If you are like me in any way i.e. late 70s, always interested in cars but knowing almost nothing about wheelchair accessible vehicles, then the process of acquiring one can seem rather daunting, particularly if family/partner circumstances have changed fairly rapidly. When you’re in your 50s and 60s, the prospect of your partner suffering from a stroke or Parkinson’s and suffering from severely reduced mobility, can be very far from your mind.
This is when choosing a ‘WAV’ becomes very different from simply exchanging one’s car for another. Where do we start? Finance is obviously a key factor, but what kind of vehicle will suit us best? The fact that I personally have sold most of my own cars privately and love driving didn’t help at all. Nor that by nature I am naturally suspicious and hard to please! WAVs are quite different in many respects to the kind of vehicles most of us drive, which is why I was very keen to contact a firm that knew what they were doing, and not just interested in selling me a second-hand car.
I wouldn’t be writing this if I wasn’t hugely satisfied (and relieved) with my experience of Southern Mobility Vehicles. The staff were kind and helpful; we agreed a very fair price for the vehicle (a 12 year old Vauxhall Zafira) and I’m delighted with it. So too is my wife, who is no longer able to drive herself. But what makes me happy to give this review is the list of small but very important ‘extras’, as it were, that came with the process: time to take the vehicle for a drive; time to ask any question I wanted; time to look at all the special considerations one needs for a vehicle of this sort. Southern Mobility Vehicles also provided their own home-produced booklet with all kinds of useful information for someone who was new to a WAV. To cap it all, a minor fault with one of the sensors was put right under warranty immediately and without any fuss. A firm that can be trusted!