Atlas Automotive Equipment PSP-6000 6,000 lb Portable Car Lift
6,000 lb portable lift. Moves out of the way when the bay is needed for something else.
$5,195 guide price
Portable car lifts
A portable lift comes apart or rolls aside when the bay is needed for something else. That flexibility costs capacity and lift height against a fixed installation, and most portable systems still want a decent slab under them.
It is the honest option for a shared, rented or multi-use space.
Atlas Automotive Equipment ML-6051BC 11,000 lb Portable Car Lift
11,000 lb portable lift. Moves out of the way when the bay is needed for something else.
$44,795 guide price
iDEAL Lifts MSC-18K-X 8,000 lb Portable Car Lift
8,000 lb portable lift. Moves out of the way when the bay is needed for something else.
$43,895 guide price
iDEAL Lifts MSC-13K-B 26,000 lb Portable Car Lift
26,000 lb portable lift. Moves out of the way when the bay is needed for something else.
$17,695 guide price
Katool SPL700 7,000 lb Portable Car Lift
7,000 lb portable lift. Moves out of the way when the bay is needed for something else.
$5,995 guide price
Katool SPL-700 7,000 lb Portable Car Lift
7,000 lb portable lift. Moves out of the way when the bay is needed for something else.
$5,795 guide price
What is in this range
6 lifts from 3 manufacturers: Atlas Automotive Equipment, Katool and iDEAL Lifts. Capacities run from 6,000 lb to 26,000 lb, across 5 distinct ratings.
Prices run $5,195 to $44,795 with a median of $11,845. Each is the median of what independent US dealers list for that exact model, so the spread here is the market's spread rather than ours.
How to narrow it down
Three questions settle most of this list, and two of them are about your building rather than about the lift.
First, capacity. Check the curb weight of the heaviest vehicle you own, not the lightest, and not the marketing name: a modern crew-cab "half-ton" pickup is over 5,000 lb before anything goes in the bed. The rating is a total for the lift, not a figure per wheel.
Second, height. Measure your ceiling to the lowest obstruction, which in a normal garage is the door track or the opener rail rather than the drywall. We hold a published overall height for 1 of the 6 lifts here.
Third, floor. 1 of these carry a published concrete requirement. Anything anchored makes your slab part of the lift, and that is worth establishing before you shortlist rather than after.
What we know about these models, and what we do not
Specification coverage across this range: 4 of 6 with a published electrical requirement, 1 with an overall height, 1 with a concrete requirement.
Where a figure is missing from a listing it is because we do not hold it, not because it does not matter. A ceiling height or a concrete specification guessed from a similar lift is the most expensive wrong number in this category, so the listing shows a gap instead. Ask about any model and we will get the manufacturer's figure before you commit to anything.
On certification: 0 models in this range have a verified ALI directory entry, and 3 carry a certification claim from a retailer that we have not yet checked. A claim is not a certificate, and ALI certification attaches to a specific model at a specific capacity rather than to a manufacturer.
Getting one delivered
Every lift here is a freight shipment on a pallet, not a parcel. At a residential address that almost always means a liftgate, because a truck cannot get a pallet to the ground without a dock or a forklift, and it is a line item worth pricing in from the start.
Inspect the pallet and note any damage on the delivery receipt before the driver leaves. A clean signature makes a transit damage claim substantially harder, and lift shipments arrive damaged often enough for that to matter.