Repair Bonus: Only 5% of French Use It, and the Issue Isn’t Their Fault

A washing machine that won’t drain, a quote of €180, a brand-new machine priced at €350 on the shelf. The calculation is done in three seconds in the minds of most people, and it’s faulty. Since 2022, a scheme funded by eco-organizations deducts directly from the bill an amount ranging from €15 to €60 depending on the device. For this washing machine, €50. The repair drops to €130.

Five percent of French people have used it. Fifty-five percent are unaware of its existence. And those who have used it give it an average rating of 4.7 out of 5, with 79% recommending it—a gap between satisfaction and awareness rarely seen for a public scheme.

The reflex would be to conclude that there is a communication failure. That’s part of the explanation, not the main one. The blockage is on the supply side: barely 40% of repairers for electrical and electronic devices are certified, 10% in textiles and footwear, 20% in bicycles. A convinced consumer who cannot find a certified repairer nearby won’t use the bonus, regardless of their level of information. It’s the same kind of gap between display and reality that had been noted for durability and reparability indices: the scheme exists, the rating is published, and the chain that should make it useful is not complete.

We have revisited the real figures, the exclusions that no one reads, and above all the calculation that truly decides whether to repair or replace, reduced to annual cost. Because that’s where the bonus tips the arbitration, or not.

How much exactly, and for what

The scheme currently covers 261 devices spread across nine categories. The bonus is deducted directly from the bill by the repairer, with no upfront payment or application required. Here are the amounts for the most affected devices.

There are five conditions, and they are cumulative. The device must be out of warranty, both legally and commercially. The repair must be performed by a professional bearing the QualiRépar label. The breakdown must not be covered by insurance. The owner must be a private individual, not a business. And the malfunction must prevent the device from functioning properly.

The scheme has expanded beyond household appliances and electronics: garden tools, sporting goods, musical instruments and mobility equipment are now among the covered categories, with their own scales.

What is not covered, and that’s where it gets tricky

Exclusions do not appear on the posters. They are, however, the primary source of disappointment at the counter.

Cosmetic damage. A scratch, a dent, a broken handle with no impact on operation: outside the scheme. The bonus funds getting the device back in operation, not cosmetic repair.

User negligence. A device dropped, submerged, poorly plugged in. The line is evaluated by the repairer, which introduces a degree of intentional arbitrariness.

External factors. Overvoltage, water damage, lightning. These are typically home insurance claims, and the bonus does not stack with insured coverage.

Replacement of a removable battery. A major exclusion and poorly understood. If the battery can be removed without tools, its replacement is not considered a repair. For a broom vacuum or a cordless tool, that particular failure is the most common.

Software maintenance. Reinstalling a system, disinfection, updates: out of scope.

A welcome counterpoint, dating from mid-2024 adjustments: screen breakage has entered the scope and the triggering thresholds have been lowered. The effect was immediate, with an approximate 300% increase in the number of funded repairs. This also shows that the scheme responds very well when properly calibrated.

The calculation that decides: repair or replace

This is the part that pages on the repair bonus never show, and yet it is the only thing that matters to someone standing in front of a broken device.

The right reasoning isn’t “is repair cheaper than new.” It’s “how much does each additional year of use cost me?” A repaired device does not restart at zero; it continues with its remaining lifespan. A new device starts with its full lifespan.

The verdict is clear: in almost all common cases, repairing with the bonus remains the better calculation, and often by a wide margin. A five-year-old TV costs half as much per year when repaired as when replaced.

The case of the seven-year-old dishwasher with a faulty circuit board is the only one on the list where the arbitration tips toward equilibrium. In this situation, the bonus is not enough to settle the decision, and other factors must be considered: the condition of the rest of the machine, its water and electricity consumption compared with a current model, and the availability of spare parts for the next breakdown. It’s the same amortization logic applied to false promotions and the lifetime value of a discount: a 40% off on a three-year device costs more than a full-price model that lasts seven years.

Why only 5%

Three figures explain the largest part of the problem, and none of them blame the consumer.

The bonus covers 23% of the average repair cost. Surveys locate the threshold at 30% above which a subsidy actually tips the decision toward repair. The scheme is calibrated seven percentage points below its own effectiveness. On a €200 repair, the gap of €14 is enough to tip a hesitant decision.

The network of repairers is incomplete. 40.56% of electrical and electronic repairers are certified, 20.11% in bicycles, 10.16% in textiles and footwear. In a medium-sized town, that often means a single certified professional, sometimes none for a given category.

Repairers themselves slow things down. 74% cite the cost of certification, 63% the complexity of the labeling process, 52% the delays in reimbursement. A craftsman who advances the bonus on his invoice and waits weeks for reimbursement bears a cash-flow burden that his turnover does not always justify.

To this, add the information aspect: 52% of those surveyed feel access to repair information has not improved since 2020. But the most telling indicator lies elsewhere: 73% of those actually exposed to a campaign about the bonus say they would be interested in a certified repairer. Demand exists. It is the encounter that does not happen.

How to approach it in practice

1 · Find a certified repairer. The QualiRépar directory lists professionals by category and location. This is the first step and it conditions everything: a repairer who is not certified, even if excellent, cannot apply the bonus.

2 · Ask for a quote with the bonus line. The amount must appear as a deduction on the quote, not only on the final invoice. A quote that does not mention it deserves a direct question before leaving the device.

3 · Check the warranty above all. A device still under the two-year legal conformity warranty — from delivery — means free repair by the seller, and the bonus has nothing to do with it. It would be a pity to pay €130 for something that is owed.

4 · Ask about parts availability. This is the variable that decides the second breakdown. A device whose spare parts are no longer produced is a device you will repair only once. The announced availability duration is information the manufacturer must provide, and it weighs in the durability index.

5 · Consider refurbished if repair is not cost-effective. When the calculation doesn’t tilt toward repair, buying new isn’t the only alternative. For smartphones and computers, the perceived performance gap between a recent refurbished model and a new entry-level device is small, while the price gap is not — we detailed this in our analysis of refurbished goods.

The reflex that comes before the bonus: the legal warranty

A portion of repairs paid for with the bonus should never have been paid at all. This is the most profitable point of this file, and it hinges on a widespread confusion among three things.

The commercial warranty is the one offered by the retailer, often at the checkout, sometimes free. It is optional and its conditions vary.

The legal conformity warranty is due from the seller, at no extra cost, for two years from the delivery of the item. It covers any conformity defect, and during this period it is up to the seller to demonstrate that the defect did not exist at delivery, not for the consumer to prove the opposite. This is a major difference in a dispute.

The legal warranty of hidden defects runs for a longer period and targets defects that made the item unsuitable for its use, with the burden of proof reversed.

Two practical consequences. First: before getting a quote drawn up, check the purchase date. A device that is twenty-two months old falls under the legal warranty, so a faultless repair by the seller is free and the bonus has nothing to do with it. The second, less well known: when a device is repaired under the legal conformity warranty, that warranty is extended by six months. Choosing repair over replacement is therefore not a concession; it is a gain in coverage.

This reflex is particularly true for categories where early failures are common and replacement is proposed a bit too quickly. For vacuum cleaners and devices with built-in batteries, the expected lifespan and the observed lifespan often diverge, an inconsistency that recurs in our reviews, including in our robot vacuum comparison.

The recent categories that no one has in mind

The extension of the scheme beyond domestic appliances has gone under the radar, even though it opens up much more common uses.

Textile and footwear first. A resole, a zipper, a lining: these repairs are eligible with a certified professional, and their amount makes them proportionally better covered than an electronic board. The paradox is that this is the category with the weakest network — only 10% of professionals are certified at a time when the fashion tax drives up the price of new garments. The two schemes push in the same direction; only one of the two is actually operational.

Bicycles next, with a 20% network and marked seasonality. Then garden tools, sporting goods and musical instruments, categories where repair was the norm anyway and where the bonus adds to an existing practice rather than creating one.

Frequently asked questions

What is the amount of the repair bonus in 2026?

It ranges from €15 to €60 depending on the device: €60 for a television, €50 for a washing machine, a dishwasher, a clothes dryer or a computer, €35 for a printer, €25 for a refrigerator or a smartphone, €15 to €25 for small devices. The scheme covers 261 devices across nine categories.

How to obtain the repair bonus?

There is no dossier to file. The amount is deducted directly from the invoice by a repairer bearing the QualiRépar label, which can be found via the scheme’s directory. The device must be out of warranty, belong to a private individual, and the fault must prevent its proper operation.

Is replacing a battery covered?

No, if the battery is removable, i.e., can be taken out without tools. This is the most poorly understood exclusion of the scheme, and it affects precisely the most common failure on cordless vacuums and cordless tools. A built-in battery that requires dismantling is eligible as a repair.

Is it better to repair or buy again?

When reduced to the cost per remaining year of use, repair with the bonus wins in nearly all common cases: a five-year TV costs €23 per year repaired vs €50 replaced, a six-year washing machine €29 vs €35. The arbitration only tips toward replacement in the case of a major fault on an already aged device.

Why do so few French people use the repair bonus?

55% ignore its existence, but the main blockage lies elsewhere: only 40.56% of repairers for electrical and electronic devices are certified, 20.11% in bicycles and 10.16% in textiles and footwear. On the professional side, 74% cite the cost of certification and 63% the complexity of the labeling process as obstacles.

Does the bonus apply to clothing and footwear?

Yes, the scheme has been extended to textiles and footwear, as well as bicycles, garden tools, sporting goods and musical instruments. Each category has its own scale. The network of certified professionals remains clearly thinner in these areas than in appliances.

What we take away

The repair bonus is a good scheme but under-calibrated. Only 23% coverage where 30% would be ideal, a half-constructed network of repairers, and a cash-flow burden that deters the very small artisans it should support. It isn’t a scheme that fails due to lack of demand—the satisfaction of its users at 4.7 out of 5 testifies to that.

For a reader, the practical takeaway is simpler than the diagnostic. Before replacing a broken device, do two things: locate a certified repairer in the directory, and run the calculation per remaining year rather than the upfront price. In the majority of cases, the second action says to repair, and the first tells you whether it’s feasible near you.

One caveat is worth being honest about, and it also applies to our own pages. The logic of annualized cost assumes knowledge of a device’s residual lifespan, and that data does not exist anywhere in a reliable form. The values used in the table above are industry rough estimates, not precise measurements. They are enough to guide a decision; they would not be sufficient to guarantee one.