New to Wavs

First and foremost, it’s all about the conversion, the dynamics of the wheelchair user and the wheelchair itself. The wheelchair user must be able to enter, travel securely and exit the vehicle in a safe manner for any WAV to be considered. Contacting Southern Mobility Vehicles first will save you time and stress as they will filter all available wheelchair-accessible vehicles (WAVs) to find what will best work for your circumstances.

In short, the best wheelchair accessible vehicle for you is individual, and you will need advice. A good fit does not mean a good ride or a vehicle that you will enjoy driving. If the wheelchair user is unhappy, the driver won’t be and vice versa. You can feel safe that Southern Mobility Vehicles will not allow you to buy a WAV that does not suit your needs.

This is a big question, and it will depend on whether you are seeking a WAV to transport a wheelchair user or a scooter. Lifts do not tend to suit scooters as a rule, but it depends on the scooter; lifts or ramps can suit wheelchair users, but getting advice from Southern Mobility Vehicles first will save you a lot of time and effort.

Frustrating as it may seem, advice is required here. Here at Southern Mobility Vehicles, we always ask vital questions to assess your initial needs. The Peugeot Traveller is a relatively recent addition to the converts books, but the Citroen Spacetourer is available in greater numbers now.

Both these vehicles are now pretty much identical so any conversion will have its limits, but some conversions are better for some although this comes down to your wheelchair and height in the wheelchair. Lowered floor depths and widths vary, as well as several other features that may not be immediately apparent to observers.

A few mid-position WAVs are available, but many are not inclusive for wheelchair users. In simple terms, being “inclusive” in a WAV means being seated in a position in your wheelchair as if you are in the vehicle in the same position as a seated passenger would be.

This means there must be enough room for a wheelchair user’s footrests to go far enough forward and for the lowered floor to be low enough to bring the wheelchair user’s head to the same height as their fellow passengers.

This is not as easy as it sounds if you compare most vehicle seats to most wheelchairs. In effect, the smaller the wheelchair, the better chance you have of inclusivity, but many WAVs cannot consider themselves inclusive.

This will depend on what you see as small. We believe the smallest vehicle converted to a WAV was the Fiat Qubo and its cousins with the same genetics, such as the Peugeot Bipper and the Citroen Nemo. There are very few Bippers around and even fewer Nemos.

The size of this vehicle won’t suit everyone, but it’s worth a look if size is an issue. Southern Mobility Vehicles’ view is that the fitting should start with good practical advice based on expert knowledge of all available wheelchair accessible vehicles. They will look at any vehicle they have faith in but will disregard many due to build issues, whether the vehicle itself or the conversion.

The good news is that you can, but our best advice is to seek out experts in this field who know how to help and support you, as the adaptions available can be complex and extensive. This will require specialist help, and it can take quite a while to get you behind the wheel. Ensuring you can safely enter, dock drive and exit a drive from a wheelchair vehicle is paramount.

This is an individual decision but may be governed by the size of your wheelchair and, most importantly, your height in your wheelchair, especially when you consider it can be quite a distance through some WAVs to the passenger upfront or driver position.

The mid position in many WAVs is the best because it is central to the vehicle and benefits from the most stable position for wheelchair users. That being said, every WAV’s design can vary, and a passenger upfront conversion of the same vehicle that was converted for a mid-position wheelchair user may work better for one person but not the other.

The same applies to some Southern mobility Vehicles that look at your circumstances holistically, and their approach is that of advisory to ensure you get the best ride possible.