The 10 Tools YOU NEED as a New Mechanic in 2025

Today we have 10 tools for under $1,000 that you need as an entry-level mechanic in the automotive industry. Someone who is a prosumer or someone who is just learning DIY auto maintenance at their house. These are 10 tools you must have in your toolbox to get the job done. So you guys want to stay tuned. So guys, I'm Connor from Tech's Choice Tools and Equipment. Here at Tech's Choice Tools, we sell, as you can see, Milwaukee tools. We sell gear wrench. We sell all tail. We sell anything and everything from the smallest hand tools to the biggest baddest diagnostic scanners that you could buy. But today we're not talking about all the big bad boy tools that you need later on down the road as a master mechanic. Today we're going to be talking about the 10 tools that you need to get started in the automotive industry in 2025. So this is going to range from some hand tools. We have some everyday carry tools that you're going to need and we even have a few power tools on this selection. But if you buy all this stuff in the video that I'm about to talk about, you would be just over $1,000. It would be $1,020 that you'd be purchasing all these tools for. So enough of that mumbo-jumbo. Let's jump right into the video and talk about our first product. So the first product we're going to be talking about is the most important set that you could probably get and everybody argues over who has the best and this and that, but this is going to be a 3-8 socket set. Now as an entry-level mechanic, I'm going to suggest you only get a 3-8 socket set. So guys, this 3-8 socket set is made by Milwaukee. I do have another option here in the video that I'm going to show, but this set right here is a 3-8 metric and standard master set. So guys, you're going to get a 6 millimeter all the way to 19 both in deep and shallows. Now a cool thing about the Milwaukee socket, as you probably heard on the last video, they have these little square drives on them. So I'm going to try to get this in focus for you, but it has a little four flat sides is what they call it. So you can stick a wrench on there. So if you're in a really tight access area, you're going to be able to throw this on there. Of course, you're not going to use the deep, you're going to use the shallow. But you can put a wrench on there, get in that tight access area and break a bolt loose. So in the metrics, like I said, you get 6 to 19. You're going to get a 6 inch extension, a 3 inch extension, and then you are also going to get a universal joint. Now a lot of people underutilize the universal joints now because a lot of people have the chrome universal sets already, but as an entry-level mechanic, it's really hard to budget to get a set of universal sockets that are quality. So Milwaukee puts a quality universal joint in here that you can stick on your socket and then now you have any universal socket as well. Now, you're also going to get the Milwaukee 90 tooth ratchet. This is a fine tooth ratchet. I'm going to be quiet so you can hear this. So a cool thing about the Milwaukee ratchets is a double pawl system. So it's not your normal pawls that you see. It's actually a double stack pawl. So you have a pawl here and a pawl here. So it's going to give it less back drag and you're going to get a lot more finer teeth on this. So the 90 tooth is really going to feel like closer to 120 tooth just because of that double pawl system. Now another cool thing that they included in this is the standard sockets as well. Quarter inch up to 15 sixteenths. Actually quarter inch to seven eighths in the deeps and then you'll get quarter inch to one inch in the shallows. Now a great reason why I have this set on here is not just because of it's a full master set but you can actually, if you don't want it in this case, you can actually pop this case up and pull it out and this will fit nice and perfect into a toolbox, on a roll cart, whatever you want to use. This is going to be perfect for you as a starter mechanic. So you don't worry about organizing your tools because Milwaukee already organized it for you. So this set is going to be a great price of $169, but the deal gets better because if you buy it from us right now we do have a quarterly promotion on this. So if you buy that set for $169 we're going to actually give you the extra long 3-eighths ratchet as well. This is a 12 inch ratchet and this 12 inch ratchet right here is the same double pawl system as you can see but it's just a little bit longer for those tighter access areas where you can't get your hand down in there. You're going to get this ratchet for free. Now if you don't want to go with the Milwaukee option, because I know a lot of you guys are haters on Milwaukee hand tools, but we personally like them here at Tech Choice. We sell them a lot on our route. They've been very good for us online, but if you don't want to go that route I have another more affordable option by a few dollars and that is the GearWrench 3-eighths Master Metric Standard socket set right here. So guys this set right here we just did a video on this and it's a very very good set as well. The only difference is you don't get as much organization, but GearWrench kind of helped you out and made it a little bit easier. So I'm going to pop this bad boy out of the case for us real quick and in this set you're going to get same thing you just got in the Milwaukee's metric and standard deep and shallow. But a cool thing about this set is they give you two ratchets actually. So you're going to get a 92 3-eighths ratchet. That is the normal length ratchet. It's about a 10 inch ratchet. They're going to get 92. As you can hear it's pretty fine. You're going to get the same extensions as you got in the Milwaukee 6-inch, a 3-inch, and then the universal joint. Then you're going to also get a stubby ratchet. So this stubby ratchet is a very very handy tool. A lot of people don't utilize the stubby ratchet as much as they should, but this guy right here is going to save you in a tight access area almost every time. So you get all this stuff and then you're going to get the sockets which go from 6 to 19 in metric deep and shallow and then it's going to be 1-quarter inch all the way up to 7-eighths just like the Milwaukee and then 1-quarter inch all the way up to 1 inch just like the Milwaukee. So guys you don't get a free ratchet with this but you do get two ratchets included. If you want to go with a longer ratchet which I find pretty useful, you go with the Milwaukee for $169 or if you want to go a little more affordable you get these two for $149 and that's the GearWrench Master Socket Set. Now on organization what I was saying that GearWrench is done, so if you don't have a socket tray you can actually pop, if I do this properly well I'm not going to break this box, but you can actually pop this out and make it where it's organized as well. So I'm going to throw this off to the side and get that off our list. Now the next tool on our list is something that's probably the most common thing you have. You probably already have some of these if you own a home or if anything you live with your parents anything like that. I don't know how old you are, but you probably already have some of these. But just to throw them in here just in case you didn't we added the GearWrench Screwdriver Set. Now this is not their Master Screwdriver Set. This is their six-piece Phillips and flat headset. This is probably one of my favorite sets as an intro person. It's going to get a little loud so I'm going to be quiet for a second. So guys in this set right here you're going to get your P1 and your P2 Phillips. So you get your P1 and then you also get a P2 Phillips bit and then you also are going to get your four different lengths of your flats. So you get a super stubby, super small flats for all those super fine detail areas. Then you're also going to get all the way up to their biggest one they make and that is this big flat head right here. Now a lot of guys I know you're going to use them because I've done it too. You use these flat heads as a pry bar. Now you can do that because there's a lifetime warranty. I wouldn't recommend doing it because that's not what the tool is made for but we all know they make warranty for a reason. So if you do it, we'll be able to warranty it no matter what. So this set right here is going to be very affordable price for a six-piece screwdriver set of $49 on our website. But guys a cool thing that GearWrench has done on these you're doing a brake job or something like that and you have a Phillips head in there and you're trying to get it loose but you're trying to put pressure and screw it and you can't get enough pressure on it as you're trying to loosen it. You can always put a closed end or open end wrench on these. They put an Allen piece right here on the end of their screwdrivers so you can get a little bit more torque so you can put all your weight into it and then you can rotate it with your other hand if you need it to for a high torque application. Now if you do that, I would probably suggest using an impact driver, not like a battery impact driver but like a handheld impact driver. But if you don't want to do that, you can always do that with these screwdrivers. This screwdriver set like I said is $49 on our website but this is a great set that you should get to get started into the tool business. Now the next tool we have on our list is the probably most common tool that you're going to see when you see a mechanic. This is something that everybody loves to use. You have to use this every single day if you're in the mechanic industry or if you're working on cars in general. This is a tool you're always going to have to have for the rest of your life. So the brand I put in here is a little bit more expensive but there's a reason I put these in here because I do have something free with it. So it's the only reason why I made it on this list. But you can get any brand you want like Gearant or Tekton or something like that. But the brand that I have right here, this is a Milwaukee metric set of wrenches. Now this is not ratcheting wrenches because ratcheting wrenches would definitely break your budget and as an entry-level mechanic all you need is a combination wrench. You can get the job done with a non ratcheting wrench. I know people don't like to hear that but you can get the job done with a non ratcheting wrench. This is a Milwaukee 8 to 22 metric set. Now, you notice I said metric. I didn't put the standard in here because as an entry-level mechanic to save a little bit of money a lot of guys instead of buying metric and standard I would suggest just buying the metrics and then buying the standard later on. You can fit most metric wrenches onto a standard fastener. I don't recommend doing that. I just want to put that out there, but it is common for y'all to do that. So if you're gonna do that, I would always recommend going metric because you're gonna see metric more often than you do see standard nowadays in 2025. But this is a great little set because it's a 12 point closed inside and then a few features I want to bring up. I'm gonna pull one of these guys out for you. I'm gonna pull out the 21 right here. But so you get the 12 point. It is an offset so it's not completely flat as you can see. It does have that offset on it. So you're gonna be able to get in there in a tight access area and break the bolt loose. Now another patented feature that Milwaukee has on these. The reason why these are normally more expensive than a gear wrench or something because these are a double flank drive wrench. So on these double flank drives, you're gonna see there's teeth on the insides of these. And then it actually instead of being the traditional u-shape in the wrench right here. It's gonna actually be a v-shape. So it actually fits your fasteners a lot better. So you can break them loose and it's gonna prevent them from rounding off and it's actually gonna give you more torque application. So you can get a you get a little bit more torque when you're pulling down on that fastener. So guys, this is a great set made by Milwaukee. The reason why I put this set on here is because it's very high quality wrenches. It's just as good quality, if not higher quality than a snap-on wrench. Or the Harbor Freight Icon wrench that everybody's been known to love for the flank drive. But it's a lot more affordable. So guys for this 8 to 22 15 piece set, we're gonna be selling it for $125 and guys that is cheap already as it is. But this is gonna lead into another tool that you're gonna automatically get completely free if you buy this set. So guys, this is a tool that not everyone uses every day, but I highly suggest getting. This is a Milwaukee headlamp that you're gonna get completely free when you buy the wrenches from us. But a headlamp is very useful, especially when you got a car up on a lift. Instead of having to hold your flashlight in your mouth and try to balance it and do all that stuff or pinch it against your neck and do all that stuff, have a crook in your neck. I would suggest buying a headlamp to put on your hat, put on your head, do whatever you need to do. Just so you can see up and you don't have to worry about holding a flashlight and have both hands completely free. So you would get this free, like I said, if you buy the Milwaukee wrenches from us here at Tech's Choice Tools. Now leading right into our next product, the headlamp is a great light to have in your arsenal if you're working underneath the car or if it's dark outside, it's always great to have a headlamp. But the next thing I'm gonna bring up is something that I will always recommend having a good quality one of these because it's gonna help you for all your inspections and everything like that. So guys, this is the Olight Arcfield Pro. I'm actually not gonna open this one. I'm actually gonna pull the one out of my pocket that I use every day, which is the same color of the orange Arcfield Pro. I keep this in my pocket because it's great for a few things. You got a flashlight that's gonna be 15 lumens on its lowest setting. It's actually gonna be up to 1400 lumens on its turbo setting. And then another cool thing that it has on here, it also has a laser as you can see right here. You got a laser right there on my hand, the green laser on here. Or if you're doing AC work, which as an entry-level mechanic, you may not be doing a lot of that. But if you're trying to do some leak detection, you always have the UV light here. So you're gonna be able to see all that AC fluid. Now guys, this light is a great, great light. I love this light. It has a few cool features on it. If you weren't getting a headlamp, this actually does work as a headlamp as well. They have a pack neck clip. It's a double clip on here. So it would clip onto your shirt or in your pocket, however you want. But you can also clip this onto your hat right here like this. I haven't done this in a while, but you can stick this right here on my hat like this. And I actually have a flashlight now that I can use, or a laser, or a flashlight, however I want to do. And I have it working, so I can be working everywhere. So if you wear a hat every day, this is a great product for that. But this light is only $89 on our website. It's a great price light. It has a lifetime warranty. That's something you're not gonna see a lot with flashlights. And I would recommend getting some of these quick. Because with the recent tariffs that you're gonna be seeing coming in, LED lights are gonna be getting very, very expensive. So this is a great time to buy a flashlight, because they are about to go up. I promise you that. So, last of the lights, but now let's get into our next product. And that product is the Nipex Holiday Plier Set right here. So this actually came out last year. We don't have too many more of these left. I think we only have about 20 to 30 of these left. But this is a great bang for your buck on our website right now. You can buy this whole set for $109. And I'm gonna show you what it comes in. So this is the box you're gonna get it in. And I actually pulled this out already. But you're gonna get this nice carry case. It does have a belt loop, so you can clip this onto any belt. But in this set, you're gonna get your most common pliers that you'll ever need. So first off, I'm gonna show you this. This is a razor blade that you get, and they're patented. Double click, so you have a way to make the back where it's not as strong right here. But if you need to make it stronger, pardon the loudness real quick. Now I have a back right here that I can stick on here. And I'm actually gonna get a lot more strength, so I can actually really cut something if I need to. If you don't know, in an automotive industry, it's always good to have a nice quality razor blade. Because you're gonna use this a lot more than you really think you are. So you get this tool, and then another great plier you get. This is actually a two-in-one plier. This is a needle nose, but it's also kind of like a lineman set of pliers. So you have a nice fine tip plier right there. And then you're actually gonna have a cutter ability right here on this part. You got some cutters, and then you're gonna actually be able to grab some wires pretty easily with that. So it's not a wire stripper, but you're gonna be able to access wires and get into those tight areas with this plier right here. This is their Nipex 0821185, if you want to see. But you're gonna get this plier as well. This is about a $45 plier by itself that you get in this kit. And then you're also gonna get the most popular plier that we sell in our truck, which is the 8-inch Nipex Cobra plier. Now, a lot of y'all are gonna give me some crap about talking about using Nipex as an entry-level mechanic. But the reason why I'm saying that is because why start off with a junk piece of pliers that you're only gonna use for three years, and then you're gonna have to buy a new pair of pliers anyway? You should always start, in my opinion, with a good quality set of pliers, because you're gonna use these for a lifetime. I know people that have had Nipex for probably 15, 20 years, and they're still using the same set of pliers. So this plier right here is the most popular plier that we sell on our trucks. But the reason why this is so popular, this is their water pump plier. It's adjustable, and then it also is gonna be able to get you in those tight reach areas. It's self-locking, and then you can adjust to any size fastener that you need to get onto there. So this is a great set of pliers right here. Like I said, all this stuff right here is $109. All three of these plus the carry case for $109. That is a great product to get for a bang for your buck as an entry-level mechanic. Now guys, this product didn't actually make the top 10 tools on this list, but I'm actually gonna throw in there as a bonus just because this is a great plier as well. Guys, this is the Nipex twin-grip plier. If you don't know what a twin-grip plier is, it actually is probably my favorite set of pliers to use. They make these in a smaller version and a bigger version now, but this was the original, and this is still my favorite to use. So if you don't know about the twin-grip pliers, as you can see, it has that nice double design, double-teeth design. So the teeth are going on the bottom this way, and the other teeth are going this way. So they're fighting against each other. So you're gonna get the most torque application as you possibly can on this little guy. But another great thing I like about this is you got like a button screw or something like that. Super small on the top, but you can't get a normal wrench flush with it. You can actually put this on top because it has teeth design that are going up and down and right here on the end, they go up and down and around it. So you're gonna be able to grab it and twist it from the top, and you're gonna be able to get a nice bite force on there. This set is about $45 on our website. I highly suggest getting these as a bonus. If you have a little bit extra money in your budget, this is what I would recommend getting as an entry-level mechanic as well. But if you don't have the money, don't buy these, buy those other sets because you're gonna use those more, but this is a great set of pliers as well. Now last but certainly not least, this next kit I'm about to show you has three of the ten tools that I think are the most essential tools. If not, these three are probably the most essential tools to get you started in the automotive industry. This set right here is the brand new Milwaukee 3424-23 kit. Now this kit has three power tools, two batteries, and a charger, and I'm gonna go over each one just so you know what we're talking about. So the first one that I'm gonna pull out of this nice contractor bag that you get is the Milwaukee M12 drill. So if you don't know, having a drill in your toolbox, you never know when you're gonna be drilling something, but this is a great addition to have. You may not have drill bits yet, but you can always borrow those from your neighbor, and he normally is gonna let you borrow, but the rule is if you borrow it three times, it's time for you to go buy one yourself. Always remember that when you're borrowing your tools as you're getting started in the automotive industry, but this is a great little drill to get you started. This is a M12 hammer drill. So actually, it's a drill driver, not the hammer drill, but this is gonna give you 400 inch-pounds of torque, so you're gonna be able to get a lot done with this little guy, and pair it with one of the batteries is the M12 5.0 battery right here. This is their big battery that they make for the M12 platform. This has probably been one of the most popular batteries we've sold in 2025, and 2024. They just came out with this, but this is a great battery to have, and it's a great one to start with. So paired with the 5.0 battery, they give you the brand new 3.8 stubby impact gun. Now this 3.8 stubby impact gun, you probably have seen a lot of videos on this already. This is a 550 foot-pound impact wrench, and it has great features to it. It's super compact. It's only about five inches long. You are going to get a mode selector on here, which is a little bit different than what you're used to. You're used to a button top on most of the power tools, but to save on head size, they actually made it where you put it into neutral, and then as you double tap the trigger, it actually changes the modes for you. So this is a cool feature that they added to this. This is a great impact to get you started into the industry. Now you could use this to get off some lug nuts if you need to occasionally, but I would not recommend always using this for your lug nuts. This is more for stuff inside the engine, or maybe even interior. That's what I would be using this guy for. But this is a great tool that you're going to get in this kit as well. Now last but not least out of these tools, probably the most common tool we sold for the longest time was the 3.8 high-speed ratchet. Now I'm going to pair this up with the 2.5 battery you get, just so you can hear how fast this guy is. So guys, this ratchet right here is going to deliver 40 foot-pounds of torque. So it's not super powerful, but it's going to be great, and it's going to save you a lot of time, because we all know as a mechanic, you're always trying to beat the clock. Or if you're a DIYer, you're trying to beat the clock, so you can go work on your next project. So this guy right here is going to make you, instead of using a hand ratchet to get the job done, you're going to be able to stick this with your Milwaukee sockets, or your gear wrench sockets, and take it right off, and you're going to be able to work it super, super easy. So with the 2.5 battery, this kit is going to come in about $499. Now you're going to say that's a lot of money, that's half our budget just on power tools, but those three power tools are going to be everything you need to get started as an automotive technician. And you can slowly build your arsenal of power tools later on down the road. Now the reason why I did everything in 3.8s, because 3.8s is probably the most common size you're going to be using as a regular automotive mechanic, or something on your car. And I paired it with the 3.8s chrome sockets for the ratchet. Now technically, you're not supposed to use chrome on an impact. I know that, but a lot of you do it anyways. So if you want to, you can buy some impact sockets to get you a little bit over the $1,000. But guys, this is every tool you would ever need to get started in the automotive industry. First day, walk in the shop, you have these tools, you're going to be able to get some money made and start working pretty effectively. Now guys, I know this toolkit may not be the perfect toolkit for you, but for us here at Tech's Choice Tools, we trust the brands that we promote. And we promoted these brands because we've been using these tools for years. And so have our customers. The gear wrench stuff, we've been carrying on our trucks for 15 plus years. And then on Milwaukee, their hardline, they just came out with that five years ago. And we're probably the number one seller in Milwaukee hardline in the industry as of right now. And their power tools, of course we all know about their power tools, but their hand tools are getting up there in quality and beating out some of the more known people that you've heard. But if you want to see more tool content, you can always follow us here on our social media on YouTube. It's at Tech's Choice, of course, because you're watching this video right now. But if you want to, you can go follow us on our Instagram which is at Tech's Choice or TikTok at Tech's Choice Tools. We post content there every single day about new tools, old tools, how you can use a tool in a different application than you've ever probably seen it before. But it's always going to have a promo attached to it. So if you want to, go to our website, Tech's Choice Tools to pick up any of this stuff that you saw in the video today or pick up some other stuff. We have it available. We hope you guys have a great rest of your week.