Motability WAV choice

M00minMama

Ive been fortunate to be allocated a powerchair at last but have no way to fit it in my family's current car.

I receive HRM so can apply for a WAV.

As I'm large my chair is an Invacare Harrier XHD with 22" seat. I think this may be too wide to get in and out of the lowered floor spaces of the smaller WAVs when allowance for the front wheels turning is made. Can anyone with experience of using larger chairs in WAVs share there experience with me?

As a family we are also lucky enough that my husband works but this means we don't get benefits outside of DLA.

My concern is that the advance payments on a larger, suitable WAV will put it out of our price reach. Does anyone know if there is a lower AP van option available for something suitable? I don't expect to use anything fancy but would like to be able to get of the house after being housebound for most of the year. Because of my size using a manual chair is too much for my husband and family- And yes, I am trying to address that too!!

I understand that Motability is a charity and there will be many more deserving cases than me for grant help so I would like to try and pay the AP ourselves. We can only afford about 1000 for an AP. is there any hope?

M00minMama

IanG1471

M00minMama wrote: »

Ive been fortunate to be allocated a powerchair at last but have no way to fit it in my family's current car.

I receive HRM so can apply for a WAV.

As I'm large my chair is an Invacare Harrier XHD with 22" seat. I think this may be too wide to get in and out of the lowered floor spaces of the smaller WAVs when allowance for the front wheels turning is made. Can anyone with experience of using larger chairs in WAVs share there experience with me?

As a family we are also lucky enough that my husband works but this means we don't get benefits outside of DLA.

My concern is that the advance payments on a larger, suitable WAV will put it out of our price reach. Does anyone know if there is a lower AP van option available for something suitable? I don't expect to use anything fancy but would like to be able to get of the house after being housebound for most of the year. Because of my size using a manual chair is too much for my husband and family- And yes, I am trying to address that too!!

I understand that Motability is a charity and there will be many more deserving cases than me for grant help so I would like to try and pay the AP ourselves. We can only afford about 1000 for an AP. is there any hope?

M00minMama

Are you able to travel in a normal car seat, or must you travel in the wheelchair inside of the vehicle?

If the former (ie you can travel in a normal car seat) then is a WAV actually necessary?. For example could you transfer from the wheelchair into the car seat and then have the wheelchair hoisted into the boot space. A vehicle such as the Peugeot Partner/Citroen Berlingo could suffice in this case as looking at the dimensions of the Harrier XHD even with the 22inch seat, it would still leave the back row of seats intact with the chair stowed in the boot. These vehicles are reasonably cheap AP wise on the scheme plus you would have to pay circa £600 or so for a upto 150kg hoist fitted (example the Autochair 150kg hoist but there are others).

If you must go down the WAV route then there are sometimes 'nearly new' WAVs available on the Scheme much cheaper than brand new WAV's but it is dependent on what is available at any particular time - Details from the Motability site about nearly new WAV's here:

http://www.motability.co.uk/cars-and-wavs/wheelchair-accessible-vehicles/nearly-new-wavs

Other than that you would be looking at a new WAV, however it may work out cheaper to buy a second hand one outside of the scheme than lease via the scheme bearing in mind the relatively large Advance Payment on new large WAV's and the fact you are giving up your allowance for the next five years (new WAV's on the Motability Leasing scheme operate on 5 year leases).

Ian

tiddlertot

Nobody seems to have mentioned PIP coming in next year when everyone 16-65 will be reassessed for.

There is every likely chance that many will fail to qualify despite being on HRM under DLA.

Much better to buy your own vehicle than lease one through Motability - it can be taken off you at any time.

GlasweJen

Someone in an NHS electric wheelchair will probably qualify for PIP enhanced mobility, electric wheelchairs are like gold dust.

Bootsalebargains

I don't know much about larger wheelchairs but my husband is in an invacare mirage wheelchair and we took delivery of our wav in september. we got the peugeot partner horizon, it has full full seating so when my husband is not in the car I can have the back seats up but when he is in the car they fold forward so he can ride the wheelchair straight in. We got ours from allied mobility and cannot praise them enough. We are in Wales and they came from Scotland to give us a demonstation, AP was £695 and we had the car 3 weeks later which again was delivered from scotland to wales and they took our old mobility car away.
When we had got to a local WAV dealer we were told the AP for a fiat doblo was £1800 and 16 weeks until it would be ready
The specs say the max wheelchair user width is 750mm which is approx 29 inch.
http://www.alliedmobility.com/

sunnyone

GlasweJen wrote: »

Someone in an NHS electric wheelchair will probably qualify for PIP enhanced mobility, NHS electric wheelchairs are like gold dust.

Yes I agree, NHS powerchairs are like gold dust because of the very strict qualifying criteria to get one, only the most disabled people qualify for them so the DWP take should this into consideration for benefit purposes.

sunnyone

M00minMama wrote: »

Ive been fortunate to be allocated a powerchair at last but have no way to fit it in my family's current car.

I receive HRM so can apply for a WAV.

As I'm large my chair is an Invacare Harrier XHD with 22" seat. I think this may be too wide to get in and out of the lowered floor spaces of the smaller WAVs when allowance for the front wheels turning is made. Can anyone with experience of using larger chairs in WAVs share there experience with me?

As a family we are also lucky enough that my husband works but this means we don't get benefits outside of DLA.

My concern is that the advance payments on a larger, suitable WAV will put it out of our price reach. Does anyone know if there is a lower AP van option available for something suitable? I don't expect to use anything fancy but would like to be able to get of the house after being housebound for most of the year. Because of my size using a manual chair is too much for my husband and family- And yes, I am trying to address that too!!

I understand that Motability is a charity and there will be many more deserving cases than me for grant help so I would like to try and pay the AP ourselves. We can only afford about 1000 for an AP. is there any hope?

M00minMama

Do you work or are you in full time education?

Do you need a drive from powerchair WAV?

Have you looked at the Motability used WAV scheme?

tiddlertot

sunnyone wrote: »

Yes I agree, NHS powerchairs are like gold dust because of the very strict qualifying criteria to get one, only the most disabled people qualify for them so the DWP take should this into consideration for benefit purposes.

You would hope that ATOS will take it into account you mean!

M00minMama

A big thank you to you all for your suggestions and experiences. I am waiting for a call back from Motability and am now a bit more clued up as to what I need to ask for.

It is a relief to hear a suitable option is within our financial means.

And yes, I am really grateful to the NHS for all the help they give me and thrilled to have an NHS powerchair and Motability.

I don't know whether I'll get PIP or not, my approach is to carry on living under DLA, stay positive and keep as well as I can. At some point I'll be assessed for PIP like everyone else. I'm just lucky not to be in the pilot area!

Once again, many thanks for sharing your knowledge.

M00minMama

sunnyone

tiddlertot wrote: »

You would hope that ATOS will take it into account you mean!

I know they do take it into account andy, my ESA85A (I think thats the name of the form, I cant be botherered to get my file out for a troll) makes that clear.

Ebay crips dont have their GP and NHS backing to prove that they need powerchairs.