Choosing between twenty similar-looking jacks is straightforward if you sell them every day, and a good deal harder if you do not. PRESTON is our answer to that — a short guided selector built into the category pages that narrows the range down to the products which actually suit the job in front of you.
It stands for Personal Recommendation & Equipment Selection Tool for Operator Needs. In practice, it is three questions.
How it works
Open a category that has PRESTON and you will find it in the banner at the top of the page. Answer three questions about the work, and it returns the products from that category that match what you have told it.
On Bottle Jacks it asks the heaviest load you need to lift, how you would like to power the jack, and how much clearance you have to get it underneath. On Transmission Lifters it asks what best describes your workshop, how often you would use it, and which vehicles you work on.
Some answers rule products out — ask for 20,000kg and nothing rated below it will be offered. Others weight the result instead of excluding it, so a busy workshop and an occasional user answering the same question are pointed at different gear. It is the reasoning a good rep applies over the counter, available at two in the morning when you are pricing a job.
Answer the three and PRESTON returns the products from that category that fit, ranked, with the answers you gave shown above them so you can see what it worked from. Change one answer and the list changes with it.
Where it is live now
- Bottle Jacks — 21 products in the range
- Transmission Lifters — 12 products in the range
Rolling out one category at a time
We are adding PRESTON category by category rather than switching it on everywhere at once, and that is deliberate. Each set of questions has to be written against the actual range — what matters when choosing a workshop press is not what matters when choosing a parts washer — and then checked against every product in that category so the recommendations hold up. Done properly that takes time per category. Done quickly it would send you the wrong jack, which is worse than no selector at all.
Fifteen further categories are prepared and working through that process, among them Garage Jacks, Workshop Presses & Accessories, Trolleys & Creepers, Vices & Anvils, Engine Stands & Supports and Parts Washers. Where you see a PRESTON card marked Coming soon on a category page, that one is on its way.
Tell us how it does
PRESTON is only as good as the questions behind it. If it points you at something that does not suit the job, or misses an obvious option, tell us — that feedback goes straight into the next revision.
In the meantime you can find your nearest stockist, browse the product guides, or subscribe to our newsletter for new releases and trade-only promotions.