You may need to hire a wheelchair van if you are temporarily confined to a wheelchair because you are recovering an illness or injury. A permanently disabled person using a wheelchair may also need to hire this vehicle when their personal van is undergoing major repairs and they need to travel. In addition, if you are entertaining a guest who uses a wheelchair, you may need to hire this van to accommodate their special needs. The beauty is that a great number of mobility dealers offer wheelchair accessible rentals for short-term or occasional use. If you want to rent this vehicle, below are some tips that will guide you during the process.
Types of rental vans available
A minivan is one of the popular wheelchair accessible vehicles in the market. It is equipped with a manual or automatic wheelchair ramp to allow the user to enter the vehicle with ease. The floors of the minivan are also lowered to enable the user to maneuver the wheelchair around. A minivan is usually suitable for transporting a single wheelchair user. Another option that is available is a full-size van that has raised doors and roofs and a wheelchair lift. This van is suitable for wheelchair users who need extra space or those that must travel with other additional medical equipment. Rental companies also offer commercial style wheelchair vans or buses that can be used to transport multiple wheelchair users and other people at the same time.
Wheelchair size
As there are many options when it comes to wheelchair vans as described above, it is very critical to find the right one for the user. The typical dimensions of any wheelchair van include the ramp angle, the platform width, interior height at the center and the door opening height and width. These measurements will guide you in knowing whether the wheelchair user can conveniently enter and fit in the van. You need to measure the width, the length and the height of the wheelchair user when they are seated. The best thing is to furnish the rental company with the aforementioned dimensions so that they can guide you in picking the right choice.
Renting a wheelchair accessible van is quite easy as all you need to do is make a prior reservation and submit the necessary payment. You can book the vehicle online, give the rental company a call or visit their premises. Moreover, these vehicles are equipped with a range of adaptive driving devices, such as pedal extenders and hand control, which allows a wheelchair user to drive around comfortably. In addition, a majority of rental companies also offer a surrogate driver for wheelchair users without driving licenses or those incapable of doing this on their own.
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