Why Choose Vehicle Lifts? The Benefits of Adding One to Your Repair Business

Many mechanics work on vehicles while lying on their backs on rollers or in pits under the cars. These are uncomfortable positions in which to work on a vehicle, as oil, grease and other debris drips and falls on your body at close proximity when on a roller, and a pit requires the mechanic to deal with the hassle of climbing down and back up every time they fix a car. Vehicle lifts could prove a useful solution to these problems, so consider adding one to your repair business,

Less Physical Strain on the Mechanic

Humans aren’t meant to work for long periods on their backs, and the strain of doing so proves especially hard on your mechanics who have done so for years. Rollers put mechanics in a cramped position with minimal space to maneuver their arms, making repairs both a straining and a time-consuming ordeal. In the cramped space, mechanics are more likely to hit and injure their arms and their legs, as they pull themselves out from under the car.

Your business could prove liable for health care in the event of sudden injury or injury as a result of long-term strain. Choosing a lift instead is not only healthier for your employees, but a wiser investment to keep lawyers at bay.

Ease of Access

The cramped position of a mechanic on their back on a roller makes it more difficult than it needs be to work on a vehicle’s undercarriage. Even when you opt for a pit instead, the mechanic may have more room to move their arms, but they’re in a fixed position to work on the car. They may need a lift themselves to boost themselves up to reach the car, or if they’re particularly tall, they may need to work hunched over.

A lift can be adjusted to precisely fit the height of a mechanic, so they can move their arms freely without straining. The entire undercarriage of the vehicle is exposed, making it easier for a mechanic to check one part of the car, walk a few steps and check another part, a task that ought to be simple but certainly isn’t when done on a roller or even in a pit.

Enabling Multitasking

It’s not possible to rotate or change a vehicle’s tires when you’re working on the undercarriage, unless you employ a lift. If you work on a roller and use a jack to raise the car to get access to the tires, you certainly can’t have the mechanic underneath at the same time as this is a potential hazard should the jack slip and the car slam down.

When working on the undercarriage via a pit, the car stays on the ground, and the same hazard of using a jack to lift the car at the same time applies. Plus, then the car may be too high for an employee underneath to reach regardless. With a lift, you streamline car maintenance, which saves you time and earn you more money more quickly.

Saving Space

If your garage or work space is already cluttered, you may not have the room for a full pit add-on. With a lift, you won’t have to worry about digging out a hole below your garage. The lift can be installed anywhere you have appropriate floor space,  even including the space you may already use to fix vehicles via rollers, if the ceiling is high enough.

You may also be able to install the lift outside or build a shelter to house it if weather is frequently inclement in your area. A new shelter over the lift is likely to cause fewer problems than digging a hole to house a pit, as a hole could run into wiring and plumbing that would need to be re-routed. Just make sure the lift area remains clear of debris before each use.

Multi-Car Parking

If you look into a parking lift rather than specifically a lift for working on a car, you’ll enjoy many of the same benefits, but one you will especially benefit from is saving space. If you have a larger number of vehicles to work on but you don’t have the room to keep them stored on your property, you’ll have to turn away business. If you install lifts that allow you to park two cars in a space where you would have previously just been able to park one, you can double your business.

With so many benefits to adding vehicle lifts to your automotive repair business, such as safety, generating more business and increasing the amount of available shop space, it’s easy to see why so many shop owners have decided to install these lifts to keep a competitive edge in today’s automotive repair market.

Author Bio: Jamie Summers is a contributing writer and auto mechanic. He owns his own garage outside of New York City. Before becoming a shop owner, he was all too accustomed to the frustrations of working on cars on rollers and in pits, and now he could never imagine working on cars without using a lift.