General snap-on questions

[jimindm]

I think what many of you guys miss, is that the Snap-On tools market is the professional. For the most part they do not ***** their name out. They just don't have to.

I would agree to what a poster above said, in that I didn't even know about some of the brands talked about here, before I started in this forum.

The warranty is a valid point. I do not warranty many tools, but when I need to it has never been a problem with my dealer in doing so. Tools I have bought at auctions, flea markets, garage sales, or off the truck have never been an issue.

I just thought of this thread last week. My 1/2 air impact just quit about an hour before the tool guy stopped. Asked about it and he said he could give me one to use while he sent mine in. Mine was ten years old. He told me that the last several he sent in came back as not repairable. In which case they offer half price towards a new one. He gave me the new one and said I will credit you for half of it when we get yours back. Mine came back this week as unrepairable. Did the paperwork on the new one.

The big part of that was I only went about three hours with out the use of my impact. As far as overall warranty, he has never pushed back on much. A socket being worn out and not actually broke, a screwdriver shanks or handles, and much more. He just takes care of it.

I think the last thing that many overlook in the value is resale. I have some SO tools that are several years old that I bought off the truck, that would sell now for what I bought them for. Last but not least, most of the brands of tools mentioned here, if sold would likely be sold in a bucket, that was sitting on the floor. But where is the snap on stuff. It is on top of the table, usually in sets.

If it is at an auction, I have never heard an auctioneer say we have a nice set of Hazet, Stahwille, or Tekton, when they hold them up. But you would have to be in a coma to not know they were holding up Snap on when they are selling.

 

[glenmore]

There are all sorts of things baked into the high retail price of Snap-On tools.

1) If you deal with large buyers like the govt or Boeing lets say, of course you have a ridiculously high retail price, because you can.

2) BOGO promotions are built into the high retail price.

3) Those apprentice tool kits sold to trade schools are probably partially supported by a high retail price. You'll know when one of these rolls thru your neighborhood when you see all those NIB tool sets being blown out on craigslist.

4) The high retail price supports the whole idea of truck dealers and warranty network.

I am just your average shade tree mechanic but let's face it, wrenching is hard work and any little spark of joy I can get from using nice tools is worth it. I've only bought a couple of items off the truck, some online and the vast majority of stuff I get from estate sales. If I am able to cobble together a set of wrenches, I'll sell them on ebay, so the high retail price actually supports me too and encourages reusing.

 

[jimindm]

Not sure I agree to your number one.

They can get those buyers because they do the testing and have the specs to prove there tools meet the specs that large manufacturers require.

My old dealer for 18 years moved into the corporate side of Snap-On. He has showed me sort of home made tools that some manufacturing facilities he stops at now, want snap on to actually manufacture the tool. It is tools that are required to work on the equipment that the company manufactures.

To sort of answer your question. do you think any body that works at boeing is cobbling up some home made tool? To make it easier for them to do anything? I do not suppose many of us could even guess the how a company like boeing specs tools. That would likely even extend to tool boxes and much more.