This is post 2 of 3 regarding our accessible van. This post entails the purchase, insurance, and grants/ gifts process. In the first post, I covered the fact that we decided on a used van with a new accessible conversion manufactured by Vantage Mobility, Inc.
In the spring of 2018, I received Army orders to move from the National Capital Region (NCR) to Wheeler Army Airfield, Hawaii. (I’ll skip the approval challenges for this move through the Exceptional Family Member Program, but we found amazing medical care for our Special Needs daughter at Tripler Army Medical Center.) This move prompted us to research accessible van prices and lead times in the NCR versus on the island of Oahu. The van would take us about 4 weeks from purchase to driving it away in the NCR and about 12-16 weeks on Oahu. In addition, there was only one accessible van dealership on the island of Oahu, and vans there cost about $4,000 more, due to shipping costs and dealer markup. In late March, we began searching for the right van for our family. We planned to have one in our driveway, drive it for a few weeks, then ship it to our next duty station ahead of time so we could drive it soon after we arrived on island.
The final two questions we had to ask were: what van brand would we purchase, and what dealership would we work with? We decided to go with a Dodge Grand Caravan (the main reason was price—conversion companies only convert Dodge, Toyota, and Honda, with some rare exceptions like Braunability’s Ford Explorer, which we found out about in late 2018). The search for the dealership was a bit more complicated. We first visited Mobility Works (an extensive accessible dealership network). As we walked the lot, it didn’t seem like they were interested in our business: we had to find someone to ask questions— it seemed we were interrupting them. I found a small dealership (Vango Mobility—now closed) that was the right fit through Facebook Marketplace. The owner sat with us, showed us options, discussed our needs, and let us drive one. We told him we wanted a red (my wife, Shelly’s only requirement) Dodge Grand Caravan with the powered in-floor ramp. When Vantage Mobility found a used van near Phoenix, AZ, where they’re headquartered, we gave the go-ahead. It would cost us $45,000 for a $20,000 minivan and a $25,000 conversion.
We pulled together a few things that would help us fund the minivan. Our church assisted us with quite a bit, we received a few grants, and started a GoFundMe. We got a loan for the whole amount, raised approximately $9,000, and used that to pay our loan quicker.
We hold an insurance policy through USAA, but it took a bit of convincing (and showing them the bill of sale) to explain why we paid so much for the van. In short, our insurance covers the conversion, and we would receive full reimbursement for the van and conversion in case of any issues.
We received the van in mid-May and drove it for a few weeks before shipping, making it much easier to get Scharleen in and out of our vehicle. The dealership (now closed) even threw in a set of aftermarket Q-straints (https://www.qstraint.com/) for Scharleen’s wheelchair. These are so much easier to use than the original factory wheelchair locks.
Leave a Reply