HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT LIFT FOR DIFFERENT VEHICLE SIZES

If you’re looking to upgrade the vehicle lifts in your workshop, it’s easy to focus on the weight and capacity.

But the size of your lifts matter, too — especially if you’re planning to expand your workshop in the future.

The best investment means looking ahead — to the new types of vehicles you might later start servicing, and the dimensions you need to make sure you only buy once.

Here’s what you need to look out for:

 

1. PLATFORM LENGTH

This is where you’ll see the most variation between different commercial vehicle lifts — which makes it an easy way to rule out some lifts for certain vehicles.

The platform length is the distance between the front and back of the lifting platform. That means you can compare it directly to the wheelbase of the vehicles you need to lift.

Not every type of vehicle lift has a ‘platform’. But for those that do, you need to make sure the platform length is long enough to fit the wheelbase of the longest vehicles you need to service.

Here’s how that looks in practice:

Vehicle wheelbase	6m	7m	13m	18m
	✅
Light Commercial Four Post Lift	✅
Heavy Duty Four Post Lift		✅	✅	✅
Y-MECH	✅	✅	✅
In-Ground Lift	✅	✅	✅	✅
Mobile Column Lift	✅	✅	✅	✅

 

DOES ONLY THE WHEELBASE MATTER?

With some vehicle lifts, there may be a crossbar that means you need to think about the length of the entire vehicle.

But with a Totalkare Vehicle Lift, you only need to worry about the wheelbase — none of them use a crossbar!

 

2. DRIVE-THROUGH WIDTH

This is where you’ll see less variation between different lifts — there’s a limit to how wide vehicles can get!

The drive-through width is the space from left to right that allows vehicles onto the lift. You can compare it directly with the overall width of your vehicles.

But with some types of commercial vehicle lift, the drive-though width doesn’t really apply:

With the In-Ground Lift and Mobile Column Lifts, there’s no physical boundary that limits the vehicle when you’re lifting. So if you’re working with extra-wide vehicles that might not fit a standard lift, these could be your best options.

Here’s how to match the width of your vehicles to the right commercial vehicle lift:

	Drive-through width
Two Post Lift	2770mm – 3040mm
Light Commercial Four Post Lift	2954mm
Heavy Duty Four Post Lift	3300mm – 3910mm
Y-MECH	2650mm
In-Ground Lift	All vehicle widths
Mobile Column Lift	All vehicle widths

 

3. PLATFORM WIDTH

This measurement’s a little different from the others: it only applies to lifts that attach at the wheels.

It’s about the width of the platforms themselves. And that means you can compare it directly to the width of the tyres on your vehicles.

Here’s how it works out:

	Platform width
Two Post Lift	All vehicles
Light Commercial Four Post Lift	560mm – 650mm
Heavy Duty Four Post Lift	650mm – 700mm
Y-MECH	750mm
In-Ground Lift	All vehicles
Mobile Column Lift	All Vehicles

 

4. LIFTING CAPACITY

This isn’t really a size measurement — but it is closely related.

The bigger your vehicles, the more they usually weigh. And that means you need to think about the capacity of your lifts, as well as just the dimensions.

Here’s what you need to know:

	Lifting capacity
Two Post Lift	4,500kg – 8,000kg
Light Commercial Four Post Lift	4,000kg – 12,000kg
Heavy Duty Four Post Lift	16,000kg – 35,000kg
Y-MECH	25,000kg – 35,000kg
In-Ground Lift	30,000kg – 120,000kg
Mobile Column Lift	30,000kg – 60,000kg

 

NEED SOME HELP CHOOSING?

Finding the right vehicle lift isn’t always easy.

As well as the vehicles you service now, you need to think ahead — to all the potential vehicles you might work on in the future as your workshop expands and grows.

So to get the complete picture before you commit (and some expert advice from the team that’s seen it all before), start a chat with one of our vehicle lift specialists — and we’ll help you find the best lift to futureproof your business.