That fancy scan tool I bought ended up being a total waste

Dropped $1800 on a high end Autel scanner last spring thinking it would pay for itself in no time. Turns out my old Launch scanner still does 90% of what I need for the cars that actually come into my shop. The Autel just sits there collecting dust while I reach for the cheaper one every single time. Anyone else have a tool they bought that they barely use?

2 comments

2 Comments

cameron3185d ago

Man I feel that so hard. I dropped $1500 on a Snap On scan tool a couple years ago thinking I was gonna be the big shot with all the fancy features. Now it mostly sits in the back of my toolbox while my old $300 Innova does the job for the 2000s Hondas and Toyotas that roll through. The Autel probably works great for some people but for the average backyard mechanic it's just overkill. I swear I've used it maybe three times total since I bought it and every time I felt like I was wasting money.

lucas_price835d ago

I used to think you just needed to buy the most expensive tool and it would pay off, but hearing you say your $300 Innova does the job for the same Hondas and Toyotas really changed my mind. When @cameron318 mentioned using that old scanner three times total, that hit home because my fancy Autel is in the same boat. I even tried to force myself to use it on a 2015 Accord once and the software took forever to load, so I just grabbed my Launch and had the codes pulled in 30 seconds. It's a hard lesson that for most of our work, the simple stuff works better.