ALI certification on car lifts

"ALI certified" is the most repeated phrase in lift marketing and one of the least checked. It has a specific meaning and it is worth knowing exactly what it covers.

What it is

The Automotive Lift Institute runs a third-party certification programme against the ANSI/ALI ALCTV standard. A lift that carries the gold label has been independently tested and the manufacturer's production is subject to ongoing audit. ALI publishes a directory of certified lifts, which is public and searchable.

Three things follow from that, and they are the three things people get wrong.

It certifies a model, not a brand

A manufacturer can have some certified models and some that are not. "We are an ALI certified manufacturer" is not a statement about the lift you are looking at. The certificate attaches to a specific model and capacity, and the directory lists it that way.

This is why every listing on this site states certification per model or states nothing. Where a listing says nothing, it means we have not verified it, not that the lift fails. We would rather show a gap than repeat a claim we have not checked.

It is not a legal requirement everywhere, and sometimes it is

Federal law does not require a certified lift in a private garage. What matters in practice:

• Commercial shops often find their insurer, their landlord or their state's occupational safety rules require certified equipment. Check before you buy, not after.
• Some jurisdictions reference the ALI standard in their own regulations.
• Home users are generally free to buy an uncertified lift, and many good ones are uncertified simply because certification is expensive for a small manufacturer.

If you are buying for a business, treat certification as a commercial requirement rather than a nice-to-have and confirm it with whoever insures you.

It does not certify your installation

This is the part that catches people. Certification covers the lift as manufactured. It says nothing about:

• whether your slab meets the manufacturer's thickness and strength requirement
• whether the anchors were installed to specification
• whether the lift has been inspected since it was installed

A certified lift bolted into inadequate concrete is not a safe lift. ALI also publishes guidance on periodic inspection, which is a separate discipline from buying.

How to check a claim in under a minute

Go to the ALI directory and search the manufacturer and the model number. If the exact model and capacity are listed, the claim is real. If a retailer says "ALI certified" but the model does not appear, ask them which certificate they mean.

That is a fair question to ask us too. Where we list a certification we will show you the directory entry it comes from.

What to ask a retailer

1. Is this model at this capacity certified, and can you show me the directory entry?
2. If it is not certified, is that a problem for my insurer or my state?
3. What concrete does the manufacturer require, and does my slab meet it?
4. Who is doing the installation, and are they trained on this lift?

Any retailer who is annoyed by those questions is telling you something useful.