Home garage buying guides
Which car lift fits your ceiling and slab, which engine hoist lifts what you are pulling, which jack stands carry the load, and what the certification marks mean. Every guide shows the maker's figures, the sources and the arithmetic behind the pick.
Ten lifts from $1,300 to $6,095 sorted by the garage they fit: ceiling height, slab, power and the work, with every figure from the maker or the listing.
Seven hoists and five levelers, with the four boom ratings every 2-ton hoist carries, leg clearance, folding, casters and the engine weights the makers publish.
Ten floor jacks from $46 to $378, each with capacity, minimum and maximum saddle height, weight and whether its listing claims ASME PASE or PALD.
A calculator for the two ceiling checks a lift needs: do the columns fit, and how far can the car go up before its roof meets the ceiling.
Specs from the source
Figures come from maker spec sheets and manuals, linked on the page.
A clear pick
Each guide names what we would buy, for whom, and what to skip.
Sources listed
Every guide ends with the documents it was built from.
New and updated buying guides, comparisons and how-tos.
Two-post and four-post lifts compared on BendPak's and Atlas's published figures: ceiling, slab and anchors, footprint, the work each is for, storage and price.
ALI certification from the Automotive Lift Institute's own pages: the standard, the Gold Label, the directory, the marks that do not count, and the home lifts that claim it.
Every model in ALI's directory of certified lifts, searchable, plus the 34 lifts in our guides checked against it. Seven are listed.
Four names on every lift page, compared on published specs, manuals, concrete and power rules, ALI statements, warranty and price. Two of them are the same company.
Eight two-post lifts from $1,989 to $6,295, each with its column height, rise, slab and power requirements and what the maker says about ALI certification.
Nine four-post lifts from $2,888 to $6,095, with column height, runway and overall length, power and the caster kits, ramps and jack trays that come in the box.
