
- Performance – you can expect far more options being available and added features, but will you use all these extra options?
- Design – if you have designed a kitchen in a specific color, the less expensive brands might only come in white or black. More expensive brands often come in a wider range of color options and sizes to meet the specific design features of your home.
What factors should be considered?
- Your home – a multi-million-dollar property really needs to be matched with top quality appliances, but a dingy ageing apartment would better suit second-hand appliances.
- How long you will live in the property – if you are only going to be living in the home for 12 months, it makes more sense to buy second-hand which might breakdown a year after you’ve left, rather than buy top quality that will work perfectly for the next tenants for another 13 years or more, unless you intend to take the appliances with you when you leave.
- Your usage – a top quality washing machine might have 40 different wash cycles and can take huge loads of washing, but if you live on your own and don’t care about mixing your colors and your whites, then you won’t use most of these features that make it so expensive. Instead, buy something less expensive and better matched to your needs.
The more expensive the appliance the stronger the likelihood that it will keep working problem-free longer than other less expensive brands that could be bought brand new.
Is the added cost worth it?
Yes.
But only if you are going to use all the extra features that come with the most expensive appliances.
Your refrigerator will help your food last longer and save you money because you will waste less food.
Your oven will enable you to cook your main course and dessert at the same time, reducing cooking time and saving power.
Your dishwasher will perfectly clean all your dishes without prior rinsing, saving water.
Your washer/dryer can wash and dry quickly or take a huge amount of clothes in one wash and you’ll never have clothing coming out a different color than when it went in, or with torn threads.
But if you don’t need all those extra features, there’s no point paying the much higher prices for them.
You could buy brand new from dependable but far less expensive brands, and perhaps save even more by buying during store sales.
You can save even more on the upfront cost of appliances by buying second hand. In most cases the appliances will still work without issues for several years. To protect yourself from potential cost of repairs, you can always buy home appliance insurance to cover those costs on some or all of your appliances.
