Frost & Sullivan Examines the Tool Preferences of Automotive Technicians in the United States

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA--Nov. 6, 2013: The U.S. automotive tools market, which includes power tools, hand tools, handheld diagnostic tools, pneumatic/air tools, and storage devices, offers immense opportunities for tool manufacturers. The handheld diagnostic tools segment is projected to have the highest growth rate, as ownership is currently low. On the other hand, the hand tools segment will see the lowest comparative growth, since the number of hand tools already owned is significantly high.

A detailed analysis of these figures and more insights can be found in the new customer research analysis from Frost & Sullivan (Frost and Sullivan Automotive), 2013 United States Automotive Technicians' Choice, which is based on a survey of 517 automotive technicians representing automotive repair shops throughout the country. Shop types include new-vehicle dealership service departments, franchised auto repair shops, and independent auto repair shops.

If you are interested in more information on this research, please send an e-mail to Jeannette Garcia, Corporate Communications, at jeannette.garcia@frost.com, with your full name, company name, job title, telephone number, company e-mail address, company website, city, state and country.

"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 Frost & Sullivan Customer Research Analyst Karolina Olszewska. "This will, in turn, drive the demand for tools storage devices."

With regard to factors affecting choice of products, technicians in America stated that reliability is a vital aspect. Other features that influence purchase decisions include brand reputation, warranty, order accuracy, availability, and past experience.

Furthermore, U.S. technicians prefer mobile tool distributors for their auto tool purchases, especially for hand tools. However, in the case of power tools, mass merchant retailers are eating into the share of mobile tool distributors.

"Out of all the auto tool brands covered in this research, Snap-on is the most popular brand," noted 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."

2013 United States Automotive Technicians' Choice is a Customer Research Study that is part of the Automotive & Transportation Growth Partnership Service program. The study measures factors driving the selection of the top five auto tool products, identifies which of the five products has the greatest growth opportunities, determines brand usage and preference trends within each of the five auto tool categories, aims to understand how each product brand is perceived and how those perceptions may drive selection, and evaluates purchase channel opportunities for each of the five auto tool products.