World class alternative tools to Snap on and US truck brands

In North America (USA/Canada) Snap on, Mac tools and Matco hold a major share of the professional mechanic market. They are culturally known as the “truck brands”.

They are as much about marketing and convenience as they are about quality or function; instead of the mechanic having to go to the tool maker, the tool maker (franchised) comes to the mechanic at their work place on a weekly basis. There, the franchised representative has nearly the full catalog on his truck to sell you on the spot, and will take any broken tools for warranty purposes.

It goes further however; in North America the mechanic is expected to own and use his own tools when working at a garage. Because of this need, these truck brands will extend credit (debt) to mechanics for tools they may not be able to afford upfront. They also partner with many schools to provide students with some base tools for up to 50% off list.

Between seeing peers using truck brands, getting enticed at school, to the truck brands showing up at your work place and extending credit, this creates an impressive top-of-mind marketing campaign.

In many other parts of the world however, employers are required by law to provide all tools required to do a job to their employees, so as you can imagine, this completely changes the top-of-mind convenience proposition marketing towards quality or value proposition marketing.

If you could get your tools for ~20-30% less, and often get equal or better quality for the inconvenience of easy warranty, would you?

Do you anticipate having to warranty 20-30% of your tools in their lifespan? If not, you may want to consider that even if you re-purchased a handful of tools, you would still be far ahead cost wise.

There are many brands globally, and I don’t plan to list all or even most of them, but below you will find a list of globally recognized brands (read: large catalogs) that have equal or greater quality to the truck brands.

Germany
Full Range catalog:
Stahlwille
https://www.stahlwille.de/en/

Hazet
https://www.hazet.de/en/

Gedore
https://de.gedore.com/en/

Elora
https://www.elora.de/site/en/start.php

Specialized:
Wiha (screw drivers)
Kukko (Jaw pullers)
Wera (screw drivers)
Knipex (Pliers)
NWS (Pliers)

Canada
Full Range catalog:
Gray tools
http://www.graytools.com/

Japan
Full Range catalog:
Koken
http://www.koken-tool.co.jp/en/

Nepros (KTC)
http://en.ktc.jp/our_brand/nepros.html

Tone
https://www.tonetool.co.jp/english/

Switzerland:
PB Swiss (World class Screwdrivers)
https://www.pbswisstools.com/en/




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