Beginning Question re: Adapted Vans ?

[DADDYO49]

First I would like to explain that I live in the States. I am a retired Detective who survived 9/11 @ WTC but became a paraplegic after 3 on the job injuries + an operation that went bad causing me to become paralyzed nelow the waist. I have since had 2 back surgeries which has enable me to regain limited mobility with a walker. I am still confined primarily to a wheelchair. Since this was a Workers Compensation injury, the WC Judge has authorized that I obtain funding to convert a van into a wheelchair van provided the van is 5 years old or newer and has less than 50,000 miles on it.
I just found a 2007 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT with 7,025 miles on it and am purchasing this van.
I obtained a quote for an Amerivan El Dorado Wheelchair Conversion with EZ Lock + Hand Controls but don't really know if there is a way for me to secure my wheelchair and transfer to the driver car seat or if I am supposed to drive in my wheelchair with the front car seat removed ?

I am concerned about whether or not my wife will have to take the driver seat in and out of the van ?

Will I be able to drive by myself ?

Do I drive from the car seat or from my wheelchair ?

This probably sounds like foolish questions to many but all of this is very foreign to me--- Thanks _ DK

[Burgerman]

Probably better to not have bought a van. The people that convert them and fit the lowered floors etc have their own suppliers and finacial arangements with their own best factory option packages factory fitted (cruise, leccy doors and tailgates, certain engine types etc) that they have off the shelf ready made exhausts and body and interior panels for to miss the 10 inch lowered floors, same with fuel tanks suspension and many other bits. And they buy lots of vans at preferential rates.

There are also tax breaks for vans sold with disability related conversion works already done at least here. Its usually better and cheaper to get a new van from one of the big conversion companies (or a used already converted one) than to buy a used one first and then start converting that even if you can find someone that will want to do that. You MAY be better selling yours or not buying and taking a look at some of the advertisers on my site. EG an example:

http://www.cummingsmobility.com/cum/Dev ... llVans.php New and used converted vans.

Check VMI, Rollx, Braun, and others that actually do these conversions.

The big companies take brand new vehicles production line style and remove the floors, and strip the vehicle before rebuilding with new lowered floor, ramps, etc. This requires a lot of their own fabricated parts (exhausts, extended wiring, panels, interior parts etc) and as such they know the exact vehicle, and options that they need as a starting point.

Doing it afterwards is sometimes more expensive and usually more involved and less easy and difficult to do unless you have exactly the right vehicle and specification. Although it sounds like you may have!

[Burgerman]

Driving from the cars seat is an option if you want to struggle a lot! I did that with a VW Caravelle van. MUCH better built than any Chrysler. Depends how easy you find it to transfer.

Six way electrically adjustable drivers seats make that easier. They move back and turn while you transfer. Driving from a wheelchair is faster and easier though. But your wife will need to refit the drivers seat every time she drives. Or borrow a wheelchair! I might be better for her to have a seperate car if swapping seats in and out is a pain.

Your wheelchair can be locked into another easy lock in the centre where the middle row of seats would have been, or just tied in place with straps (there will be rails in the floor for this) in the centre if you need to keep a normal drivers seat for your wife or a six way electrically adjustable one that you transfer into.

[Lord Chatterley]

I tend to agree with Burgerman.
You are lucky to be living in the US as secondhand converted Grand Voyagers are plentiful and a bargain - the depreciation in value from new is withering.
I prefer Grand Voyagers because they are low riding [low centre of gravity] and on the UK's twisty roads, don't exhaust you by throwing you around like the unfortunate occupant of some tall stagecoach. [BTW you'll need a GRAND Voyager conversion if you are tall -I used to be 6'2" and in my Quickie F55 I only just manage to access the door by tilting my head aside.]
Try looking on ebay in the motors section. The search terms to use are 'wheelchair accessible.'
Burgerman's pages show the automatic lockdown system that holds the wheelchair in place - having to tie down your chair everytime with straps becomes a real pain after the first 20 or 30 journeys.

It takes days to read all the useful info Burgerman's site but it's well worthwhile - no amount of armchair theorising by so-called experts is comparable to the info gained from his years of hands-on, all-day experience.