The $49 rental of the tool kit gets you the use of some quite impressive tools and fixtures which are likely to greatly enhance the chance of success for various repairs.
> Some parts have a "core charge" like automotive parts, to ensure you send back the bad ones so they can be remanufactured.
Yes, which is the point. They are offering a compromise for a tiny market (self-repair) in hopes of this distracting from and preventing laws that would benefit the market that actually matters (independent repair).
It's like throwing your underpaid demoralized employees a pizza party so they don't quit, nothing but a damage control gesture that deliberarely doesn't actually help.
They know this makes independent repair uncompetitive, which is why they do it.