The lifts under California's buses, trains and shop floors.
Autolift & Equipment Service sells, installs, services and inspects vehicle lifts across Southern California — from a two-post in a home garage to a 640,000 lbs inground lift under a light rail car. Eighty-seven years, one family, our own crews.
- 1939
- Serving California shops, continuously
- 640,000 lbs
- Maximum lift capacity we supply
- 5
- ALI Certified Lift Inspectors on staff
- 90%
- Of our work comes from referrals
One company, from the first floor plan to the annual inspection.
Most equipment suppliers sell you a lift. We lay out the bay, draw the permit set, install the equipment with our own crew, and come back every year to certify it. Nothing gets lost in a handoff.
Lift Installation
Two-post, four-post, inground, scissor and heavy duty lifts. Slab evaluation, anchoring, load testing and certification, performed by our own crews.
Repair & Service
Hydraulic, electrical, cable and mechanical repair on lifts from every manufacturer, plus compressors, lubrication systems and wash equipment.
ALI Certified Inspections
ANSI/ALI ALOIM annual inspections by certified inspectors, with documented results, certification labels and repair quotes.
Facility Design & Permits
In-house CAD. Bay layouts, floor plans, building permit drawings, colour elevations and 3D renderings before a single anchor is drilled.
Heavy Duty, Bus & Rail
Triple post, mobile column, inground and rail lifts to 640,000 lbs for transit agencies, fleet garages and rail maintenance facilities.
Wash Systems
Westmatic drive-through wash systems for bus fleets, trucks, trains and heavy equipment, with reclaim, plumbing and controls.
Not many companies can put a light rail car in the air.
Transit buses, motor coaches, Class 8 trucks, refuse fleets and rail equipment need lifts most shops never see. We supply PKS heavy duty lifts with capacities to 640,000 lbs, handle the excavation and pit work for inground installations, and service the equipment for its whole life.
- Triple post bus and truck lifts
- Inground bus lifts and wide drive-through lifts
- Mobile column lifts for flexible bay configurations
- Heavy duty flush-mount and wash bay scissor lifts
- Train and light rail lifting systems
The expensive mistakes happen on paper, not on installation day.
A lift placed six inches too close to a wall costs the same as one placed correctly, and it costs a bay's worth of productivity for as long as the shop is open. Bay width, ceiling height, column placement, slab thickness, drainage, compressor location and air line routing all get settled before anything is ordered.
Autolift's in-house CAD produces layouts, permit drawings, full colour elevations and 3D renderings — the same drawings that go to plan check and to your board.
Four stages, one point of contact.
Walk the site
We measure the bay, check ceiling height and door clearance, and look at the slab before we quote anything.
Draw it
Layouts, permit drawings, elevations and renderings from our own CAD team, sized to the vehicles you actually service.
Install it
Our employees, our trucks, our forklifts and man lifts. Anchoring, load testing, certification and operator training.
Keep it certified
Annual ALI certified inspection, documented results, and repairs when something fails. Same people, every year.
Among the first companies in the country with ALI Certified Inspectors on staff.
Plenty of companies will tell you their technicians are qualified to inspect lifts. The Automotive Lift Institute Lift Inspector Certification Program is the only independent verification of that in North America — two proctored exams, practical inspections under ALI procedures, and a signed code of ethics.
We have five certified inspectors, and they can inspect a lift from any manufacturer, of any type, model or age. Every inspection comes with documented results, a pass or fail sticker, and a serialized certification label carrying the inspector's ID number. We are also licensed for annual OSHA required inspections on air compressors and overhead cranes.
Equipment we distribute, install and stand behind.
We service equipment from every manufacturer, including brands we do not distribute. See the full line card.
Where we work
We run scheduled service routes out of Los Alamitos across six Southern California counties, and travel statewide for heavy duty, transit and rail projects.
- Orange County
- Los Alamitos, Anaheim, Santa Ana, Irvine, Huntington Beach, Garden Grove, Orange, Fullerton, Costa Mesa, Cypress, Buena Park, Tustin, Westminster, Mission Viejo
- Los Angeles County
- Long Beach, Los Angeles, Torrance, Carson, Compton, Downey, Norwalk, Pasadena, Glendale, Burbank, Santa Clarita, Pomona, El Monte, Inglewood, the South Bay
- Inland Empire
- Riverside, San Bernardino, Ontario, Fontana, Rancho Cucamonga, Corona, Moreno Valley, Temecula, Chino, Upland, Redlands
- San Diego County
- San Diego, Chula Vista, Oceanside, Escondido, Carlsbad, El Cajon, Vista, San Marcos
- Ventura County
- Oxnard, Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Ventura, Camarillo, Moorpark
- Statewide
- Heavy duty lift installations, transit and rail facilities, and multi-site lift inspection contracts anywhere in California
Questions we get asked
Do you install automotive lifts in Orange County and Los Angeles?
Yes. We are based in Los Alamitos and install vehicle lifts throughout Southern California, including Orange County, Los Angeles County, Riverside County, San Bernardino County, San Diego County and Ventura County. We have been doing this work since 1939.
How often does a car lift need to be inspected?
ANSI standards require every vehicle lift in the United States to be inspected at least once a year by a qualified lift inspector. High volume shops often inspect twice a year. Autolift has ALI Certified Lift Inspectors on staff who can inspect any lift, regardless of manufacturer, model or age.
What is the heaviest vehicle you can lift?
Our PKS heavy duty lift line reaches capacities up to 640,000 pounds, which covers transit buses, Class 8 trucks, light rail cars and industrial machinery. We size the lift to your fleet's axle loading and wheelbase rather than to a catalogue page.
What lift brands do you carry and service?
We distribute PKS heavy duty lifts, Westmatic vehicle wash systems, Saylor-Beall air compressors, Challenger Lifts, BendPak, Omer Lifts, AC Hydraulics, Balcrank and American Lube lubrication equipment, and Superior bulk storage tanks. We install and service lifts from every manufacturer, including brands we do not distribute.
Can you design a shop, or only install the equipment?
We do both. Autolift has in-house CAD and takes projects from initial planning through bay layouts, building permits, full colour elevations and 3D renderings, then installs the equipment and inspects it every year afterward.
Do you work with transit agencies, school districts and municipal fleets?
Yes. Autolift is a California State Certified Small Business Enterprise and works with public agencies including NCTD, LACMTA and OmniTrans on bus hoist replacement, compressor systems and hydraulic hoist inspection and repair.
Are you licensed and insured?
Yes. Autolift is licensed, bonded and insured for liability. Every installation, inspection and repair is performed by our own employees rather than by subcontractors.
Do you service lifts you did not install?
Yes. A large share of our service and inspection work is on equipment installed by someone else, from every manufacturer.
Tell us what you're working with.
A lift that needs replacing, a bay that needs laying out, or an inspection that's overdue. Send the details and we'll come back with a real answer.