howdy all

my middle son is 6 and has CP and up till now he's been fine in the wheelchair we had for him. yesterday we tried out a motorized wheelchair and ill be damned if he didnt show significant promise about using one to independently ambulate. so now i gotta figure out what the plan is to transport one one of those heavy (450 lbs) sons of *****es around.

we have a 2015 odyssey with 104k miles on it. been doing some research and it would cost about 10k to fully mod it out with a rear entry (lol) ramp, or perhaps 3000 for just a pulley lift system. were we to do that we'd probably buy two other cars and just use the van as a transport when needed.

wifey thinks that its dumb to pour thousands into a van with 100k miles on it and that we should be considering something new. wheelchair vans can run up to about 65k brand new, which makes me **** my pants.

id also be interested in maybe adding a pulley lift to a tundra or something as our family hauler (we have three kids)

anyone got any advice or thoughts or experience with how they navigated the world of accessible transportation?

Good luck to you guys. An Oddy van should have another 150k in it, easy.

We were looking at this after my dad's stroke. The conversion we were exploring had a ramp that would extend after the right side sliding door opened. It also had air bags in the suspension, and would kneel on that side. I think it was a lot less intrusive and expensive than rear entry.

All I can add is that I like the look of the Mobility Ventures vans.


Here's one for $25K
http://www.blvd.com/wheelchair-vans/for-sale-by-owner/57WMD2C62GM100259

htownag99 said:

---

You may already be aware of this site, but have you gone to BLVD.com? Basically autotrader for wheelchair vans. Also, if your in Houston, Adaptive Driving is a good place, as they have a good inventory of couple year old used vans. Ask for Mike... Wheelchair vans depreciate like crazy, and good deals can be had on a 1 or 2 year old van. My wife's family was in your situation, and they aren't very automotive savvy, so I was tasked to do the same research for a van for their CP daughter.

---

that's great, thanks for the heads up there.

it seems like the depreciate like crazy, but holy **** the secondary market is insane. i looked last night and saw an modded oddy with 104k miles on it for 25k, which is bananas to me.

i'll definitely check out BLVD

CanyonAg77 said:

---

Good luck to you guys. An Oddy van should have another 150k in it, easy.

We were looking at this after my dad's stroke. The conversion we were exploring had a ramp that would extend after the right side sliding door opened. It also had air bags in the suspension, and would kneel on that side. I think it was a lot less intrusive and expensive than rear entry.

---

huh that's intersting. i was expecing that the rear entry would be far less intrusive of a mod than the side entry. thank you for sharing.

No problem. Mainly going by my recollection of the body mods required. It's been many years, so my recollection of the price might be off

They pulled the middle seats, changed the suspension, and bolted in the ramp. I thought that rear entry vans required all that PLUS extensive body work.

And seriously, an Oddy is damn near bulletproof. If you retire it to wheelchair only duty, you're looking at another decade or more of service, IMO. Especially if you can keep it in a garage and service it religiously.

Health insurance may be an option to cover the mods as well. I would be fine with dumping $10k to mod what you have, remember you can likely recoup it if you sell on your own.

Also check out MobilityWorks. I have a friend who runs the location in Maine and can get a local referral for you.

drumboy said:

---

All I can add is that I like the look of the Mobility Ventures vans.


Here's one for $25K
http://www.blvd.com/wheelchair-vans/for-sale-by-owner/57WMD2C62GM100259

---

Came here to suggest this myself.

yeah we definitely need to look at whether insurance would cover it. the wife and i disagree about dropping 4-10k in to the odyssey. i agree with yall that that van can last us for at least another 10 years if we're using it sparingly. she doesnt think so.

those mobility works ones are sweet as well. those might be the best ones ive seen thus far.

really appreciate all the feedback

anyone have any info on foldable motorized wheelchairs? we found an austin based company that might render this entire conversation moot

https://www.foldandgowheelchairs.com/

MV1 is dead reliable and super cheap.

that's really good to hear. had never heard of MV1s...they look pretty dang nice.

StringerBell said:

---

that's really good to hear. had never heard of MV1s...they look pretty dang nice.

---

All the ones made till 2014 use Fords 4.6L V8, same as used in the Crown Vics and Town Cars and 96-04 Mustang.

All the Mustang performance parts bolt on....

There was a guy on SVTP that was building a turbo one for his brother who was in a wheelchair. Not sure what happened to that build thread.

There's a guy, wheelz, that posts on the outdoors board quite a bit. Never met him, but I know from his posts that he does a lot of adaptive hunting stuff for people with disabilities. I believe he's in a wheelchair himself, so he'd probably be able to offer some good info.

StringerBell said:

---

howdy all

my middle son is 6 and has CP and up till now he's been fine in the wheelchair we had for him. yesterday we tried out a motorized wheelchair and ill be damned if he didnt show significant promise about using one to independently ambulate. so now i gotta figure out what the plan is to transport one one of those heavy (450 lbs) sons of *****es around.

---

This alone is awesome and thinking of all the freedom he'll have now!

Insurance is always the tricky part. Have you been able to qualify for MDCP? That may help to soften the blow of a conversion if it's a covered benefit.

we haven not looked into MDCP but i'll start looking into it now. thanks for the recommendation!

around the house he's fine...but im really excited for him to be able to go to like chuck e cheese and go to whatever game he wants too quickly and without much effort.

we're trying out the huge 450 pound one at therapy for a while to see how he takes to it. then we're gonna rent one of the foldable ones and see how he does with it. if it's a significant difference then we'll look towards converting our current van...otherwise if the foldable one works then we'll be in a really good place.

StringerBell said:

---

we haven not looked into MDCP but i'll start looking into it now. thanks for the recommendation!

---

It's one of the Medicaid programs for those that don't qualify (ie. make too much $) for traditional Medicaid. It can take years to get on, but worth it to help supplement traditional insurance.

I have a special needs kiddo (abusive TBI @ 2 months), but luckily she hasn't presented too many mobility issues. Plenty of other challenges and navigating insurance can be a pain. We're blessed that my wife is a national expert at insurance / medicaid, so it's easier to handle them when her needs aren't met.

Edit: I just realized we've talked about this before. You know you can always ping questions off my wife.

I don't think they'll put a lift on a used vehicle, but it looks like you have plenty of good info to follow up on. There's also a Facebook group for used adaptive equipment and vehicles are listed sometimes.

Besides Adaptive Driving (they've laid a lot of people off so are very slow I hear), try AMS Vans in Pearland 281-997-9400.

that's good information to have. im supposed to meet with one of the places that does customizations like that next week to talk about it.

Saw this on the Amarillo CL. Older, but really low miles and really cheap. Might be a way for you to check it out without too much $$$.

https://amarillo.craigslist.org/cto/d/amarillo-wheelchair-accessible-van/6846708658.html

Quote:

---

2003 Chrysler Town Country ENTERVAN
**PRICE IS NEGOTIABLE!! Make a FAIR OFFER!!**
**ONLY 52,374 miles!**
Very low mileage!!
My dad purchased this vehicle from United Access in Carrollton, Texas on 6/9/2016, at that time the van had 47,879 miles. As of today it has 52,374.
The purchase price in 2016 was $22000 plus we purchased a set of 4 self adjusting wheelchair restraints which are pictured for $424.
- leather seats which are in excellent condition
- seatbelt extender.
-4 new tires (90,000 mile)were purchased on 6/17/16 so they are basically brand new since this van was driven less than 5,000 miles in the last 2.5 years.
- CD player
- Seat heaters
-Also, we recently (within the past month) replaced the headliner which is pictured also. Unfortunately when they replaced it, the passenger side sun visor broke and because of the age of the vehicle a new one has not been found as of yet but we are still looking for one. (Pictured)

Asking $10,000- will consider any FAIR offers.

---

that's a helluva deal

right now we're exploring the option of a foldable mechanical wheelchair. our out of pocket max for insurance is 5k, so regardless we're going to paying that much for a wheelchair, just dont want to toss another 10-20k on top of it if we dont have to.

we've found a company in austin that does foldable wheelchairs that only weigh about 45 pounds.