Appliance Repair Parts and Supply

Parts windows

Three states set a floor on how long parts stay available

The question that decides most appliance repairs is not what the technician charges. It is whether the part exists. Until recently that was entirely the manufacturer's call, and a shrug at the parts counter ended the conversation. Three states have now put a floor under it, and California's has a hard number attached that you can quote back.

Every covered manufacturer of an electronic or appliance product with a wholesale price of $100 or more must make available to owners of the product, service and repair facilities, and service dealers sufficient documentation and functional parts and tools, inclusive of any updates, on fair and reasonable terms, for at least seven years after the last date a product model or type was manufactured, regardless of whether the seven-year period exceeds the warranty period¹. For products in the $50 to $99.99 band, the period is three years¹.

That start date is the detail nearly every summary of this law gets wrong. The clock runs from when the manufacturer stopped making the model, not from the day you carried yours home. What is not available at all is parts pricing. No manufacturer and no agency publishes it in aggregate, so the statutory duty is the only leverage on the page.

Six things that decide whether the part exists

Read these before you accept that a part has been discontinued.

Seven years, or three

California sets two tiers by wholesale price. Products at $100 or more get at least seven years of parts, tools and documentation¹. Products from $50 up to $99.99 get at least three years¹. Below $50, the section imposes no period at all. A major appliance sits comfortably in the seven-year tier.

The clock starts when production ends

The obligation runs for the stated period after the last date a product model or type was manufactured¹. The statute repeats the phrase, so it is not a drafting accident. A machine bought in the final year of a production run therefore carries a much longer protected window than one bought at launch.

Wholesale price, not your receipt

The tiers turn on a wholesale price to the retailer, or to others outside of direct retail sale¹. What you paid at the store is not the test. If you are arguing with a manufacturer about which band applies, the number in dispute is theirs, not the one printed on your receipt.

Minnesota regulates speed, not duration

Minnesota's act takes a different shape. Parts, tools and documentation must be made available within 60 days after the first sale of the equipment in the state³, and the section applies to equipment sold on or after July 1, 2021³. It sets no end date, but it also promises no minimum stocking period.

Oregon prices parts off the authorized sheet

Oregon requires a manufacturer to make parts available directly or through an authorized service provider at costs and terms equivalent to the most favorable costs and terms at which it offers those parts to an authorized service provider⁴. Documentation and tools go further and must be supplied at no charge⁴.

The exits they can still take

California does not require a manufacturer to divulge a trade secret, license intellectual property, or distribute source code¹, and the duty lifts entirely if the manufacturer supplies an equivalent or better replacement product free¹. Minnesota excuses anything no longer available to the manufacturer itself³.

Appliance parts pricing, in aggregateNot published by any manufacturer or agency

California window at $100 or more wholesaleSeven years from last manufacture

What does it cost?

We cannot build you a parts list with prices on it. No manufacturer publishes its parts pricing in aggregate, no agency collects it, and the figures that circulate for a compressor, a control board, a drain pump or an ice maker all originate with lead-generation sites that state neither method nor sample. What does exist are rules about charging. Oregon is the only one of the three with a defined standard, requiring parts at terms equivalent to the most favorable an authorized service provider gets⁴. California and Minnesota both say fair and reasonable terms, and neither text we read attaches a figure to that phrase¹³.

The only dollar amounts in this area are penalties. Under California's Right to Repair Act, a city, county, city and county, or the state may sue for civil liability of $1,000 per day for a first violation, $2,000 per day for a second, and $5,000 per day for the third and subsequent violations⁵. That is Senate Bill 244, Chapter 704, approved by the Governor on October 10, 2023⁵. Minnesota takes a different route: a violation there is an unlawful practice under section 325D.44, enforced through the attorney general's remedies rather than by you³.

The seven-year and three-year windows come from California Public Resources Code section 42488.2 and the penalty figures from the text of SB 244. They describe what manufacturers owe, not what a part costs. No source publishes appliance parts prices in aggregate.

Hiring

How to hire and buy when you need a part

1

Who does the work

Three counters can sell you the same component: the manufacturer, an authorized distributor, and an independent parts seller. In California the duty to supply runs to owners of the product as well as to repair facilities and service dealers¹, and Minnesota's runs to any independent repair provider or to the owner³. Ordering it yourself is a lawful route in both, not a favour.

2

What pros will ask

The full model and serial number from the plate rather than the marketing name, the part number off the exploded diagram, whether you want an original or aftermarket component, and whether the appliance is still under an express warranty. That last one matters in California, where the older Civil Code duty applies specifically to manufacturers making an express warranty².

3

What to check before signing

Ask in writing whether the part is new, refurbished or used. In California, a shop that is not an authorized repair provider must disclose that and must disclose used or non-manufacturer parts, in writing, before it repairs the product¹. If you are told the part is discontinued, ask for the last date that model or type was manufactured, because that date starts the clock¹.

Parts and supply questions, answered straight

They said the part is discontinued. Are they allowed to do that?

It depends on the state and the date. In California, a covered product wholesaling at $100 or more carries a duty to supply functional parts, tools and documentation for at least seven years after the last date that model or type was manufactured¹. Ask for that date in writing. Two exits exist: the duty does not apply if the manufacturer gives you an equivalent or better replacement product free¹, and in Minnesota nothing requires supplying a part that is no longer available to the manufacturer itself³.

Does the seven years run from the day I bought the appliance?

No, and this is the point worth remembering. It runs from the last date a product model or type was manufactured, and the statute says so regardless of whether that period exceeds the warranty¹. Two other dates bound the section. It covers products manufactured for the first time, and first sold or used in California, on or after July 1, 2021, and the section became operative on July 1, 2024¹. Older machines fall outside it entirely.

Is this the same as California's older parts law?

No, though the numbers look identical. Civil Code section 1793.03, added in 1986, imposes the same three-year and seven-year periods and the same $50 to $99.99 and $100-or-more price bands, but only on manufacturers making an express warranty, and only as to service and repair facilities rather than to owners². It requires service literature and functional parts. The 2023 act reaches all covered manufacturers, reaches owners directly, and adds tools¹.

Will fitting an aftermarket part void my warranty?

The federal anti-tying provision, Section 102(c) of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, prohibits a warrantor from conditioning its warranty on your using an article or service identified by brand name, unless the article is provided free or the warrantor holds a waiver from the Commission⁶. FTC's own example is a printer manufacturer that cannot condition its warranty on you buying its branded ink⁶. Keep receipts and part numbers, and challenge a blanket refusal rather than accepting it.

What should a part actually cost?

No source can tell you. Manufacturers do not publish parts pricing in aggregate and no agency collects it, so any comparison you make is your own. The one published rule is Oregon's, which requires parts at costs and terms equivalent to the most favorable terms offered to an authorized service provider⁴. In practice that means pricing the same part number at the authorized distributor and at an independent seller, then asking each whether the item is new, refurbished or used.

Sources

Where these facts came from

Every figure on this page was read out of the page linked below. We do not cite cost aggregators.

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