Nov. 6, 2013—Reliability is the most important aspect considered when technicians look to purchase a new tool, according to a new Frost & Sullivan tool preference survey released Wednesday.
Frost & Sullivan surveyed 517 U.S. technicians in new-vehicle dealership service departments, franchised auto repair shops and independent repair shops to determine the key driver for purchase of advanced tools.
"The key reasons technicians will be purchasing new automotive tools within the next year will be the need to keep up with the technological innovations in vehicles and the replacement of older tools," said Karolina Olszewska, customer research analyst at Frost & Sullivan.
According to the report, U.S. technicians prefer mobile tool distributors for their auto tool purchases, especially for hand tools. In the case of power tools, mass retailers are the most popular distributors.
"Out of all the auto tool brands covered in this research, Snap-on is the most popular brand," said Olszewska. "Nevertheless, Snap-on's dominance in the auto tools market varies. While it is way ahead in the handheld diagnostic tools market, it maintains a thin lead over the runner-up brand in the moderately-fragmented power tools market."
Frost & Sullivan said the handheld diagnostic tools segment is projected to have the highest growth rate, while the hand tools segment will see the lowest comparative growth.
