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Car dollies make life easier for vehicle and shop owners in many ways. It allows you to move a car or store it without turning the motor on. This is great if a car is still being repaired or is a vintage car with a temperamental motor. Other times, you can angle the car in a particular way so that you can access hard-to-reach places or use larger tools. If you have multiple cars tightly packed into a garage, car dollies will allow you to move them around in clever ways to make the most of the space you have.
But of course, not all car dollies are the same, and you get what you pay for. It obviously needs to support the weight of the vehicle, but there are different dollies for different size vehicles. It needs to be durable, but also have smooth rolling abilities. You’ll want to consider the sizes and types of vehicles that you’ll be moving around to get the right dollies for the job. Some also have brakes that are lockable. This is helpful if you plan on leaving a vehicle in one place for a long time or if you know that your workspace is not completely level. Otherwise, you might not need to spend more for dollies with brakes.
There are typically two types of car dollies available: standard and hydraulic. The standard type requires you to jack the car up before sliding them under the wheels. Hydraulic dollies lift the car up and allow you to wheel it around. Budget and needs will help determine which of the following car dollies are right for you.
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Best For Heavy Lifting
Best For Heavy Lifting
Red Hound Tire Skates
The Red Hound tire skates check pretty much all the boxes. Featuring ball-bearing wheels and axles, they move smoothly. Their 1,500-pound per wheel capacity is competitive with other dollies in its class and enough to move around even pickups and old Detroit land yachts. The steel plates are powder-coated to minimize tire slippage. They have brakes, too, to help keep them static when not in use. The only things keeping the Red Hounds from being perfect are the polycarbonate wheels (prone to wear and breakage in a way that solid steel would not be), reports from owners that the wheels tend to get stuck in cracks separating concrete slabs and some customers saying their skates arrived with parts missing.
Best Hydraulic Dolly
Best Hydraulic Dolly
GoJak Model G6313
The hydraulic dolly system is great because you don’t need a jack to lift the vehicle. In fact, it’s even easier than that with the GoJak Model G6313, as you just need to use the foot pedals to lift the vehicle. It squeezes the tire to lift each corner, and it has a weight rating of 6,600 pounds. It is designed for tires that are up to 13 inches wide, which will cover most common wheels, but not some wheels of high-performance vehicles. These are on the pricey side, and speaking of sides, you have to buy the left and right sets individually.
Best Dolly For Lighter Vehicles
Best Dolly For Lighter Vehicles
Stark USA Dolly Tire Skates
Sometimes simple is best and these dollies are about as straightforward as you can get. Even smaller vehicles these days are getting a bit heavy (a 2023 Toyota Corolla weighs around 3,000 pounds), so the fact that the combined dollies can hold up to 4,000 pounds is almost a necessity these days. These dollies each feature universal wheels so they are easy to replace, and each features a helpful carry handle for transport and storage. The only downside is they come in sets of two, but at their low price point (roughly $90 per set), you can afford to double down and get the whole set!
Best For Multiple Vehicles
Best For Multiple Vehicles
Dragway Tools Hydraulic Positioning Dolly
There are a number of different hydraulic dollies that we could have chosen, but what makes the Dragaway Tools product unique is its expanding capability. It can handle wheels from 12 inches to 22 inches and each dolly can hold up to 1,500 pounds for a combined 6,000-pound capacity. That will handle most cars and small SUVs. It has an affordable price given its capability and it has a solid, rugged construction. There are some downsides, like the quality of the pedal construction, and the fact that these dollies do not have brakes. But since you’ve eliminated the need for a jack and it can handle multiple vehicles, a simple chock should be able to handle this.
Best Low-Cost Option
Best Low-Cost Option
Red Hound Auto Mega Push Skates
We’ve already crowned a best-overall set of dollies, but these are notable to the point where we could not pass them up. It’s hard to beat a set of dollies for $158 and these have a combined weight capacity of 6,000 pounds. Each plate is 15.75 inches wide, 12 inches long and has 3-inch diameter wheels. Each of the dollies has two foot-activated locks per unit, which is more than what some pricier options offer. Each dolly weighs barely 6 pounds, which makes them incredibly easy to lift and store.
All car dollies have a universal purpose. They’re designed to support a set amount of weight and move at a relatively slow pace. The differences between them have to do with how you achieve the motion and how easy they are to operatem, but materials, weight limits, price, practicality and quality of construction can vary greatly.
We evaluate all car dollies based on these weighted metrics:
Car dollies are devices that fit under and around a tire. They are on caster-type wheels and allow a vehicle to be turned and moved while not under its own power. It is useful so that one or more people can reposition a car easily in a confined space. Think of it like a skateboard with caster wheels for moving vehicles.
For a standard set of dollies, you need to lift the vehicle with a jack and then the dollies are slid under each of the wheels. If you spring for a hydraulic dolly setup, the dollies themselves lift the vehicle up and then you can move it around.
Yes, most dollies can bear the weight of a vehicle for a long time. There are some caveats, however. First, you’ll want to get dollies with brakes that can be set so that there’s no way for the dollies to move around without human interference. Second, leaving a vehicle on dollies for a long time is a surefire way to distort the tires. If you’re restoring a vehicle and need to leave the body on dollies for a while, use old tires you don’t care about.
Prices vary by manufacturer, weight capability and features. That said, a set of four will likely cost around $1,000.
The best car dollies are based on your budget and specific needs. Consider the weight and size of the vehicle, how often you plan on moving or removing the dollies and, finally, if you will be using multiple vehicles on these dollies. If you plan on using them for different vehicles, plan for the largest type of vehicle that you might use it for.
A car-crazy California kid, I’ve been writing and talking about vehicles for 25 years on TV and radio, in print and online, including AAA magazines in Arizona, Oklahoma, Northwest Ohio, South Dakota and the Mountain West, as well as BBC Autos. I serve as vice president of the Western Automotive Journalists, a professional group for automotive writers based in San Francisco, and have no relation to McKeel Hagerty of Hagerty Classic Insurance, who is younger, better looking and wealthier.
George Kennedy has reviewed cars and provided car advice for outlets such as Consumer Reports, CarGurus, U.S. News & World Report, the Boston Globe, AutoBlog and others. He is the managing editor for UpShift, the official publication of the Larz Anderson Auto Museum in Brookline, Massachusetts. George has owned multiple future-classics before they were collectible, including a 1986 Toyota 4Runner, an XJ Jeep Cherokee and a two-door Chevy Tahoe.