Had the Cornwell dealer who stops at my shop price out a couple tool sets. His price on sale was only $50 cheaper than Snap On's quote. I'm constantly told Cornwell is cheaper than Snap On but I haven't seen any significant difference. Is it just my guy or did something change?
Cornwell's Prices Confuse Me
- Thread starter Zewnten
- Start date
mudflap
Well-known member
I would say the driver has some wiggle room on price.. But just get the SO.. We have had all the tool trucks come and go over the years.. I have bought from them all.. Cornwell. Matco, Mac.. none of them even come close on resale value, or dedicated worshipers.. So if your gonna spend the big $$ on truck tools, might as well skip the 2nd stringers.
Wamsutta
Well-known member
What kind of tool sets?
A tool set can be as simple as a set of wrenches from 10-19mm.
A tool set can be as simple as a set of wrenches from 10-19mm.
Packard V8
Well-known member
Told by whom? They're competing in the same market and really all they've got to sell is service. Snap-on, MAC, Matco, Cornwell will usually be so close in price and quality that one's faith in how the dealer will be there to back up the warranty is the difference.
Usually, Snap-on will always be there, but the little three come and go and in smaller markets and marginal routes, they may never be back or be years between replacing a dealer.
jack vines
bobcatdan
Well-known member
Cornwell's prices can be pretty amazing when on sale, several $100's off at times. Standard list prices can very lower to near SO prices depending on the item. All depends on what you are looking at. Most stuff with time goes on sale so if you don't need it today, wait to see if it comes up on sale.
That is the big thing is IF you are going to buy from Cornwell you buy their stuff from what on sale in the flier. They have stuff that is more expensive than Snap-on like some of their regular sockets.
mudflap
Well-known member
Words of wisdom here........
scooby074
Well-known member
^ This
Ive had lots of dealers come and go. Independents, Mac etc. But Ive always had a SO dealer I could rely on. Even when the SO dealer went out, Cooperate had a truck there to keep the route active within a couple weeks.
Get the SO. Better dealers. Better resale.
It must be the sales that my coworkers are referring to when I have asked them why they have so much Cornwell in their boxes and they tell me Cornwell is cheaper. I almost always buy from SO if I'm in need because of their coverage and even phone support if need be. But I thought I would double check if my Cornwell experience is the norm.
Wamsutta
Well-known member
The price difference between SO and Cornwell will vary from one tool to the next. I've found that's it's not uncommon for a competitor to be priced higher than SO on some tools. It's best to get a 2018 Cornwell catalog. The tools they make themselves will say "OHIO MADE" right above the tools on the page. If it doesn't say that, then that means they're a vendor supplied tool rebranded as Cornwell.
Snap-on started doing a good amount of buy one get one on their sockets finally but in terms of retail and flyer discounts Cornwell destroys Snap-on. Couple examples out of the current flier.
212SFSMY is $313 for 12pc deep 3/8 mm chrome
Cornwell STM2213LS for $203 13pc deep
207IPFM is $332 for 7pc shallow 3/8 mm impact swivels
Cornwell TSMUP227RS $217 for their 7pc set.
It adds up pretty quick. Cornwell customer service has been fine for me. I actually haven't had anything but good experiences with all the truck brands.
Been awhile since I've argued the fault of this statement. If you pay MORE for something then you don't necessarily get helped by having better resale. Lets say you buy X product for $200 from Snap-On and $125 for the equivalent from Cornwell. If you resell the Snap-On for $100 and the Cornwell for only $50 you still end up with more money in your pocket with Cornwell. Same goes for most of the quality Taiwan brands vs the trucks. Even if you sell your beat Asian tools for pennies on the dollar if you spent 10x less than the trucks wanted resale literally doesn't matter.
Its always smarter to spend less up front especially with such a big price disparity.
The other thing that fights you is Snap-on product revisions. Everyone wants the latest and greatest even if the changes are cosmetic in nature.
212SFSMY is $313 for 12pc deep 3/8 mm chrome
Cornwell STM2213LS for $203 13pc deep
207IPFM is $332 for 7pc shallow 3/8 mm impact swivels
Cornwell TSMUP227RS $217 for their 7pc set.
It adds up pretty quick. Cornwell customer service has been fine for me. I actually haven't had anything but good experiences with all the truck brands.
Been awhile since I've argued the fault of this statement. If you pay MORE for something then you don't necessarily get helped by having better resale. Lets say you buy X product for $200 from Snap-On and $125 for the equivalent from Cornwell. If you resell the Snap-On for $100 and the Cornwell for only $50 you still end up with more money in your pocket with Cornwell. Same goes for most of the quality Taiwan brands vs the trucks. Even if you sell your beat Asian tools for pennies on the dollar if you spent 10x less than the trucks wanted resale literally doesn't matter.
Its always smarter to spend less up front especially with such a big price disparity.
The other thing that fights you is Snap-on product revisions. Everyone wants the latest and greatest even if the changes are cosmetic in nature.
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marineman
Well-known member
For this reason you can add another factor in truck credit if you're not paying cash. I have a guy working for me that still has a truck credit bill on the cornwell truck but he hasn't come to our shop in almost 10 years, don't show up don't get paid.
It's highly unlikely that you run up a bill and they just give up on you but your odds of winning are better than if you buy a lottery ticket. Snapon will always be there so you'll always have to pay it off, the others seem to come and go in my area so you might get out of one here and there.
Milton Shaw
Well-known member
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2011
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I always used the thinking that Snap-On or truck brand tools should only be bought for the unique tools that nobody else makes. For standard wrenches, sockets, ratchets etc just about any good brand will give good service. I have a lot of SK, some Husky, some Craftsman in standard/metric sizes but only specialty sockets one offs in Snap-On. For example extended length 3/8 drive 1/4, 5/16 ,10 mm in a thin wall. Several sets of flare nut wrenches Craftsman would always slip and round the fitting off, SK would work, but I broke several wrenches, but Snap-ON would always fit better and not round the fitting off. Same with Alignment specialty, Tune up, and Carb specialty etc. Some only Snap-ON would have the tool in the first place such as top of Shock double D sockets. Snap-ON would have re-branded specialty tools faster than Matco, or Mac such as Lisle 70500 tap sockets. Now I would just look on Ebay or Amazon and skip tool truck completely.
Ign
Well-known member
All the tool truck prices confuse me to be honest.
I recently wanted an E5 Torx wrench (not socket). Only one I could find was Snappy at a retail of $48. For a tiny wrench. Now I'm the one always arguing you pay for the warranty up front, but at $48 for an E5 Torx (granted it's DBE with an E6 at the other end) they could warranty that for me a dozen times and still make $
Anyway I got one on eBay for $25 but even that is spendy for what it is (but my own fault 'cause I did agree to pay it)
I recently wanted an E5 Torx wrench (not socket). Only one I could find was Snappy at a retail of $48. For a tiny wrench. Now I'm the one always arguing you pay for the warranty up front, but at $48 for an E5 Torx (granted it's DBE with an E6 at the other end) they could warranty that for me a dozen times and still make $
Anyway I got one on eBay for $25 but even that is spendy for what it is (but my own fault 'cause I did agree to pay it)
I rarely buy tools off the truck unless it's specialty item, like 60-30 wenches for hydraulics, otherwise I'm all about Proto and Williams USA. But I always see tech's with lots of Cornwell tools and my thought was spend the difference and go with Snap On as their dealers are everywhere. Most techs also have a lot of Matco but it seems Matco always has a buy one get one sale, so that makes sense, at least to me. I haven't seen any great deals on Cornwell's end like Matco does, usually if it is on sale it's their re-branded stuff and then its still cheaper to buy online.
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Do you guys have a ******** dealer in the valley, our last one was over 8 years ago and I haven't seen a truck since. I have some stuff from when we had a dealer but won't buy anymore from them even if we had a new guy show up.
bobcatdan
Well-known member
A guy started about a year ago in the valley. Of all people, the mac guy got me his card as I had a small number of stuff to warranty. Meet up with him, got the stuff warranted with ease. Bought an angle wrench set from him as I like their set and kick him some money making business his way.
That's good you got your tools warrantee, our shop idiot has a Cornwell toolbox that was such a better deal
, he has had a bunch of issues and pretty much zero support.I hope they don't bother trying up by us because everyone has pretty much traded or thrown out the Cornwell tools so are pretty sour on the brand.
Professional Tool User
Well-known member
Even though I don't have a Cornwell dealer, if I had to buy it off the truck and all else is equal (pricing and customer service), I'll be buying Snap off. My reasons for doing so include Snap on's larger distribution network, much less Made in China and Taiwan stuff under the Snap on brand name, and their website which makes figuring out COO easy. They also seem to be more careful about what they rebrand and that is what makes me think Snap on is better quality across the board. As for resale, it is irrelevant. If you really want to save money, you go off the truck and look for lower priced high quality alternatives.
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