New Motability Car and wheelcair combination?

[PaulG]

I hope I am posting this in the right place.

Basically the problem is I need to use a powered wheelchair and need a motability car that a powered wheelchair will lift into in one piece. I mostly have no one with me to assist, so need to be able to hoist in/out without assistance.

I currently have a Electric Mobility Turnabout 312 which is an ideal chair for me. However the problem I have is that it will not hoist into my current motability car whole. It needs the seat lifting off prior to hoisting the base unit into the car. The lifting off of the seat (and putting it back on) is getting too difficult for me to do alone. This is because the chair with seat folded is too high for my current Focus Estate (the folded chair height is 84cms).

I am due to replace my Motability car shortly and having done some detective work with hoist manufacturers it seems the only cars my current chair will go into one piece is the Citroen Berlingo/Peugeot Partner/Fiat Doblo, all van based and to be honest not comfortable for me at all hence I would rather it be a car based vehicle as opposed to van based.

I am thus willing to buy another powerchair but would like to find out if anyone knows which powerchairs will lift into which vehicles in one piece (or with just taking the headrest off and folding the seat backrest forwards, not lifting the seat off or other heavy 'dismantling')?

Regarding choice of vehicle, I need an automatic, but am not really too bothered about the Advance Payment but obviously the lower AP the better. Re the powerchair needed, range is not too much of a problem as I don't go far from the car, perhaps upto a total of 5 miles or so. I also weight 16 stones so need a relatively powerful chair. A scooter is not an option, it must be a wheelchair due to my disability.

I have looked into the WAV options but they all seem to be for either travelling in the chair in the rear, or even the drive from wheelchair models do still require a second person to use the tie downs, sort out the ramp etc.

Has anyone any ideas which car/powered wheelchair combination would be suitable for me to use alone?

Thanks

Paul.

[Capt billabong]

Hi at the moment I have a wav which I could drive from wheelchair via automatic lock down that was on my powerchair( handicare Beatle), this van has a lift on the back which allows me to get into the rear , have you spoke to motability grants section as they can help with costs of van or car plus any adaptions .
Andrew

[PaulG]

Hi at the moment I have a wav which I could drive from wheelchair via automatic lock down that was on my powerchair( handicare Beatle), this van has a lift on the back which allows me to get into the rear , have you spoke to motability grants section as they can help with costs of van or car plus any adaptions .
Andrew

Many thanks Capt Billabong,

However reading your other posts only serves to put me off 'drive from wheelchair' wavs, mainly due to the conversions.

I was hoping to get more of a 'car' than a 'van derived car' if that was at all possible. I can just about make it to the rear of a car on my prosthetics to enable me to use a hoist to lift a chair out, providing the chair doesn't need dismantling/reconstructing.

As for Motability grants, sadly my current income just precludes this (by less than £2.00 per week!!) and in any case after speaking with Motability again I got the same answer as before, namely 'try the British Legion/BLESMA/Regimental Associations/RAFA/ABF/RAFBF et al first before Motability themselves would even consider a grant (which they wouldn't because I earn £1.68 per week too much!) The only grant I do qualify for is the standard £660 'automatic car grant' from the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency as I need an automatic car as opposed to a manual one, plus the grant towards the cost of the hoist and the other adaptions. Fortunately neither of these grants are means tested, just based on need but rather pale into insignificance against the AP of a WAV.

I am hoping to have a test drive in an automatic Skoda Yeti later this week and also a Ford Galaxy Titanium automatic as these maybe large enough to get a chair in whole (once I find a 'new' second hand powerchair large enough for me but yet small enough to fit in the car whole)!!

Paul

[Paul]

I don't think the Skoda Yeti will have a big enough boot.

These cars may be ok for you:
Starting APs for DLA (War Pensioner's Mobility Supplement)

Chevrolet Orlando £699 (£0)
Citroen Grand C4 Picasso £1195 (£228)
Ford Grand CMax £1695 (£728)
Ford Galaxy £1995 (£1028)
Peugeot 5008 £1299 (£332)
Renault Grand Scenic £2495 (£1528)
Seat Alhambra £2299 (£1332)
Vauxhall Zafira Tourer £1449 (£482)
VW Touran £1149 (£182)
VW Sharan £2499 (£1532)

Hope this helps

Paul

[PaulG]

I don't think the Skoda Yeti will have a big enough boot.

These cars may be ok for you:
Starting APs for DLA (War Pensioner's Mobility Supplement)

Chevrolet Orlando £699 (£0)
Citroen Grand C4 Picasso £1195 (£228)
Ford Grand CMax £1695 (£728)
Ford Galaxy £1995 (£1028)
Peugeot 5008 £1299 (£332)
Renault Grand Scenic £2495 (£1528)
Seat Alhambra £2299 (£1332)
Vauxhall Zafira Tourer £1449 (£482)
VW Touran £1149 (£182)
VW Sharan £2499 (£1532)

Hope this helps

Paul

Thanks for that Paul,

Sadly I have already ruled some of those out as although they look quite big vehicles they are fairly small in the height of the boot aperture. There seems a current trend for the roof of a vehicle to slop down towards the rear (the new Mercedes B Class, Seat Alhambra and new Zafira Tourer being classic examples of this) which reduces the height of the boot aperture. Then some do have a 'lip' inside which the chair would need lifting over before dropping onto the boot floor which again rules out some other vehicles. I was told by both Autochair and ELAP/BrigAyd (hoist manufacturers) that I need a vehicle with a boot aperture height of at least 100cms to cater for getting almost any powered wheelchairs in/out whole.

The VW Sharan is okay boot height aperture wise but has a really high sill below the drivers door to climb over to get in/out of the vehicle which with prosthetic legs was pretty impossible.

I have been looking at the Ricability Vehicle Factsheets:

http://www.ricability.org.uk/consume...urement_guide/

but there does not seem to be many vehicles with the boot aperture height required which are available on the scheme.

Paul