I'm moving my 2012 Prius to Florida for seasonal family vacation home use. For summer on-site storage, I need to keep the underbody of the car around 20-24 inches above the garage floor. The car has little value. I do not want to buy a lift that costs more than the car. Ramps would be easy, but I would need to make custom ramps of 16-20 inches and in multi-piece segments in order to clear the underbody of the back wheels when driving up. Lifts generally would cost more than the car. I don't think I can fit a ramp with lift under the Prius's back wheels. And I fear it would be too complicated for others to use. An ideal solution would be a ramp platform, but I need to find one and account for the bottom of the car car clearing the corner at drive-over height. This results in a very long required drive-up ramp to the platform. My idea of an ideal solution would be a platform you drive onto and then pivots under the car weight to go from slanted to level. while still being light enough to move and store in season. ..... This is cool, but it is probably heavy and unafordable Ramps | Podium Car Display Ramps for car dealership I can figure out how to make use of loading ramps on some way like these: Stalwart Set of Two 69-Inch Loading Ramps with 2200lb Combined Capacity - Walmart.com Or a large platform that sits propped up at 20-inches in the front the car drive onto. Then I use a single jack to lift the back and put stands under the two back corners. Has anyone in the south solved this? What are your suggestions?
Why not build a ramp and false floor for the garage space? Just set up a deck at the correct height, build some ramps that lead up to it. Maybe even just make that a permanent feature of the garage? Done right it would work for any car, not just the current one, and it still wouldn't be that expensive.
Jack stands on all fours, raMPs off balances the car and pressure points Off to the front or back is no good
the best answer would be car lift ramps like this, but I can't find any, and I suspect that this is a several thousand dollar solution (No accessories that cost more than the value of the car), not a few hundred dollar solution. The basic design you see in the picture above is that the ramp pivots on one side. You drive onto it and then use a jack to lift the front end and drop down the supporting feet that hold the front side up. though it may be possible to rig up something of equivalent utility using 3000 lbs rated loading ramps combined with other bits and pieces. And to add to the requirements, my can't-follow-instructions; love-to-complain; forgot-details-are-important boomer parents need to be able to operate the solution in my absence. Anything with more than one step in the process is an issue.
How sure are you about this? Is this going to to be gradual welling of water, or could there be a sudden surge? The numbers are based on historical data? Would there be room on the property for a raised berm with a ramp, and maybe a tent-port?
My observation is that we have not had more than 16 inches of water above slab height (except for the big hurricane three years ago, but this a different type of problem). This level of surge flooding occurred twice last season. Target height for the garage slab is to get the car 20-24 inches off the garage slab based on short term location specific observation. Prius clearance height is already 4 inches, so I'm probably looking for 18-20 inches in a solution. And yes, I realize that in the absence of any other solution, I could use concrete blocks ($1 each) and loading ramps $200-ish if the car won't bottom out on drive-over transition.
