There's some metal halide lamps at my stepfather's car dealership that are out. Before he rents a bucket truck to replace them, is there a way to tell from the ground what kind of lamps we need? There's no NEMA tags or any identification on the floodlights.

The only way to really tell if u can see thought it. With visual aid if possable. To see if lamp have a starting resistor or not present.  And Two is looking at arc tube to determin the wattage? Pretty much u cant tell by lamp shape now days due to cram lamp.  Arc tube in a smaller lamp package.

There's some metal halide lamps at my stepfather's car dealership that are out. Before he rents a bucket truck to replace them, is there a way to tell from the ground what kind of lamps we need? There's no NEMA tags or any identification on the floodlights.

Do you have binoculars? You can maybe look into it and see how large the lamps are. If the lamps aren't exploded, you probably will be able to tell what the lamps are. Most likely they will be 400 or 1000w. 1000w lamps always have the knob on the end of them, while most newer 400w lamps have an ED shape. If the fixtures aren't pulse start, you can just put in coated  lamps which are cheaper, cause less ballast losses, and will last much longer than the metal halide lamps, saving you from renting a lift more often

I could probably take pictures if people here would have some idea. There's two big fixtures and two small fixtures. The large ones have one big bulb with a knob and one smaller one (wondering if this is a "cram lamp" or is mislamped, but it's the only one working), the small fixtures have vertical lamps and are smaller without a knob. The four fixtures light an area about the size of a gasoline station. I'm pretty sure these are probe start metal halide.

I could probably take pictures if people here would have some idea. There's two big fixtures and two small fixtures. The large ones have one big bulb with a knob and one smaller one (wondering if this is a "cram lamp" or is mislamped, but it's the only one working), the small fixtures have vertical lamps and are smaller without a knob. The four fixtures light an area about the size of a gasoline station. I'm pretty sure these are probe start metal halide.

From the way you described it, the large fixtures are probably 1000w. If you can, please take some pictures of them and I can probably tell you what wattage they are.

I posted photos in my Misc Gallery, and the consensus seems to be that they're BT37 and BT56 1000 watt probe start metal halide.

As for replacements- Plusrite, PLT, Sylvania, GE or Philips? Any opinions or are they all about the same.

I posted photos in my Misc Gallery, and the consensus seems to be that they're BT37 and BT56 1000 watt probe start metal halide.

As for replacements- Plusrite, PLT, Sylvania, GE or Philips? Any opinions or are they all about the same.

All of them are 1kw. I suggested lamps that you use in the comments I added.