Sourcing standards
Every factual claim on this site falls into one of three categories, and we mark which:
- A sourced figure. A specification from a manufacturer or an authoritative listing, linked at the point we use it. If you cannot see where a number came from, that is a defect — tell us.
- An editorial judgment. Our reasoning on top of those figures — which tool suits which buyer, why we rank one above another. Labeled as ours, with the rubric published at how we review.
- A stated absence. Where a figure is not published, we say so rather than estimating. An incomplete honest table beats a complete invented one.
Claims we will never make
This is a commitment rather than a preference. None of the following will appear on this site:
| We will not say | Because |
|---|---|
| “We tested”, “in our testing”, “after six months in our garage” | No testing was done, and no test rig exists |
| Any measured figure we did not take | That is fabrication, however plausible the number |
| Star ratings or review counts | We have no rating data source at all |
| A specific price, or a saving | No live price feed — every price reads “Check price on Amazon” |
| Certifications, licenses or years of experience for the author | None exist, and inventing one is the easiest claim for anyone to falsify |
| A product identifier we have not verified | A wrong identifier sends a reader to the wrong product |
| “Guaranteed safe”, “will never fail”, “100% safe” | Safety absolutes we cannot stand behind, on a site about not being crushed by a car |
| Fabricated testimonials or customer quotes | There is no version of this that is acceptable |
What we say instead
| Instead of | We write |
|---|---|
| “We tested this jack” | “Its published lift range is 3.78 in to 18.9 in, per Arcan's specification” (with the link) |
| “It's rated 4.6 stars” | “Check current buyer feedback on Amazon” |
| “$89” | “Check price on Amazon” |
| “The best jack stands” | “The best jack stands for a first home-garage setup” — the claim qualified to a buyer |
| “This is safe” | “The manufacturer states this meets ASME safety standards” (with the link) |
Independence
No brand pays for placement on this site. No manufacturer reviews a page before it publishes, is given a right of reply before publication, or is consulted on rankings. Nobody has ever sent us a product, because we have never asked for one — and if that changes, the page will say so plainly at the top.
Commission rates do not influence rankings. Where a manufacturer sells direct and we earn nothing from that link, we include it anyway and label it as non-earning, so you can compare.
Corrections policy
We will get things wrong. Specifications get revised, products get discontinued, and sometimes we will simply read a number incorrectly. When that happens:
- Report it to contact@jackandtorque.com. Specification challenges get read first.
- We check it against the source, not against our memory of the source.
- A factual error gets a visible correction on the page — a dated note saying what was wrong and what it now says. Not a silent edit.
- The last-reviewed date is updated, which is what that date is for.
A silent edit to a factual error is how a site launders its own mistakes. We would rather carry the correction.
Discontinued products
When a product we recommend is discontinued, we replace it rather than leaving a recommendation you cannot act on. We verify current availability before including anything, and re-verify on review — the TEKTON 24335, widely recommended elsewhere, is absent from this site precisely because TEKTON lists it as no longer available.
Safety content
Safety guidance here is written from published manufacturer instructions and the applicable standard — ASME PASE for portable automotive lifting equipment — and from the specific points that are genuinely confusing the first time. It is stated calmly and once, not as a repeated warning banner, because a warning repeated twenty times is a warning nobody reads.
Where a procedure has a step that is genuinely dangerous to get wrong, we say what goes wrong rather than only saying "be careful".
On automated writing
Every page here is reviewed by a person against its cited sources before it publishes, and the byline names that person. Where a figure appears, somebody followed the link. That is the standard we hold ourselves to regardless of how a first draft came about, and it is the standard the corrections policy above enforces.
Related
- How we review — the method and the scoring rubric
- Affiliate disclosure — how the site is funded
- About — who writes this