Auto Lift Services is an available lift vendor Des Moines Iowa fleet managers, public works directors, and procurement officers can call for ALI-certified vehicle lifts, turnkey installation, preventive maintenance, and warranty service. We are based in Ames, roughly 35 miles north of downtown Des Moines on I-35, which puts our install crews and service technicians inside a same-day drive of every municipal shop in Polk County. This page explains what we supply, how we quote against cooperative purchasing contracts, and how a Des Moines department can request pricing.
Who this page is for
If you are a fleet supervisor, garage foreman, capital improvements planner, or a buyer inside the City of Des Moines procurement office, you are the reader we wrote this for. A municipal capital purchase for a vehicle lift is not the same transaction as a retail sale. You need documented ALI certification, published capacity ratings, an installation crew that carries the right insurance, a written warranty you can attach to a purchase order, and a vendor who will still answer the phone in year seven. As a lift vendor Des Moines Iowa departments can add to a bid list, we structure our quotes and paperwork to those expectations.
Equipment we supply for a typical city fleet mix
Des Moines runs a full-spectrum municipal fleet: police patrol vehicles, fire administrative and command units, parks and recreation trucks, building inspection cars, transit support vehicles, sanitation equipment, and street maintenance rigs. We stock and install the lift categories that cover that range.
- Two-post lifts from 10,000 to 18,000 lb for patrol cars, pickups, and light service trucks.
- Four-post lifts from 14,000 to 40,000+ lb for alignment work, storage, and heavier chassis.
- Mobile column lifts in 18,800 lb per column and heavier ratings for sanitation trucks, street sweepers, fire apparatus, and articulated equipment. For those heavy classes we lean on Rotary heavy-duty, Mohawk, and PKS lines.
- Mid-rise scissor and inground lifts where the bay footprint does not tolerate a two-post.
ALI certification is not optional for a city purchase
Every lift we quote to a municipal buyer is ALI-certified, which means it has been third-party tested by an independent lab against ANSI/ALI ALCTV. The gold ALI label on the lift is what your risk manager and OSHA inspector will look for. When we send a formal quote to Des Moines, we attach the certification documentation and, where relevant, the ALI Lifting It Right operator materials, so your file is complete on day one.
Iowa DAS Master Agreement and cooperative purchasing
We stay current on how Iowa municipalities actually buy this equipment. Iowa DAS Master Agreements, Sourcewell, NASPO ValuePoint, TIPS, and OMNIA Partners are all common paths for a lift purchase, and every one of the manufacturers we represent participates in at least one of those programs. If Des Moines wants to piggyback on a cooperative contract, we can pull the awarded pricing sheet, quote the equivalent line items, and attach the cooperative reference number to the proposal so your legal review moves quickly.
Installation response from Ames
Our installation base is in Ames, which is a straight I-35 shot to Des Moines. That proximity matters more than it sounds. We do not have to build a hotel stay into your install quote, we can schedule half-day site visits for pre-installation surveys, and if a lift throws a code six months after commissioning we can be on-site the same week. As a local lift vendor Des Moines Iowa shops can rely on, we handle the anchoring, electrical hookup coordination with your facility team, commissioning under load, and operator orientation before we leave.
Warranty and post-installation service
Every new lift ships with the manufacturer warranty in writing, and we back it with in-house service technicians who carry manufacturer training on the brands we sell. Cable replacements, hydraulic seal work, safety-lock adjustments, and annual ALI-style inspections are all handled by our own team, not subcontracted out. That single point of accountability is a large part of why we position ourselves as a long-term lift vendor Des Moines Iowa departments can standardize on rather than a one-off order taker.
Sample equipment scenarios
A police fleet shop typically ends up with a mix of 12,000 and 15,000 lb two-post lifts for patrol Tahoes and pickups, plus an alignment-rated four-post if the department does its own tie rod and camber work. A public works or streets garage that services dump trucks and sweepers is a mobile column customer, usually a set of four or six columns rated per-column for the heaviest axle load in the fleet. A parks shop with mowers, UTVs, and one-tons is a good candidate for a mid-rise scissor plus a light-duty two-post. We build the quote around the actual vehicle list, not a generic package.
How to request a quote
Send us your vehicle list, bay dimensions (ceiling height, column-to-column width, floor slab thickness if known), and any cooperative contract you want us to price against. We will respond with a line-item quote, ALI certification packet, installation timeline, and warranty summary. Product hubs to browse first: 2-post lifts, 4-post lifts, mobile column lifts, and our full services list. Background reading: Iowa municipal vehicle lift vendor and Iowa city fleet lift vendor.
Talk to us
To open a quote, add us to a bid list, or schedule a walk-through of a Des Moines municipal shop, call Auto Lift Services at 800-674-9302. We answer the phone, we know the equipment, and we are close enough to help.
Our Clients Include: