Last Minute Gifts for Car Guys & Girls for Under $50

Joel Guerra
4 min readDec 13, 2021

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It’s two weeks to Christmas and you gave a gear head in your circle that you need to shop for. Car people can be hard to shop for. What do they like? Tools.

But what tools? They seem to have so many already…

Here’s some less commonly owned tools that they will appreciate that you can order right now and get by Christmas.

Digital Calipers

The person on your list likely already has measuring tape and rulers but for making precise measurements of the length of bolts, or thickness of metal you want digital calipers. This is the way to measure fractions of millimeters and you can order right now on Amazon for $30. I own this exact model and commonly use them to measure the gauge of metal so I can set my welder to the correct settings for it.

digital calipers

Clamp-on Ammeter:

The person on your list probably already has a multimeter they can use to find continuity in circuits, measure voltage, measure impedance etc. This is the next tool they need. This ammeter includes most of the features of a typical multimeter but also can be clamped over shielded cables and measure the amperage of the current flowing through the circuit. I recently used this model to find the source of a parasitic drain in a Honda Accord. You can order it now on Amazon for $45.

Drill Bits:

I know what you’re thinking. Of course, they already have drill bits. Here’s the thing, drill bits wear out and stubborn shade tree mechanics will keep using dull drill bits until they break in half! And you can pick up a set of fresh titanium coated bits from a top name brand for only $22 by clicking right here!

10mm Sockets:

This borders on being a gag gift but is actually very useful. It is a common inside joke in the car community that we are always losing our 10mm sockets. But the thing is, we really are always losing our 10mm sockets. So this item is a set of sockets but they’re all 10mm and designed to be replacements for different styles of socket sets. You can get this set on Amazon for $30 and I promise you’ll get a laugh and a “thank you” when they open it.

Nuts and Bolts:

No, I’m not kidding. Nothing kills the momentum of a project like having to drop everything and drive to the hardware store because you need just one very specific bolt or nut. That is why I keep several sets of nuts and bolts like this one that you can grab for under $20 on Amazon.

Trim Removal Tools:

This set of tools is used to remove the plastic interior pieces of a car. This is useful in common jobs like stereo upgrades but many hobbyists don’t have them because you can get by with just screw drivers but these make the job much easier and stops you from marring the plastic pieces of the car. You can get this set for $21 on Amazon.

I like buying, collecting and organizing tools almost as much as I like actually working on my cars. I could keep adding on to this post forever but I’ll finish with a list of consumables that are great stocking stuffers. Even if they already have everything on this list they can always use more!

Although all the links in this post are affiliate links and I may receive a commission if you order something, these are all products I own and use on a regular basis. Thanks for reading!

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