My vote has been counted for Dan. I know first hand what winning that van would mean to Dan...and his family.

My husband has spent the past 2 months installing into our new van, a lift for my handicapped scooter, a hand brake and the required spinner knob on the stearing wheel. The cost of equipment is in itself is astronomical. We are very fortunate that my husband has the ability and knowledge to do the work needed to install these items himself because the 'professional' charges to do these installations equates to highway robbery. And legally the equipment is not to be sold directly to laypersons, but only to professional installers. The lift and hand brake my husband has removed from and reinstalled in now the third vehicle each time requiring a lot of adaption to make work effectivly and safely in a different vehicle. The steering knob from the previous van could not be made to work on the new one. The cost of a new simple knob was $129. Installation, just to screw in 2 bolts, is an additional $43. The adaptions that Dan needs would likely amount to $25,000 to $30,000 over the cost of the van.

Yes, the handicapped are a captive audiance.

I am shocked to learn that it is that costly. We have a seat lift installed on our motor home and I have seen "our" installers working on vehicles for some disabled vets. I must inquire as to how costly it is to do so....Seems like a worthy cause I would like to help with. Our 'mobility' people attend our rally every year, and we have just been invited to an open house at their place of business. Vote in on the way!

I voted.

I voted.

It is sad that this cost so much. I voted.

Thanks guys.
Can I get some more people voting? Since this fellow is local, it would mean a lot to his family.

done!

Done, but I got the captcha code wrong twice before it went through. Last I knew 7+5=12 and 3+1=4, finally went through when I got 1+0=1 LOL!

LOL Breenthumb.
I had that a couple of times, and i didn't know what the captcha code was, so I waited a while. Even though we can vote every day, it has to be 24 hours since your last vote and I thought that captcha thing meant that I was voting too soon.

Voted.

I was under the impression that lifts/ramps for vans were fully covered by the Ontario government. Maybe I was misinformed.

My partner Joe is in a wheelchair and we are in the process of buying a new van (ours is 8 years old and showing its age). We have a lift in our current van that we paid $6500 for plus $1500 to install. Since no company makes lift to fit minivans anymore, we have to have this lift removed and put in our new van. But it's not going to be a simple process. The lift will have to be modified (cut, welded, etc) to fit the new van we are buying. The entire process will cost about $4500!!

Of course that is on top of the cost of a new van, which isn't cheap either. And since there is only 1 type of minivan that we can fit that lift into, we are very limited in our options.

Joe has medical insurance from his work but they will not pay anything towards a lift for a vehicle. He can get a new wheelchair free of charge but they won't give him a penny towards the lift. Neither will the government. We're on our own. Thankfully we have been saving for a while. We don't have enough saved but we have some, so our loan won't have to be as big.

Casey, Maybe Ontario government will pay, but here in the USA there is no government help. But most, if not all auto manufacturers will allow up to $1500 for any type of modification for the handicapped. A drop in the bucket, but it is something.
We have not looked into a new lift in quite awhile. My original lift is 14 years old. Recently we bought a used one on ebay that my husband felt would be a spare if needed. The modifications needed to put either of the lifts in the new Toyota van were major. These new vans with the rear seats that fold up into a hole in the floor make it very difficult. Then there is the issue of air bags when installing any kind of hand controls. A real nightmare.

I placed my second vote for Dan yesterday. Will place a third one at noon today.

I did my voting today...

The cost is very high, for any specialty items. Our son (adult) first needed a lift, and the insurance carrier bought a used one (industrial accident) for his pickup. Then his conditioned worsened, requiring something more. We purchased a van and had a turny seat installed and it worked well until he had to enter a care facility. That seat was good for front or rear usage, but it was almost $8k which was all on us. We did take advantage of the car manufacture's rebate but it was a drop in the bucket.
I have voted and will contiinue to do so. Good luck to him.

The contest closes this weekend. Please vote again.....

I have to wait till after noon for today, but my vote is in for everyday since your original post.

Thanks Gazania!!
I vote every afternoon as well.

Only 4 days left.

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