If you need a new stove, refrigerator, washer, dryer or other appliance, you may be overwhelmed with all of the different places to purchase appliances. You can find appliances everywhere from big box stores to online shopping forums. One of the places you may not have looked, but should, is at a used appliance store. While the obvious advantage to shopping at this type of store is price, there are a number of other benefits to buying used appliances rather than used.
1. Lower prices. Just as automobiles lose a large portion of their value as soon as they leave the dealer's lot, so do new appliances depreciate quickly. When you purchase a previously-owned, late model appliance, you'll still get the benefit of recent technology without taking the huge hit in resale value. It's also less likely that you'll need to finance a used appliance, so you'll save additional money on interest charges.
2. Environmentally-friendly. When you buy previously-used appliance, that keeps one extra appliance from entering America's landfills. If more and more people buy used, but still useful appliances, that also means that fewer will be manufactured, helping to reduce the raw materials and the energy needed to make these items. If your family is committed to reducing your carbon footprint, buying used appliances is a good place to start.
3. Modern appliances have shorter lifespans. While your grandmother's refrigerator made have lasted for decades (you may still have it in the garage), today's appliances have about half the lifespan of refrigerators, washers, dryers and similar products made more than a decade ago. This is due, in part to appliance manufacturer's using cheaper raw materials and the increase of digital technology, which is more subject to malfunction. By purchasing a used appliance, you lessen the risk of your household not getting it's money's worth out of the item.
4. Less chance of a "lemon." When you purchase a used appliance, another family has worked the bugs out of the product, and they have exchanged the appliance if it truly is a lemon and beyond repair. Therefore, when you buy used, your odds are much less of getting an appliance that requires constant repairs.
While purchasing used appliances vs. new is not the right answer for every household, recycling used appliances can help save your family money, reduce the number of old appliances that enter America's landfills and help make sure that your family gets its money worth out of the appliance.For more information, talk to a professional like Preferred Appliance.
