Buying a Used Appliance Without Buying Someone Else’s Problem

There is a good case for buying used. Major appliances are mechanically simple, they last a long time, and the depreciation curve is brutal — a five-year-old machine with six years left in it sells for a fraction of what those six years are worth. For a rental, a garage second refrigerator, a bridge through a remodel, or a first apartment, used is often the correct answer rather than the cheap one.

There is also a bad case, and it is the same machine bought without looking. What separates them is about ten minutes of inspection and three questions, and neither requires you to know anything about appliances.

When used makes sense, and when it does not

Used works best where the appliance is simple, the failure modes are cheap, and you can test the whole thing on the spot. A top-load washer, an electric dryer, a basic electric range and a chest freezer are all good candidates. There is not much to hide, and what there is, you can hear.

Used works worst in three situations.

Anything with a sealed system you cannot properly test. A refrigerator or freezer needs to run for hours before you know whether it holds temperature, and a sealed-system repair can approach the value of the appliance. A unit that has been unplugged in a garage for six months and is “working fine” is an untested unit, not a working one.

Front-load washers with unknown history. The expensive failure is tub bearings, the cause is often years of overloading or a move without shipping bolts, and the early symptoms are subtle. It is testable — see below — but it needs a real spin cycle, not a five-second demonstration.

Built-ins and anything that has to fit an opening. A used built-in refrigerator, wall oven or dishwasher was sized to somebody else's cabinets. Panel-ready, trim kits, and the exact cutout dimensions turn a $300 bargain into a carpentry project.

Where you are buying from

Five sources, and the differences are mostly about what happens after the sale.

• A used appliance dealer. Machines are tested, often repaired, and typically come with a short warranty — 30 to 90 days is the common shape. You pay more, and the warranty is the reason. For a refrigerator this is frequently the right trade, because it converts an untestable risk into somebody else's problem. Ask what the warranty covers, whether it includes labor, and whether they deliver.
• Scratch-and-dent and open-box. New appliances with cosmetic damage or a returned box, generally carrying the full manufacturer warranty — confirm that in writing, because it is the entire value of the deal. Look at where the damage is: a dented side that faces a cabinet is free money, a dented door is a door you look at every day.
• Floor models. New, mechanically unused, possibly missing manuals and accessories, sometimes with a shortened warranty.
• Private sale. The cheapest and the most variable. No warranty, no recourse, and the machine is usually still installed so you can at least see it run in place, which is genuinely valuable.
• Free, at the curb or from a remodel. Sometimes excellent. You are buying an unknown, and the cost is whatever the repair turns out to be. Rational for a garage freezer, less so for the machine your household depends on.

Do this before you go

Ask the seller for the model number and serial number and spend five minutes on them. This is the highest-value part of the whole exercise and almost nobody does it.

Work out the age. Most manufacturers encode the build date in the serial number, though every brand uses a different scheme and you will need to look up the one for yours. Failing that, the manual, the energy label or a search on the model number will usually get you to a production year. Age drives everything: a washer has roughly eleven years in it and a dishwasher about ten, so a machine's age tells you what fraction you are buying.

Check that parts still exist. Type the model number into a parts supplier and see what comes up. A model with a full parts listing is a model you can keep running; a model with three discontinued results is one you cannot. Our parts supplier directory lists vendors who will confirm availability from a model number, and it takes two minutes.

Search the model for known faults, and check whether there is an open recall on it — manufacturers publish recall lookups by model and serial, and it is a free check.

Measure your space and the path to it before you fall in love with anything. Doorways, turns, stair widths, and the actual opening with the door swung out.

The ten-minute inspection

Insist on seeing it run. A seller who will not plug it in is telling you something. If it is already installed, ask them to start a cycle when you arrive so it is mid-run when you look at it.

Refrigerator or freezer. It should already have been running for several hours — say so when you arrange the visit. Put your hand near the condenser and confirm it is warm, which means the compressor is doing work. Listen for a steady hum rather than clicking, humming and stopping. Check the gasket all the way round with the dollar-bill test, look for rust at the bottom of the cabinet and heavy frost at the evaporator, and smell the interior — a unit that sat unplugged with the door closed can carry an odour that never really leaves. Ask whether it has ever been laid on its side, and when.

Washer. Run a short cycle if at all possible, and stay for the spin. Pull the drum up, down and side to side: obvious clunking play or a gritty rumble when you turn it by hand points at bearings, the failure that ends a front loader. Look at the door boot for tears and black mould, and underneath for rust at the tub seam.

Dryer. Run it on a heat setting and put your hand in the drum after a couple of minutes — it should get genuinely warm. Listen for squealing or thumping, which is rollers, belt or idler and is a cheap repair. Confirm gas or electric, and for electric, whether the cord is three-prong or four-prong and which your outlet is.

Dishwasher. Hardest to test out of place. If it is installed, run a cycle and watch it fill, wash and drain. Pull the filter and look at the sump. Check the racks for rust, particularly the tine tips, and the door gasket and latch. Rusted racks alone are a reason to walk away on a cheap machine.

Range or oven. Light every surface burner or heat every element; on gas, look for a blue, even flame all the way round. Set the oven to 350°F and confirm it gets there and holds — bring a cheap oven thermometer. Check the door hinges and seal, and the elements for blistering or breaks.

The questions, and the real cost

Four questions, asked plainly:

1. Why are you selling it? “We remodelled” and “it started making a noise” are very different answers, and most people tell you the truth.
2. How old is it, and has anything been repaired? A recent pump or a new element is a positive, not a negative — it means somebody cared enough to fix it.
3. Has it been moved on its side or its back? Critical on anything with a compressor. If it has, it needs to stand upright before being started — the standing rule is here.
4. Has it run in the last 24 hours? If not, you are buying untested.

Then do the arithmetic honestly, because the sticker is not the price. Budget for delivery, a new set of fill hoses or a new duct, possibly a cord in the right configuration, and a licensed connection if it is gas. Then add a realistic allowance for one repair. A $150 washer plus $60 of hardware plus a $220 repair in year two is a $430 washer — which may still be a good deal, but it is the number to compare against a new one.

What to walk away from

• A refrigerator or freezer that has not been running, on a “it works fine” assurance.
• Any refusal to plug it in or run a cycle.
• A front loader with drum play, a rumble on spin, or a torn boot.
• Visible rust at the base of a cabinet, on dishwasher racks, or around a washer tub seam.
• A burning or hot-plastic smell, scorched wiring, or a damaged plug.
• A model with no parts availability.
• A price close to a scratch-and-dent unit with a manufacturer warranty. At that point the used machine is the worse buy.

And the general rule that covers all of it: the cheaper the machine, the more the repair matters, because a $200 appliance with a $300 repair is a decision you have already made. If you are weighing a used unit against fixing what you already have, run both through the Appliance Blue Book — and if the machine you are replacing is not actually dead, which appliances are worth repairing past ten years is the argument in full.