A car collector up in the Iowa Great Lakes region called us two winters ago with a specific plan: he wanted a scissor lift for automotive suspension and shock work in his pole barn, he wanted to store one car on it while he worked on another underneath, and he was torn between buying a new commercial unit or picking up a used dealership lift someone was retiring. He asked us to help him think it through without steering him one way or the other. What follows is his first year with the lift he chose, written up because the same question comes to us five times a month.
New Rotary and Challenger scissors with warranty, install support, and lifetime parts. We also help you evaluate used lifts before you buy.
The used lift he was looking at
A dealership down in Council Bluffs was retiring a 12-year-old Rotary XA12 with maybe 40,000 cycles on it. Cosmetically rough, mechanically probably fine. Asking price was roughly a third of what a new equivalent would deliver. We drove down with him and put the lift through the pre-purchase check we do on every used unit: cylinder rod for pitting, hose bulges under pressure, cable strand condition, leveler valve response, pawl engagement on both columns. It passed everything except the cylinder rods, which had a light rust film that would eventually chew seals. That is a $400 refurb plus labor, on top of the purchase price and freight. He asked us what we would do. We told him honestly that on a scissor lift for automotive personal use, buying new was the safer play unless he could get the seller to fix the rods or drop the price.
Why he ended up buying new
He bought new. A Rotary XA14 delivered to his pole barn with the extended runways so he could put a longer-wheelbase collector car on top. The math was simple: the new lift came with a warranty, a full commissioning, and a service history he could hand to the next owner of the barn. The used lift would have saved him about 55 percent up front but he was already looking at fresh seals in year two, and he did not want to be the guy who bought a lift and then paid the same amount again in maintenance. That decision framework is what we walk every hobbyist through. Used is legitimate if the price is right and the mechanical inspection passes. New is usually the smarter buy for someone who values their time.
The install: two cars on one lift
The barn is a 40 by 60 with 14-foot sidewalls and a 6-inch slab. He wanted to park one collector car on top of the scissor lift for automotive storage overhead and work on a second car underneath. That configuration needs at least 24 inches of ground clearance under the vehicle on top after both cars are in position. A full-rise scissor gives you 74 inches at full extension, which is plenty for a low sports car underneath if the storage car is a coupe. It is tight if the storage car is a lifted pickup and the work car is a full-size sedan. He was storing a first-gen Camaro and working on a modern Corvette, so the geometry worked. We measured every dimension twice before we shipped.
First suspension job: shock replacement on the Corvette
Three weeks after install he did his first shock replacement on the Corvette. Pulled it up onto the lift, cycled to full height, engaged the mechanical locks, and pulled all four wheels. He called us afterward with two comments. First, the lift held steady enough that he had no complaint about working on it. Second, he had never realized how much space a proper full-rise scissor lift for automotive shock work opens up compared to jack stands. The tech difference between working on your back on jack stands and standing upright at your work is not marginal. It is the difference between a two-hour job and a five-hour job, and it is the difference between a job you enjoy and a job you dread.
What broke, what did not, in year one
Nothing broke. He called us four times in the first year: once for a lock-latch adjustment (a five-minute phone fix), once because he thought the lift was drifting down (it was not; he had not engaged the locks properly), once to order a set of pad extenders, and once for the six-month walk-around we schedule with every home install. Zero warranty claims. Zero downtime. That is what you buy when you buy new. It is not just the machine; it is the year-one silence. If a used lift had cost the same, the used lift would have won. Because the used lift needed cylinder rods and freight and a refurb, the new lift won.
What we would tell the next collector
If you are shopping for a scissor lift for automotive collector-garage use, the decision framework is: budget headroom for either purchase price plus install, or purchase price plus refurb. Pick the option that fits your headroom and your patience for downtime. Do not buy a used lift blind. Every used lift we have ever inspected has needed at least one thing. If you cannot inspect it yourself, hire us to inspect it before you write the check. It costs a lot less than the mistake.
Where to start if you are in the same spot
Start with a floor and ceiling measurement, then a vehicle inventory. For more on the used-vs-new decision, read our used lift buying checklist and our home garage clearance guide. For collector-storage layouts specifically, see our two-car storage lift planning notes. We ship anywhere in Iowa and we install ourselves.
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