What is your tool truck balance?

[Fast LT1]

I'm making a list of stuff i want to order from my snap on dealer and i was wondering what some other guys truck account balances are. I've heard of some guys owing like $4000.

Mine as of now is $677. Ordered an MG725 in black and some wrenches.

 

[ncautoshop]

4k.....wow!!! I've owed matco and snap on 10k plus for years now. Pay about 250 a week. But that is for a shop, not just a single tech.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

 

[58Yeoman]

$0.00

 

[canuckian]

$0...

 

[crewchief888]

i've had as much as $6K owed to SO in the past,
and another $1K or so to matco, at the same time...


current balance is $0, and has been for several years,
last balance i carried was in '07 for $300 or so

i'm pretty much done buying tools....




i'll probably get my GJ garageman card revoked....

 

[KinzeMech]

$0.00

I buy one tool at a time, and pay $50/week. I need to pick out my next tool.

 

[blacK20]

$0. Don't like owing and I never buy something I can't afford.

 

[waterboy12]

$0...

 

[TinKnocker]

i owe no man a darn thing in this life. if i cant buy it, i dont own it.

 

[Zeke]

I'd say about 50/50 with tools, 60/40 without.

 

[JimVonBaden]

$0. Don't like owing and I never buy something I can't afford.

Jim

 

[ptschram]

I'd say about 50/50 with tools, 60/40 without.

:grin:

Took me a minute, but I got it finally!

 

[Gary S]

$0
I figure only a fool will buy things he can't afford to pay for the day he buys them.

If it isn't a huge item like a house or a car, credit never makes sense.

 

[green.bubbly]

Question for the professional guys out there. I read stories about having thousands and thousands of dollars worth of tools. Is the bulk of this specialty tools? I ask because since I was a young kid, I enjoyed working on cars and such. I do most of my own repairs such as brakes, alternators, struts, cv axles, water pumps. Never touched a transmission or opened an engine other than a timing chain one time.

I might own $700.00 in tools mainly a decent socket set and wrenches. Plus the Dewalt cordless impact. I have done a lot repairs with my limited tools and I do not see where I would really need anything else. Granted, I am not a pro and do not work on diesels or anything like that.

Just curious as to what tools pros spend so much money on. Of course I have never stepped foot on a truck and I try not to look at their catalogs so I may not even know what I am missing out on.

 

[cyamaha2007]

IF your a tech for a living you may have no choice other than go into debt to get a job done, especially if someone else doesnt have it or you have already borrowed it once or twice. I will borrow a tool 1 time no more. Thats the general practice around the shop. I am lucky tho a few friends have decided that we will "share" specialty tools. We all buy certain things and its open to use for us 3. My truck balance is $0 I hate having any kind of debt. IF i had no other way id have to evaluate what I spend my money on. We have a house payment and thats bothers me enough.

 

[ihateminimumwage]

i owe no man a darn thing in this life. if i cant buy it, i dont own it.

Amen. I owe nothing to the trucks. I've only bought tools (and my Redbacks) one purchase at a time, and pay them off before the next purchase.

Now being in school and getting the crazy discounts, I've only been buying online, and have to pay in full for everything, which is fine by me.

 

[Kirkski]

$0.00, I found that if I pay cash I get a better deal. Also, I look for used tools at flea markets, yard sales etc. I have purchased many of my tools second hand. My boxes I paid cash for as well, and got a nice discount. Always used money from side and second jobs to fuel the tool purchases.

 

[nosnerd]

ZERO..been like that for a loooong time...

 

[Murphy4570]

I buy a lot of tools used from various sources. Snap-On quality for less than 1/2 the retail price!

I currently owe Snappy less than $300, and Matco currently owes ME about $3! I used to carry about a $1,000-1,200 balance with Snappy, and about $800-1,000 balance with Matco for a while. Paid them both $100-200 a week, each. Done with that noise, paid off that large debt over a year ago. I buy only very sporadically from the trucks now.

 

[chris142]

$0. I have had a few balances of $300ish in the past.

 

[Aetsh]

About $6600.. More than half of it is my box.. It is alot of money, but I try to look at it as an investment $200/300 a month is making it go down rather quickly though

 

[Aetsh]

BTW a guy I work with has a $17k bill lol....He is an impulse buyer

 

[gixxerfreak]

my truck account balance is $0 but my matco line of credit is somewhere around $6500 most of which is my box.

 

[DanCo]

As of last week, $27 and change

Dan

Edit, perhaps tomorrow I'll buy a ratchet I really don't need.

 

[softailgarage]

Matco - $173.00
Snap On - $200.00
Cornwell - $63.00

 

[bobforman]

I've gotten to know my Matco dealer well and if I pay cash the tool comes off the truck with no sales tax, about a 10% savings. Not to worry, the state gets a lot of my money in other places.

 

[StaggeringGoat]

LOL, people actually buy that **** even when they can't afford it?

I wish Harbor Freight had a truck that came around.

 

[wnstwolf]

One of my first real jobs outside of working for the "Family" was at a local Honda-Ducati shop. Started off doing odd jobs on the weekends to help pay off my addiction to MX bikes. (I was 13) The techs would let be borrow a tool now and then but I could tell this was not something I could get used to. Over the next 5 years my addiction turned to road racing and full time Tech. Thought I needed every tool known to man and this nice white truck came to the shop every tuesday and a nice Yellow one came on Fridays (pay day) Before I knew it I owed more money to the trucks than I was getting paid and quickly learned my first lesson in high finance. If you can't pay cash don't buy it. I left the bike shop to go to College and was still paying off the MAc and SO men. I have some great tools I will pass on to my son but terrible debt at a time I was trying to pay for school. As mentioned if you do it for a living it is part of the job. if not beware the stuff adds up fast.

To Green Bubbly I envy you. Your getting the job done without getting in trouble with tool addiction. Buy what you need and try to get the best you can buy. Over time you will add more and more to the collection, but remember all that you accumulate will need to be moved at some time.

 

[Kirkski]

Buy what you need and try to get the best you can buy. Over time you will add more and more to the collection, but remember all that you accumulate will need to be moved at some time.

I know a SO dealer pretty well and I have ridden on the truck with him a few times. We were trying to work out a way for me to cover for him when he wants a vacation etc. Anyway, his route is in the urban areas of RI for the most part and almost every stop, the guys would buy, buy, buy. Seriously like he was a crack dealer and they needed a fix.

The problem is, he has a lot of his own money on the street and collection isn't easy. One guy wanted something and he borrowed $20 from a co-worker so he could pay on his bill before the dealer would let him get something else.

Scary what some guy's are doing to themselves.

When I first started buying tools I went the cheap route and bought Craftsman, they were fine, but I wanted SO. Eventually I sold all the Craftsman and started buying SO. No regrets and no Bills $$$.

 

[signcrafter]

Question for the professional guys out there. I read stories about having thousands and thousands of dollars worth of tools. Is the bulk of this specialty tools? I ask because since I was a young kid, I enjoyed working on cars and such. I do most of my own repairs such as brakes, alternators, struts, cv axles, water pumps. Never touched a transmission or opened an engine other than a timing chain one time.

I might own $700.00 in tools mainly a decent socket set and wrenches. Plus the Dewalt cordless impact. I have done a lot repairs with my limited tools and I do not see where I would really need anything else. Granted, I am not a pro and do not work on diesels or anything like that.

Just curious as to what tools pros spend so much money on. Of course I have never stepped foot on a truck and I try not to look at their catalogs so I may not even know what I am missing out on.

I'm not a pro but do all of my own work. Things add up fast. The basic tools that will get a lot of stuff done aren't that expensive unless you buy all tool truck sockets and wrenches. But I found that specialty tools and diagnostic tools REALLY add up fast. Things like stant pressure tester, power probe III, Fluke meter, compression gauge, etc. Then you have the tools to do the special repairs like ball joint press, brake tools, harmonic balancer pulley(needed to do some timing chains and water pumps), power steering pulley puller, serpentine belt tools, brake line flare kits, pullers, etc all add up quick. Then things like screw extractors, hose clamp pliers, different spark plug sockets, oxygen senser sockets, fuel line disconnects, battery tools, tap and die sets, rethreading sets, oil filter tools, trim tools, pick sets, 4wd sockets, torque wrenches, mityvacs, different allen and torx bits, code readers, grease guns, pry bars, punches, chisels, axle sockets, air tools, air compressor, jacks, jack stands, etc. The list goes on and on.

I do all my repairs, probably haven't saved a dime vs taking it to a shop but I have a garage full of tools that probably are more than a lot of techs. My theory is that if I can do the job buying the parts and tools for the same price as a shop then I will buy the tools and go to work. Then next time a similar job needs to be done I have the tools.

 

[Mudbone]

$0
I figure only a fool will buy things he can't afford to pay for the day he buys them.
If it isn't a huge item like a house or a car, credit never makes sense.

I agree with this but I wonder how well that works for a new tech just starting out. I am guessing that a new tech walking on to their first job is going to need a basic set of tools that will run $1-2K off a truck. And that doesn't even include a good cardboard box to keep them in.

Not to mention that he or she has already been tempted with the student prices if he got formal training in a school somewhere.

Just wondering what kind of interest rate do the truck and tool companies charge?

 

[srmofo]

$0...Ive been tool truck bill free for several years now.

but when I was still buying a lot of tools I would buy 1 thing and pay it down. If it was expensive it would take me a few weeks. If it was cheap I got to buy more tools sooner.

 

[srmofo]

Question for the professional guys out there. I read stories about having thousands and thousands of dollars worth of tools. Is the bulk of this specialty tools? I ask because since I was a young kid, I enjoyed working on cars and such. I do most of my own repairs such as brakes, alternators, struts, cv axles, water pumps. Never touched a transmission or opened an engine other than a timing chain one time.

I might own $700.00 in tools mainly a decent socket set and wrenches. Plus the Dewalt cordless impact. I have done a lot repairs with my limited tools and I do not see where I would really need anything else. Granted, I am not a pro and do not work on diesels or anything like that.

Just curious as to what tools pros spend so much money on. Of course I have never stepped foot on a truck and I try not to look at their catalogs so I may not even know what I am missing out on.

The things you mentioned barely scrapes the surface of the repairs that are done in a shop and describes what a competent 2 year tech would mostly be doing. A basic hand tool set is cheap. What really starts to add up is the tooling for all the different manufacturers.

Time is money. if a tool saves me an hour on a job and its a job that I frequently perform then it makes sense to buy it. Things like flex gear wrenches, stubby wrenches, line wrenches, flex sockets, etc. it all makes certain jobs easier and quicker. That stuff adds up quick too

Dont even get me started on diagnostic equipment. Customers should consider themselves lucky we only charge what we charge for diags

Plus you have to have the tools to do the job. How does it look if the customer shows up to an auto repair shop, and the shop cant do the repair because they dont have the tools

 

[wnstwolf]

Hey Kirkski I could have been that guy in Rural RI. Hometown was East Greenwich I wrenched for Gordon Rayzee in NK. Hope I did not stiff your friend for that last set of Screwdrivers

 

[Tscott]

Just out of curiosity, what kind of interest rates dot eh truck guys charge or do they let you guys run an open tab? I find that those who borrow money often don't think in terms of final costs but tend to focus more on payment amounts. Do the math and if you're smart you won't borrow anymore.

Tom

 

[srmofo]

Just out of curiosity, what kind of interest rates dot eh truck guys charge or do they let you guys run an open tab? I find that those who borrow money often don't think in terms of final costs but tend to focus more on payment amounts. Do the math and if you're smart you won't borrow anymore.

Tom

Many trucks have their own line of credit with no interest for the smaller stuff.....but the larger purchases like boxes are put on the tool brand credit card. Ive never had one, but I remember the interest rates were between 15% and 25%

 

[Bull]

Ya know, I don't wanna sound like a fanboy or repeat myself a lot, but when the idea of techs needing to go into big debt for tools and boxes come up, I always want to point to MechanicNamedJohn as an antidote to that line of thought.

I know it's a polarizing issue so won't argue the point further.

How the heck long is it going to take a tech to pay off a $6k or a $17k debt for tools of the trade?!

 

[e30bradley]

$0.0

 

[Scuderia-F1]

Zero, and that´s how it always have been!

 

[wb2vsj]

I'm not a pro but do all of my own work. Things add up fast
...
...
I do all my repairs, probably haven't saved a dime vs taking it to a shop but I have a garage full of tools that probably are more than a lot of techs. My theory is that if I can do the job buying the parts and tools for the same price as a shop then I will buy the tools and go to work. Then next time a similar job needs to be done I have the tools.

Same here. I also consider it an "education". As long as I can afford to buy stuff & keep food on the table, etc it's a good investment.