Why we don't insure white goods

This lunchtime, as Clare was engaged in the time-critical cooking of an omelette, she inconveniently got a phone call.

'You have had the tumble-dryer for a year now so it's out of warranty; do you want to buy an insurance policy?'

We do have a policy for these things, and that's to say no. Here's why (click on image to make bigger).

We actually do possess about eight items in this price range: tumble-dryer, fridge, washing machine, oven, a couple of computers, TV, heater. The total of the "Expected cost to replace" column is exactly £120 (0.4 * £300). One year we might get unlucky but over a sufficiently large number, we're clearly ahead with no insurance.