Starter sets are rated for quantity and quality of their contents

Toolkit

Halfords 127-piece Tool Set

Price £149.99

Halfords 0845 7626225

www.halfords.com

If you want to do basic servicing yourself, then you won’t need much more than what’s included in this well thought out set from the chain store giant.

It’s good to see quality has not been lost here, with a solid feel to the tools. You get half and quarter-inch ratchets and sockets that cover 4-32mm, plus spanners from 8-22mm. There’s also a hammer, ratchet screwdriver and bit set, and no less than six pliers packed into the tough briefcase. A great place to start saving money on car maintenance.

Kamasa 55718

Price £129.00

One of the problems with a neatly laid out set is that there is no room to add any extra tools you might purchase in the future. However, this set from Kamasa includes extra storage in its trolley-style case. Tool quality is good and covers all the essential spanner, screw and socket sizes.

Kamasa 01926 815000

www.lasertools.co.uk

Sealey AP9243 Combo 6

Price £70.44

More of a box with a bunch of free tools, this Sealey Combo is best thought of as a starting point for the budding home mechanic, as it includes a durable set of relevant tools at a very competitive price. There is also plenty of room to add extra kit as your collection expands.

Sealey 01284 757500

www.sealey.co.uk

What we looked for

Building a toolkit from scratch can be time consuming and expensive, which is why many makers put together collections to help beginners get started. And they’re often tremendous value, as they usually sell at a fraction of the price it would cost to buy the contents individually.
The downside is that they can be filled with kit which will never get used. Our test checked if the tools were relevant for the DIY mechanic and were good quality. We also assessed case durability and considered value for money.

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