Another way to save some money is to shop the pawn shops. There are two kinds of pawn shops. The first one takes each socket and wrench out of an unclaimed box and sells them individually (at stupid prices). The second pawn shop just leaves the box intact and sells it as is. I used to hit various pawn shops as I traveled, and if I looked inside a tool box they had for sale and saw some name brand stuff mixed in with the jap tools, I did some quick figuring in my head and made them an offer.

I ended up with lots of SnapOn, Mac, Craftsman, etc tools, and some jap stuff that I keep around to weld and cut on to make special, one time wrenches.

One word of advice. When you start your job do not become a tool truck addict until you start making some money and know you can afford to buy them. I have seen so many techs at the body shop and marina's I have worked at get caught up in the "one-upmanship" out trying to outdo the other techs buy buying tool after tool. One guy bought a $ 20,000.00 tool box from SnapOn (EMPTY TOOLBOX) and all the other guys were drooling. It is very seductive and you have to keep your wits about you.

Don