And just how many have taken this survey that only exits for you ?
Hi Volvo
Thanks again for your great interest. We are up to 19 responses which I think is pretty good so far. I am not sure what the normal responses for something like this is, but so far it seems pretty good response.
As far as results go, they donāt exist just for me. Here is an interesting one, how much money people spend on their own car repairs. Is pretty interesting how much money people invest to repair their own vehicles.
Just keep in mind that there are a lot of professional mechanics and hard-core DIY guys on this website
Iām not sure the pie chart is representative of the āgeneral populationā of this country
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I think you are right, I was not aware when this started that the community was a very die hard set of members that are very interested in DIY. Which is pretty awesome, great to find a community with such like headed members.
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I could not complete the survey becayse of the third question, none of the choices applied to me either. I also would not have been able to answer the question about how much I spent on tools either.
The bulk of my tools were bought 60 years ago. My 3/8 drive American Made Husky deep and shallow socket set was less than $30 and the extensive 1/2 inch Craftsman set was less than $40. The 1/2 inch S-K set with 32 pieces that my daughter gave to her new husband in 1978 had been languishing in the window of a small independent auto parts store for so long that when I inquired about the price, they had no record of it. The only clue was a sign that said save $32. The owner scratched his head and said, well, give me $32 for it.
Most of the rest of my tools have been purchased at flea markets at larger car shows. When Home depot put small hardware stores out of business and Advance and Autozone and their like did the same thing to small auto parts stores. Much of the inventory wound up in the hands of entrepreneurs who sold off what they could quickly turn over and putting the rest on $1 tables or tarps at these flea markets. All good American brands like K-D or Belknap.
A young Mechanic could have filled most of his needs at these places for 1/10 of the cost of buying retail. None of the new Craftsman wrenches were over $1., you could buy used ones for 25 or 50 cents.
My bottom tool chest is a Craftsman with 4 large drawers that a neighbor was throwing out because the outside of it was rusty from a drainpipe was dripping on it. Some sanding and two half pints of oil base silver Rustoleum made it look fine again. The paint had been on sale for 25 cents each at Valu Home Centers when they got rid of their oil base paints. I still have about a dozen cans left in various colors. I have painted 2 snowblowers and two lawnmower decks, a 32" and a 42"
The bottom line is that it would cost more than $1000 dollars to replace all my tools with like quality, I doubt if I spent more than $250 on them.
I donāt know what like quality for my American made Craftsman tools are, most of them were made by Vulcan Tools and some are marked with a W. Washington Forge maybe?
I do know that the Chinese made Craftsman tools are pretty poor quality in comparison.
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I think $1000 was the most I spent on a repair. But it was body work after hitting a deer and the car was totaled. Lights, grill, hood, fender, paint, etc. and got a good deal on the parts.