Best Mechanic's Creepers (Review & Buying Guide) in 2023

May 16, 2023

Don't get too down and dirty. Even your work spot should have its own wheels.

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Getting down and dirty is part of a wrench's lifestyle, but a great mechanic's creeper will keep you off the grimy floor and closer to your task. Mechanics creepers — also referred to as dollies or shop creepers — are invaluable goodies for any garage, no matter how small the jobs. Smooth rollers help you scoot in and out, while its elevated backrest keeps you clean. Or, well, as clean as you’re going to get working under your project, or in my case, a RADwood-era Nissan with a nasty habit of sweating oil. It's a dense market, so how do you spot the right one?

Enter The Drive's guide to the best mechanics creepers on sale today. From budget-minded plastic trays on wheels to elaborate bundle sets and folding dollies, we’ve got a product for you. So scroll on through, happy shopping, and take a gander at your next mechanics creeper.

BIG RED AR7565B Torin Rolling Shop Creeper

Pittsburgh Automotive Low-Profile Creeper

Creepex Fastback PRO

Best Overall: BIG RED AR7565B Torin Rolling Shop Creeper

Best Value: Pittsburgh Low-Profile Creeper

Honorable Mention: Creepex Fastback PRO

Best Folding: JEGS 2-In-1 Folding Creeper and Z-Seat

Best Combo Set: JEGS Low-Profile Creeper and Mechanic Seat Set

Best For Low Cars: Pro Lift Plastic Creeper

This buyers guide to the best shop creepers has been primarily curated through extensive research, with methodical dives into manufacturer specs and, most importantly, real-world consumer experiences. We emphasized overall quality and usability while ignoring products with rampant build-quality issues or little-to-no consumer feedback. Amazon functioned as our primary hub of information. However, other major retailers such as JEGS, Harbor Freight, and numerous manufacturer sites also proved to be invaluable sources of specs and customer input.

As always, readers are welcome to come and learn more about how The Drive curates its buyers guides and product reviews.

Best Overall

Best Value

Honorable Mention

Best Folding Creeper

Best Creeper Combo Set

Best For Low Cars

The BIG RED AR7565B Torin is a solid winner for its well-roundedness and appreciable versatility. It has earned itself great reception for its combination of quality and usability in a small, reconfigurable package. If you’re willing to sling some serious dough, the Creepex Fastback PRO will reward remarkable durability, strength, and ability to traverse the bumpiest garage floors. Conversely, the Pittsburgh Low-Profile Creeper is a cheap and cheerful choice for the frugal-minded home mechanic.

When we start shopping for tools and products, we never overlook the secondhand market. In fact, it's usually the first place I look. Whether you’re scrolling through Amazon's Renewed section, eBay for car parts or tools, or flipping through the pages of Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist, you have hundreds of thousands of used tools, parts, and gear ready to be shipped to your doorstep. Refurbished to like-new status, they’ll be willing to give you many more years of faithful service all while saving you money.

If those options don't have what you need, your local salvage yard is great for car parts, while swap meets are a great resource you should tap. Just Google either and head on down.

To make your secondhand search easier, here are two tips for finding the best deals and making sure your new-to-you stuff wasn't destroyed by the previous owner.

How many wheels or casters do they have, and how big are they? It seems like the simplest detail to wheeled slabs, such as shop creepers, but the finer details can make or break products. More wheels or casters better distribute weight, improving longevity and reducing flex. Larger wheels and casters can traverse over trash and broken flooring with little hindrance. While wheels can be made larger for zipping right over rocks or electrical cords, casters allow for 360-degree rotation so you can easily scoot in any direction. Most creepers will choose rotating casters over basic wheels.

This is probably the first thing you’ll notice when taking a gander at any shop creeper online. Half of the products available may be bare plastic in a bid to improve compactness and keep costs down, but this allows manufacturers to get creative.

Many shop creepers are contoured to better fit the body, complete with dips for shoulders. Some backrests may be flanked with niceties like bolt trays or built-in work lights. Padded creepers will often be straight and basic in their design but may use memory foam extensively to improve comfort. Depending on each user's body, chances are these will be the most comfortable for prolonged stints underneath your fixer-upper. Just mind the metal bars of the frame.

Is your creeper a static slab, or does it have a degree of flexibility? Unique designs that are increasingly popular allow users to sit at an incline to reach higher points in their undercarriage more comfortably. Some can completely transform into miniature chairs and shop stools when working elsewhere under the car. Adding extra moving parts could arguably compromise build quality, but many folding shop creepers are no less reliable than their fixed counterparts, at least in the hands of the weekend home mechanic.

As far as garage goodies go, mechanics creepers are far from the most expensive things you could buy. Expect the most premium, high-quality creepers to hover between $70 to $150, increasing with strength, ergonomics, and sometimes the number of gimmicks. The JEGS Low-Profile creeper typically runs about $80, but the featured bundle deal can be yours for $165. The unique Creepex creeper is a heartache-inducing $245. Our Best Overall-winning BIG RED typically stickers for a reasonable $64 before Amazon sales discounts and our Best Value-winning Pittsburgh rings in a far more palatable $40 from Harbor Freight.

You’ve got questions. The Drive has answers.

A: Creepers let you easily slide in and out from under your car to quickly access work points without dragging yourself along the floor, dirtying up your clothes. Some designs even incline to reach higher points comfortably or fold into seats for working inside wheel wells, for example.

A: Low-profile creepers, making up a sizable chunk of the market, are highly prevalent. They’re defined by incredibly low ride heights with minimal ground clearance for giving you that extra inch or two to squeeze underneath most modern cars. Some may be padded, but most are contoured plastic.

A: Best practice would be to stand them up in corners where they won't be knocked over or inhibit your work environment. Many creepers will have a grab handle, enabling you to hang them on wall-mounted storage hooks, keeping them off the floor and preventing them from being a tripping hazard.

Our reviews are driven by a combination of hands-on testing, expert input, "wisdom of the crowd" assessments from actual buyers, and our own expertise. We always aim to offer genuine, accurate guides to help you find the best picks.