New table saw (UK)….. that is the question

[duke]

I would question the missus when I have noticed new stuff in the house, her response was it's been here for ages. Once when she was in the shop she noticed something new and asked did you just get it. No I said it's been here for ages!
End of discussion.

 

[Ovaloe]

I don't know where you are, but the DWE7492-QS, the big brother to the DW745 is alive and well in Germany for about €665.

I'm in the UK and I was a DW745 owner. The model was "replaced" a couple of years back by the DW7485 which has a 210mm blade size and costs circa £420 or so here. This is a similar physical size of saw to the DW745, with a similar tubular metal framework, and is priced in the same area that the DW745 was. The new DWE7492 is now available, but at a UK street price of £750 to £800 or more is a LOT more expensive. The pricing of certain models of power tool in the UK has risen enormously over the last 4 or 5 years, often ahead of pricing increases in comparible European countries (I am a tradesman, so I buy and hire a variety of tools regularly so I know this isn't just my opinion). I regard this as yet another "Brexit benefit"

 

[Mike]

I regard this as yet another "Brexit benefit"

I'm sure Brexit didn't help, but I noticed the price difference across the board between the UK and the US decades ago. I used to travel frequently between Germany and the UK for work between 1999 and 2015. If I found an item in a UK store that was also available in the US, the numbers in the price were usually the same, but the currency symbol was different. Given the exchange rate that greatly favored the Pound, the actual difference in cost was substantial.

For example, in 2009, I was in the Yorkshire camera shop looking for a new lens. The lens I wanted was $750 from B&H Photo in New York and I could have it in about a week after I ordered it. I found the same lens in the UK shop for £755. With the exchange rate of about £1=$1.60, the cost for my instant gratification was about $1,200. I decided to wait and order the lens from B&H when I returned to Germany.

 

[Ovaloe]

It was specifically tools I was referring to. I at one time worked in the USA and found power tools to be far cheaper there, although the trick was to buy mail order across a state line which used to avoid State Purchase Tax (which was about 7% where i was based in CA at that time). If you level the playing field by adding VAT to US prices they are often much less attractive ,(US prices alway seem to be quoted ex-Tax)

 

[Mike]

Yes, sales and use tax are usually never included in the display price and show up at the point of sale. Federal laws governing interstate commerce are clamping down on the collection of local sales and use tax. If a business has a physical presence in the destination state, then it is required to collect the sales and use tax on behalf of the destination state.

In addition to being less expensive, the tools are also available in huge quantities. In early 2023, I was in South Dakota and visited an ordinary hardware store. Here are two photos, taken with permission of the store manager, showing part of the DeWalt and Milwaukee tools. There were similar areas for Bosch, Makita, and Festool.