Work on cars long enough, and eventually you’ll want some kind of automatic lift that offers freedom from the floor jack and jack stand shuffle every time you want to wrench. The gold standard is the two-post lift that can raise a vehicle overhead in minutes, but my garage has a low roof — anything that goes up more than a few feet won’t work. The good news is there are plenty of low-rise and mid-rise lifts out there that work even in tight garage spaces. I finally took the plunge myself and bought a Quick Jack portable lift based on a fellow gearhead’s recommendation, with a sale at Costco sealing the deal.

Two key benefits of the Quick Jack are its affordability and portability. The two lifting frames allow for unrestricted access to the middle of a vehicle, and they fold flat for storage when not in use. You could even haul them to a track day or friend’s garage without much trouble. The list price of the 5,000-pound model I bought is $1,416 as of this writing, while Costco offers it for $1,200 online and hundreds less in the warehouse.

Tips from the grease monkey's garage on Hemmings.