Repair or replace as UK VAT and warranty rules change the maths

What to take away

• A repair quote and a replacement price are only comparable once both include VAT. A shop quoting £100 plus VAT is asking £120.
• Standard VAT is 20% on most repairs and most new devices. Energy-saving materials fitted in a home are the best-known reduced-rate case, at 5%.
• A repair under the retailer's liability costs you nothing. The same repair out of warranty carries VAT, a diagnostic fee and a short parts guarantee.
• Divide each option's cost by the years it should last. That single figure settles most decisions better than the headline quote.
• Data transfer, downtime and disposal add roughly £50 to £150 to a repair, and they never appear on the quote.
• The Office for National Statistics publishes the price indices you need to check whether replacement prices for your category have risen or fallen.

Start with four numbers, not a feeling

Write down four figures before you decide anything. The repair quote including VAT. The replacement price including VAT. The years the repaired device should still last. The years the replacement should last.

Without all four you are guessing. A £120 repair on a laptop with four years left beats a £600 replacement lasting six years, even though the new machine lasts longer.

Then add what the quote leaves out. Data transfer runs from free to about £80 at a high street chain. Disposal of the old device costs £10 to £30 unless the retailer takes it back under the WEEE Regulations.

Downtime is the cost people forget. A repair takes days, and weeks if a part has to be ordered. If the device earns your living, that gap is the largest number in the sum.

The 50% rule, and where it fails

A first filter: if the repair quote including VAT is under half the replacement price, repair usually wins. Over half, replacement usually wins. It is crude, and it stops the worst decisions.

Where it fails is the condition of everything the quote does not cover. A new screen on a phone with a failing battery and a cracked frame is not a repair. It is a deposit on the next fault.

Device category moves the numbers too. A phone screen is often worth doing. A laptop mainboard often is not, because the part is costly and the labour is long. For outcomes by device type, see upgrade repair or replace laptop.

A washing machine or fridge follows the same VAT and warranty rules but different economics. Drum replacement against a new machine is a closer call than most people expect.

VAT on repairs and on replacements

The headline repair price from a small shop is often quoted without VAT. The price in a shop window almost always includes it. Comparing the two directly compares different things.

Standard VAT is 20%. A £100 repair quote plus VAT is £120. A £500 replacement including VAT is £500. The gap is £380, not £400. Ask whether the quote includes VAT before you compare anything.

Most consumer electronics repairs are standard-rated. Reduced and zero rates exist for specific goods and services, and the official list sits in VAT rates on different goods and services.

A repair the retailer arranges under its own liability is different. You pay nothing, and the cost sits with the retailer. If you accept a partial refund instead, the VAT treatment follows the refund. Check how a specific arrangement is treated through HM Revenue & Customs.

Replacement goods from a UK retailer include VAT in the displayed price. Goods bought from overseas may attract import VAT and customs duty on top, which can add 20% or more. A cheaper device from abroad is not cheaper once it clears customs.

Get the repair quote in writing with VAT shown separately. Get the replacement price with VAT included. The current rates are listed at VAT rates if you need to confirm the standard rate has not moved.

Warranty: two different things with the same name

A manufacturer's guarantee and your statutory rights are not the same thing, and they move the break-even point in opposite directions.

The Consumer Rights Act 2015 requires goods to be as described, fit for purpose and of satisfactory quality. A device that fails early can be rejected for a full refund. After that short window, you have a right to repair or replacement, and the retailer bears the cost.

That statutory window is often described as six years in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and five in Scotland. How long it actually runs depends on the device and how long it should reasonably last. For advice on a specific claim, Citizens Advice and Trading Standards are the bodies to ask, not a repair shop.

A manufacturer's guarantee is a commercial promise, usually 12 or 24 months. It typically covers parts and labour and excludes accidental damage and wear. Many require an approved repairer. Use someone else and the guarantee may not cover that fault.

While a device is in warranty, replacement is almost never right. A repair that would cost £150 out of warranty costs nothing but your time. The exception is a device so old it will fail again within months.

Extended warranties change the sums again. A policy at £8 a month is £96 a year. It pays for itself in year one against a £150 repair, but not across three. Read the excess and the exclusions. Many policies exclude the faults that actually happen.

Warranty also shows up in resale value. A device with 24 months of cover left sells for more than a repaired one with none. Sell within two years and that difference is part of the true cost. For how condition and warranty evidence affect value, see the monitor and television buying guide.

Typical UK repair prices against replacement prices

Repair pricing varies by device, part and region. London and the South East sit at the top. The North West, Yorkshire and Wales are usually cheaper for the same job. Posting a device to a specialist can undercut a local shop, at the cost of time and postage risk.

The table gives typical UK ranges including VAT, not quotes. Your own figure depends on the model and the shop.

Repair	Typical repair cost (incl. VAT)	Typical replacement cost (incl. VAT)
Phone screen	£60 to £180	£200 to £900
Phone battery	£35 to £80	£200 to £900
Laptop screen	£90 to £250	£350 to £1,200
Laptop battery	£50 to £120	£350 to £1,200
Laptop keyboard	£40 to £110	£350 to £1,200
Tablet screen	£70 to £200	£250 to £900
Console HDMI port	£60 to £120	£250 to £500
Washing machine drum	£150 to £300	£300 to £700

A £120 phone screen against a £600 replacement is 20% of the replacement cost, comfortably inside the 50% rule. A £220 laptop screen against a £450 replacement is 49%, right on the line. There, age and warranty decide it, not price.

Parts availability drives the spread. A screen for a current model is easy to source. A screen for a five-year-old model may be scarce and expensive, which pushes the quote up.

Before accepting a quote, ask whether the part is genuine, refurbished or a compatible copy. The answer changes both the price and how long the repair lasts. If a quote moves after you have agreed it, that is a separate problem covered in repair quote problems.

Replacement prices move too. A device that cost £900 two years ago may have a current equivalent at £600. Comparing your quote with the original price rather than today's price makes repair look cheaper than it is.

Adjusting the comparison with ONS price indices

Money changes value, and technology prices do not move with the overall index. The Office for National Statistics publishes the inflation and price indices that let you adjust. The headline measure is the Consumer Prices Index, with CPIH adding housing costs.

The Inflation and price indices release appears monthly and breaks the headline rate down by category. Technology goods often fall in price even when overall inflation is positive, because of competition and manufacturing scale. Repairs are a service, and services tend to rise with wages.

Here is how to use it. You paid £800 for a laptop three years ago. Equivalent new models now sell for £650. The repair quote is £200, which is 31% of today's replacement price. Against the £800 you remember paying, the same quote looked like 25%. The comparison has moved toward replacing.

The reverse happens if you bought during a heavy discount period. The replacement price today may be higher than you remember, and a quote that felt expensive against memory is reasonable against the market.

You do not need a deflated price to two decimal places. You need to know whether prices in your category have risen or fallen since you last bought. Official releases are collected at Research and statistics if you want the underlying data.

Worked example: a 2022 laptop with a failed screen

The device is a 2022 laptop bought for £900. The screen has failed. The repair quote is £240 including VAT. A comparable new machine is £700 including VAT.

Confirm what the quote covers first: part, labour and return postage. If it excludes VAT, add 20% and the figure becomes £288. That one check changes the answer.

Set the replacement against the device you would actually buy. New is £700. Refurbished with a grading report might be £480. Use the real alternative, not the most expensive one on the shelf.

Now divide by years. The repaired laptop is three years old and should run another three. Repair is £240 over three years, or £80 a year. The replacement is £700 over five years, or £140 a year. Repair wins on this measure.

Add the extras. Data transfer is free with a backup. Downtime is two days and matters only if you cannot work. Disposal is free if the retailer takes the old machine back under WEEE. Add £0 to £50 and repair still wins.

Check the guarantee on the work. The shop offers 90 days on the part. If the screen fails in month four, you pay again. The replacement would carry 12 to 24 months. That risk is the strongest argument for replacing.

Sanity check the rest of the machine. Battery health is 78%, the keyboard works, the chassis is undamaged. If the battery were also failing, add £90 and the total becomes £330, which is 47% of the replacement. The decision turns marginal.

Marginal is not a failure. It means the answer rests on things the quote cannot tell you: how much you need the device this week, and whether you can afford the replacement now. For a structured comparison of the full outcome, see technology value compared.

Hidden costs and the value of protection

The headline quote is not the total. Data transfer, downtime, disposal and the residual value of the old device all belong in the sum.

If the device still powers on, you can back it up yourself for nothing. If it does not, a shop may charge £40 to £80 to recover data.

On a phone with a broken screen, a mouse and an adapter can save that fee. On a laptop with a failed drive, recovery can run to several hundred pounds and may not succeed.

Where data matters, take advice under ICO guidance and use a professional recovery service rather than repeated attempts.

Under the WEEE Regulations, retailers must take back old electrical items when you buy a new one, usually free. Council recycling centres also accept them. A shop charging for disposal typically wants £10 to £30. Never put a device with a lithium battery in general waste.

The old device has value either way. A working three-year-old laptop may sell for £150 to £250. A broken one sells for parts, perhaps £30 to £60. Replace and you capture that value. Repair and you keep it.

A repair that fails after 90 days leaves you with a broken device and only the shop's guarantee to fall back on. A replacement from a reputable retailer brings statutory rights and a manufacturer's guarantee.

That protection has a price even when it is hard to state. Before buying anything, run a pre-purchase technology checklist so warranty and returns terms are clear.

A checklist before you accept the quote

• Get the repair quote in writing, with VAT shown separately.
• Confirm the part is genuine, refurbished or a compatible copy.
• Get the shop's own guarantee period in writing.
• Price the replacement you would actually buy today, including VAT.
• Estimate remaining life for the repaired device and for the replacement.
• Add data transfer, downtime and disposal to the repair side.
• Check whether the retailer still carries liability under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.
• Work out cost per year for both options, then apply the 50% rule.
• If the result is marginal, decide on need and affordability, not price alone.

In warranty, accept the repair. Below half the replacement price with two or more years left, repair. Above half on an old device, replace. When it is marginal, the guarantee on the work decides it.

Common questions

Does a repair quote include VAT?

Not always. Small shops often quote without it. Ask for the figure including VAT, or add 20% yourself. A £100 quote becomes £120, which is enough to change a close decision.

How long is a warranty on a repair in the UK?

There is no fixed period. Many shops offer 90 days on parts and labour. Your statutory rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 still apply to the work as a service, so it must be done with reasonable care.

Is it cheaper to repair or replace a laptop?

It depends on the quote and the age. Repair usually wins when the quote is under half the replacement price and the device has two or more years left. The cost-per-year figure is the better test when the two options differ in expected life.

What happens to my old device if I replace it?

Under the WEEE Regulations the retailer must take it back when you buy a new one, usually free. Council recycling centres accept it too. Never put a lithium battery in general waste.