The Wheel Chair Minivan, Part II

After much confusion and many headaches, we finally bought a minivan and are having it converted for wheelchair rear entry.

We were able to get all of the things we wanted: automatic ramp, rear entry, two wheelchair tie downs, the wheelchair is almost parallel to the second row, and an optional fold-down third row. 

Ultimately, our decision came down to the Honda Odyssey or Toyota Sienna. We chose the Toyota because when you open the hatch and lower the ramp, the rear of the car squats. As a result, it uses a shorter ramp than if the wheel chair had to climb the ramp at a steeper angle. We thought a shorter ramp was better because it requires less roadway and makes backing into traffic a bit safer. 

Buying this van, like much of parenting, had us scratching our heads and asking, ‘Where is the step-by-step instruction guide for this?’ Here are a few things we wish we had known ahead of time.

Every mobility dealership coverts their vans just a little bit differently. They just don’t exactly tell you that. More than once we were told, “ohh it’s not possible to do it like that.” The kicker is that we knew this wasn’t true. We’d gone to the Abilities Expo some months back and made it a point to sit in numerous vans even though we weren’t in the market for one at the time. What the mobility places mean is THEY don’t covert vans like that.

Not every mobility location has all of the various conversions available on the lot. That makes it difficult because you are being shown brochures versus the actual car. For someone like me who is visual, this made it that much harder.

Mobility locations don’t offer the same financing that dealerships do. Mobility locations offer financing on both the cars and the conversions. The problem was that the deals were not nearly as good as what we could get buying the car directly from the dealership. For example, Toyota was offering 0% financing and cash back incentives. However, even if I purchased a brand new Toyota from the mobility location and financed the car though them, they couldn’t give me 0% financing or the cash back incentive.

Most conversions aren’t done on site. The cars are shipped to a few various locations across the country. Because of that, it’s likely that your car will be shipped and you’ll pay shipping both ways. Shipping coming home will be more expensive because shipping fees are incurred based on weight and your car will be heavier post-conversion.

What we ultimately did was buy the van from a Toyota dealership in Michigan. We don’t live in Michigan, but it’s the state where the conversion will take place. This lets us take advantage of Toyota financing and only pay shipping one way.

There was a small downside to the route we chose. For starters, we purchased our exact vehicle sight unseen. Secondly, there was a small amount more coordination required in dealing with two locations instead of just one-stop shopping from the mobility dealership. Lastly, when the car arrives we’ll need to register it with our local DMV.

Part III to come when the van arrives. If you missed it, here’s Part I.