Tools and where you get them

gn3dr

The recent post on here about someone looking for an engine crane and also my own tool purchasing experience has left me thinking that there is an opening in Ireland for a good seller of tools at sensible prices. (I've been thinking about lots of different business ideas recently due to redundancy - hence my previous questions about how well a classic restoration business would go in Ireland) I already sell Tig welders and Plasma cutters in my spare time but that would not keep you too busy.

From what I can see you have a few choices in Ireland
1) The likes of B&Q which is OK for some basic stuff but there is nothing specialised relating to cars
2) SPecific tool shops like McQuillans tools - mainly selling Draper tools (not my favourite brand) and selling most stuff at very high prices. Halfords is the other alternative and that isn't too bad either for some hand tools.
3) E-Bay and the like - but for things like engine cranes etc shipping to Ireland takes away a lot of benefit of low prices. Also its nice to actually some stuff in your hand to see what the quality is like.


What do people think about a shop to cover the car end of the market.(say similar to Machine Mart in the UK?)

Is there really a market here for engine cranes, sand blasters, milling machines (maybe even cnc ones), lathes, welders(Tig, mig , spot) etc for the home hobbyist?

Second question - if there was a good shop like this would you travel to say somewhere like Kerry to shop there - or would you prefer to buy online from it within Ireland.

galwaytt

fwiw, it is my personal experience, having worked selling tools/equip for 15 years, is that people are not prepared to pay for the better quality tool for their own use.

Incredulous, maybe, but at the end of the day, if you need a good quality socket set for example, you're talking hundreds of Euro, not tens....to equip your garage with a good comprehensive set of equipment will run in to 1000's, and much and all as we are enthusiasts, that sort of €€ is hard to justify for a few hours of tinkering a month...........

And I've found a lot of the garages, because they don't actually buy any tools - it's usually the mechanics have to buy their own - that in the main they will buy what suffices, rather than what's the best. For this reason, whilst they may all aspire to Snap-On, if you open the box you'll find Draper, Teng (not bad, actually) etc etc..

maidhc

Tbh I think there is a good enough choice in Ireland. My favourite place is AR Brownlow in Cork, but there are a lot of very good engineering supply shops around.

Dusty1609

gn3dr wrote: »

3) E-Bay and the like - but for things like engine cranes etc shipping to Ireland takes away a lot of benefit of low prices. Also its nice to actually some stuff in your hand to see what the quality is like.

Don't rule out ebay because of shipping costs.

Last week I bought a new, boxed, 2 Ton Sealey engine crane for €230 all in including Delivery, from a UK seller (a business not private) on eBay.co.uk

To answer your original question, there possibly is a market for decent quality tools in Ireland but it would be limited, and don't forget that Snap-on agents also operate in Ireland.

Cheers
Jon

MercMad

I think the Snap0On agency work well in that they were pretty much the first to call to garages and offer "Revolving Credit" wo mechanics could by of the drip !

All of the lads where I worked bought ONLY Snap-On, they knew it was pricey, but it was good. There are other franchise dealers doing the rounds now though !

Personally my local Motor Factor is a Sealey agent and carries a good varied stock. I prefer to look at the stuff before buying so have never bought tools on-line !

gn3dr

Ok when I am talking about tools I guess I should have been more clear. Socket sets etc I was not considering so much. There plenty of these out there. I use Teng myself and they are fine. For hobby use I think Snap On is overkill. And if you get a lifetime guarantee from Halfordss for their professional range then why bother with anything else.

I was more talking about things like engine cranes, lathes, milling machines, pillar drills, welders, plasma cutters, metal forming tools - folders, benders, bead rollers, snad blasters, etc. etc.

If you look in the states and places like Harbor Freight then there are some serious eye openers with regard to prices.

I have bought from Sealey myself in the past but the prices are very very high. e.g Sealey bettary impact gun €400 in the local motor factors. I got the exact same Sealey unit online for around €200 delivered.

I guess the overall answer from folks to my original question though is that there probably isn't a market out there.

ianobrien

What I do is buy a fair quality set once at the start, and when things break, replace them for decent ones from Frank Clarke, Cork. I broke the ratchet yesterday, and paid 75 for two new ones. This way, after a couple of years, I'll have a set of good tools, bought when I could afford. I'd only get stuff from Frank Clarke, mainly because I always got good service there.

For specialist stuff (eg engine crane) what I do is borrow off a friend who has them. If none of them have it, we'd club together and buy a good one. At this stage, between my friends and I, we have all the tools & gear you could want.

By the way, I was going through the tool box a few weeks ago, looking for a spanner for an odd size nut and I found some of my Grandfather's tools! Still perfect (and they were snap-on!). That showed me the value of getting good stuff.

Abelloid

I emailed Machine Mart a few weeks ago to ask if they had any plans to open a branch here in Ireland.


No.

galwaytt

There's a very good choice of stuff in Germany - some will ship.

Daxklynsmith

As IanOBrien pointed out, a couple of guys clubbing together makes sense, We did it in South Africa and it worked well as long as the rules were well laid out , you did'nt just collect something, you saw it working and signed for it, in the case of the car transporter(6 of us, none professional) you could'nt lend it to anyone else etc.. it made a lot of sense , we set it up that instead of hiring something, you put half the hire cost into a kitty and that bought more stuff that you would'nt normally use , suggested it to some people here in Galway and it fell flat on it's face.