We have been thrown into the world of handicapped vans. Wow they are a specialized vehicle! I realize that I am stating the obvious for most, however the methods of obtaining one of these equipped automobiles is quite the challenge. Yes, you can go to a handicapped van dealer and pick out one off the lot, and depending on what you select, you’ll spend anywhere between $25,000 (used, low end) to $ 60,000+ on a new one.
Let me back up a bit:
When Hannah got her first wheelchair, I ordered an EZ-ACCESS manual ramp, removed the middle row bench seat and installed the ramp in the 2002 Dodge Grand Caravan Sport that we had purchased the year before Hannah was born. At the time, the aluminum ramp cost approximately $900 and even though I never checked on a power equivalent - I knew money had been saved at the expense of having to manually put the ramp up and down. Now years later, the ramp has served us fairly well - I say that because Cheri has broken her hand in the last year while unfolding it to get Hannah out at a therapy appointment.
Hannah has recently gotten a new wheelchair, which is her third one to date. The new chair is taller than the two previous, which makes getting in and out of the otherwise unmodified van quite a challenge. The problem is there is very little roof clearance when approaching the top of the ramp - which makes it a challenge maneuvering the chair into the center of the van.
So, I knew the inevitable had been put off as long as possible (too long actually - because Cheri shouldn’t of had to handle that thing with her with existing back problems). The boys would do the work when they were with her, but all of Hannah’s doctor appointments and therapies are during school hours.
The search begins…
The first thing I did was probably the wrong move - however it did turn out ok in our situation, which I will explain to hopefully help others that might find themselves in a similar situation.
Without doing a single bit of research on modified vans, we headed to a new car dealership in hopes to find just the right vehicle for conversion. Here lies the mistake: Most car dealers no little to nothing about equipping a stock vehicle with a wheelchair ramp. Our initial hopes were that we could pick out a van off the dealership lot and have the sales person tell us where to take it to get it converted. Please note, most probably would not go this way - but hopefully this will help the small percentage of people that might try to do the same thing as we did. The big lesson here: Do the research first!
Here is what happened:
We found that luxurious van at the car dealership which had everything a person could want: Dual DVD Players, Satellite radio/tv, backup camera, radio with an internal hard drive which allowed you to store all your cd’s in the radio as mp3 files and much, much more. On top of that - we got the details of all the current incentives from the manufacture, which brought the price down quite a bit. Everything was looking good, next stop - finding someone to do the conversion. Luckily we didn’t just purchase the van on impulse and then go looking for a wheelchair conversion service. Our salesman did have a name and number of a company he used several years ago with another customer, which he gave to us. We told him that we would contact the van conversion company the next day for those details and then come back for the van.
The next day, I called the company given to me - which was in Nashville, TN. The gentleman I spoke with was a very nice guy that was really helpful (note: if you don’t get a person like this at a place that sells handicapped vehicles, then look further, because they don’t have your best interest at heart.) He started to explain the initial life cycle of a ‘conversion’ van, which was very different than the idea I had formed in my head.
To be continued….
Tags: accessible van, handicap van