About the Lift Garage

The Lift Garage team

The Mission of The Lift is Simple

Repair Cars. But, It’s Much More Than That

The Lift Garage is an affordable, non-profit auto repair service for all Minnesotans who meet the 150% Federal Poverty Guideline. When faced with an unexpected car repair, The Lift customers simply cannot afford market-rate repairs. Customers at The Lift pay $15/hour for labor and receive the parts at cost.

Our Mission Statement

The Lift Garage offers people a vehicle out of poverty by:

  • Providing low-cost quality car repair,
  • Connecting with community partners to strengthen the support network; and
  • Linking customers with needed resources.

Our Vision

As a thriving not-for-profit business, The Lift Garage offers quality, affordable auto repair for people who are on a path to a better future.

Everyone connected with The Lift Garage is committed to respect one another, to quality in our work, and a living wage for our employees.

Our friendly and hospitable staff offer people excellent customer service. We stand behind our repairs and the skills of our staff.

Our well-kept garage and offices are furnished with the tools and equipment we need to do the job right.

As a locally owned business, we work hard to be a good neighbor. When we make decisions, we ask: What is best for the people involved? What is best for our community? What is best for the health of the planet?

We go the extra mile for customers. If a car repair is too big for us or a customer has another important need, we do our best to connect people with helpful resources in our community.

Each day, the people of The Lift Garage feel thankful. We know that, together, we are repairing not just cars, but lives: restoring hope and opportunity by helping people get to school and to jobs as an important step toward a more promising and secure future.

Our Values

Excellence

In all we do, we hold ourselves to the highest standards. We are committed to continuous learning and improvement.

Respect

We recognize the dignity of all people. We offer others—and ourselves—patience, kindness, openness and forgiveness. We take responsibility for our actions.

Opportunity

We support each other – our customers and their families, our colleagues, the community, the environment, and ourselves in building a better life.

Justice

We build and maintain equity through our work and our relationships with customers, employees, the environment, and the community.

The Lift Garage’s Story

“Someone should do something about this…”


Working with people experiencing homelessness, longtime social worker Cathy Heying repeatedly saw how devastating the prohibitive cost of commercial car repair could be. In a domino effect, people who couldn’t afford to get their cars fixed couldn’t get to work and so lost their jobs. Without jobs, they lacked the money to pay for housing and ended up in shelter.

It was also evident that many people who could not afford the cost of commercial car repair, felt that they equally could not afford to stop driving some very dangerous vehicles. Too often they spent a bleak Minnesota winter living in cars without brakes or heat.

Cathy went back to school to earn a degree in auto technology. In April 2013, with board members, donors, and volunteers to back her, The Lift opened for one day a week with one repair bay and one volunteer mechanic. Since opening our doors, support from our community has made it possible to greatly expand the services we provide. In 2018 we moved to our current location and now have 5 repair bays and a growing team of technicians.

Cathy in garage.

2006 Cathy begins to form the idea of The Lift Garage

2013 The Lift serves its first customer

2017 The Lift grows to fix nearly 300% more repairs

2018 The Lift grows into a new space at Lake/Hiawatha

Our Services

Man inspecting inside hood of car.

Inspections & Repairs

We provide free inspections (by appointment only!) focused on the safety and drivability issues with the car. After the inspection, we will write an estimate for the low-cost car repairs that we can offer.

Lift Garage Van

Mobile Van Inspections

Our mobile van does pre-inspections for broken down vehicles within the Twin Cities metro area. Our goal is to help inform the customer if the car is worth towing to the shop for the full inspection – if we can’t help fix the car, we don’t want the customer to pay for a tow!

Man working inside a garage.

Express Services

Every Friday from 10:00am to 12:00pm, The Lift provides walk-in (first come, first served) Express Services. We can check and top off fluids, check and replace bulbs/headlights, check and replace wiper blades and even test and replace your battery.

Reports & Finances