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I know a few on here have hoists to lift the sccoter/wheelchair into boot, but does anyone use ramps to load?
I am wifes carer but my health is a lot worse now, so she is having to go down electric wheelchair route.
We looked at changing car but we were quoted 26 weeks for a Touran and even now the AP’s have quadrupled, so we were gonna sick with the Mini Countryman and use ramps to load electric chair into boot, temporarily til we can change our current car.
Anyone use them and if so whats the pros and cons?
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It might be time to change to a WAV. This was the case for my Mother and Father in law a few years ago, Motability were very helpful and life was much easier for them, good luck.
Don’t need a full wav as wife can self transfer and we will be swapping from manual and electric as required by how far each time I can push her, might be that route in the future but for now, I was just wondering how easy ramps are temporarily
My mother in law was also self transferring, not wheelchair bound, but the WAV made life easier for them. She didn’t use a wheelchair but a mobility scooter, Motability suggested it when they saidthey were having trouble loading scooter even with the hoist
The split ramps, one for each side I found were pretty dangerous, but the folding ramp where it consists of 4 connected parts that fold out into one large ramp was OK but heavy & cumbersome.
Then you’ve got the problem of the height of the boot opening, it was very tight on my large chair with a C4 Grand Picasso, and there was a bit more head height on the SEAT Alhambra, this is all with the wheelchair seat back folded down & the arm rests lowered.
My current solution is to use my lightweight folding lithium powered wheelchair with the car & only use the larger chair direct from home. It’s easier, I don’t have to hope someone rescues me when a ramp slides sidewards, it’s just safer, and at under 25kg is an easy lift for the smallest of hoists & fits in a pretty small car, my Pug e-2008.
disabledaccessramps.net
completecareshop.co.uk
feneticwellbeing.com
all have a variety of ramps noel i dont know the dimensions you would need but most handle quite a lot of weight so should be able to cope with just a chair.
good luck
This is the type of ramp I use, I did find it a little heavy so I split it down into 2 separate ramps and added a 2nd carry handle to the other side.
I did go the extra mile and actually trimmed off 75mm from the inside edge of each ramp and re riveted it back together to give 2 slimmer ramps that were a lot lighter to carry.
Try a company called Lith-tech. I have two different light weight electric wheelchairs from them which I am impressed with. They also offer lightweight ramps and can assist with hoists. Owner is called Toby. Lots of useful videos on line. Hope that helps.
Many thanks for the replies ,
think we are just gonna go with what @gothitjulie said and use her bigg chair from home an use her small boot scooter from the car, that way I can still lift it in and out easily.
Half way through this lease so will take into account for next lease and probably go for either a wav or rifter type car, if nothing else changes
