How to Start an Auto Body Shop: the Equipment List

The lines in this list

The VICO equipment lines are lifts, straightening, panel repair and prep, the paint booth, and alignment and tire service. Together they are the range a supplier like VICO provides as a complete body shop line.

Lifts

The documented lift in the range is a clear-floor two-post lift: it lifts 4,000 kg to 1,850 mm, with a 120 mm minimum height and a 2,500 mm pass width. The lift's full data sheet is published on its page. The range also lists a two-post plate-model variant, a four-post model, on-ground and in-ground maintenance scissor lifts, two mid-rise scissor lifts, a scissor lift in in-ground installation, a motorcycle lift and the alignment scissor lift — with the documented clear-floor two-post above, ten lift models in all.

Straightening

The straightening line: the frame machines and benches of the VF series — the benches, the full-lift platforms, the three listed puller formats and the heavy machine, each listed by name. The documented bench, the VF6000, records a scissor lift working height of 120–1,700 mm and a pulling tower that travels a full 360° on a ring rail. Benches and pullers across the range are supplied from one set, with each model's specification confirmed on quotation. The range lists fifteen VF models in all, from the VF6000 bench and the puller formats to the heavy machine. The puller formats are the VF1100 in-ground puller, the VF3100 anchor puller and the VF2100 portable puller. The VF9000 is the heavy machine in the same series: it records an 11,800 mm platform, 245 kN of post tension and a 20-tonne maximum lift capacity.

Panel repair and prep

Dent pullers and spot welders — the models are listed by name, the VDP-8900 intelligent spot welder and the VSW-13000 double-side resistance spot welder among them — a MIG welder from the seven-model VMW list (the VMW-270, VMW-270AL, VMW-315N, VMW-315S, VMW-5250T, VMW-6270T and VMW-6315T), and an infrared curing lamp from the VBL series, which is listed by head count — from the single-head VBL-1D to the six-head VBL-6DA.

The paint booth

The paint booth line: a car paint booth. The documented SD98 cabin measures 6,900 × 3,900 × 2,650 mm and moves 30,000 m³/h through twin 7.5 kW fans. The booth cost breakdown sets out the parts that guide works through — cabin, airflow, heating, filtration, freight and installation. Its recorded heating is a 200 kW stainless heat exchanger with a Riello G20 diesel burner, to a maximum bake temperature of 80 °C. Its filtration is recorded by name: a G3 pre-filter, a ceiling filter of 600G EU5/F5 class, a floor fibreglass filter, and an exhaust fibreglass and carbon filter. The other five SD models are the SD88 Big Window, the SD78, the SD68, the SD58 and the SD55 Economic.

Alignment and tire service

The alignment and tire service lines: a wheel alignment system, a tire changer and a wheel balancer. The alignment system published in full is the VWA-YT-L9, recorded with camber measurement to ±0.02° over a ±10° range and toe measurement to ±0.02° over a ±20° range. The documented changer, the VTC-YK860, records outside clamping from 9″ to 22″ and inside clamping from 12″ to 24″, and a bead-breaking force of 2,500 kg. The changer range lists four models: the VTC-YK860, the VTC-YK850, the VTC-YK850A and the VTC-YK850B. The two balancer models are the VTB-YK520 and the VTB-YK510.

Supporting cast

The range behind this list, for the record: the equipment lines run from paint booths and frame machines through car lifts, wheel alignment systems, tire changers and balancers, dent pullers and spot welders, to infrared curing lamps. Most machines start from a minimum order of one set; small accessories run from 10 to 100 sets. Payment can be arranged by T/T, L/C, credit card or PayPal — with D/P and Western Union also recorded on the company's platform terms — and shipments move on EXW, FOB, CFR, CIF, DDU or DDP terms.

Beyond the eight equipment lines, the published record for the range is the supply terms themselves: the minimum order quantities above, the recorded nearest port — Qingdao Port — and the payment and trade terms listed in this section. The company's recorded export markets put North America first, at 36% of export share, ahead of South America and Northern Europe. The sections in this list are the equipment lines; what a given premises needs around them sits outside the equipment list. Machines across the range are tested before delivery, as the company's published service record states.

Layout support, recorded for the range

Complete body shop layout support — matching booth, benches, lifts and alignment equipment to the space — is part of the service VICO offers, from a floor plan. Equipment across the range starts from one set, and the average lead time is around 15 days before dispatch, confirmed model by model on quotation.

The figures behind the list

The machines in each bay, with the figures published for them: the two-post lift's 4,000 kg and 1,850 mm, the VF6000's 120–1,700 mm working height and 360° tower travel, the SD98's 30,000 m³/h and 80 °C bake, the YK860's outside clamping of 9″–22″ and inside clamping of 12″–24″, and its 2,500 kg bead-breaking force. The L9 alignment system adds its own published table: camber to ±0.02° over ±10° and toe to ±0.02° over ±20°, a post 2,760 mm high and packing in three packages of 1.8 cbm. The equipment side of this list is the models above, each specified on its own quotation.