If you own a car, you just have to have an automobile floor jack in your maintenance toolkit. Most times car manufacturers provide a specific jack with the cars they produce, but you may lose or break it or even not get it at all if you buy a used vehicle. Different automotive floor jacks are suited for different types of vehicles, that is why you should be very careful when choosing one for your car to be safe.

What an automotive jack basically do is raising up a part of a car. Car owners often used it when changing a tire, but there a lot of other ways of using it. As usual a car jack can lift only a part of a car (a corner, for example), but there are some specialized jacks which are able to raise the entire back or front of the car if needed.

The most popular type of automotive jacks which are provided by car manufacturers is a scissor jack. Here the central screw mechanism is used to raise and lower the car jack. You can use a tire tool or a specialized handle (if you have got one in addition to your car jack) to turn the mechanism.

For lifting trucks and other large vehicles you have to use specialized jacks, fitted with a large flat base plate, ratcheting mechanism and a long shaft with large teeth.

Hydraulic automotive jacks are very popular as well. You can find both wheeled and non-wheeled hydraulic jack models.

Automobile mechanics often use big automotive floor jacks, which roll under a car, at their shops. The entire front or back of a vehicle can be raised up with the help of such a jack.

Every automotive floor jack has safety features to prevent from accidents. A wide base prevents the jack from sinking into the soil or tilting. A special handle is another step to secure a car owner, although several types of jacks can be operated with a tire removal tool. There is a stop point on a jack, which is why you cannot extend it beyond the given level.

When travelling on your car you'd better have an automobile jack at hand. With a car jack you can quickly and easily change a tire in a situation when there is no one to help you or when you think that calling for assistance will be too expensive. Surely, you can use the tool for any other task (like changing brake pads, belts, oil) if you like to do all the maintenance by your own. Taking all the above into consideration one can tell without doubt that a car jack is a very helpful tool which every car owner should have.