Allowing another person to move or drive our vehicles is usually no big deal in our society today. Fancy restaurants and casinos, as well as some exclusive shopping malls, hospitals and theaters, offer valet parking at a price. For those of us who drive wheelchair vans that require loading from the side, it is not unusual to be asking policemen, security guards and even nearby pedestrians to step in and move the vehicle so that the lift can be deployed when other drivers park besides us--even though the unloading zones might be clearly marked.
The real difference between the average family car and most wheelchair vans lies in the presence of hand controls, and perhaps even more complex electronics for starting and shifting the vehicle. Another common difference is the price, which can equal that of a luxury sports car. In my last posting I explained how the cost of the van I purchased from eBay had risen to $78,000. That fact alone should make one think twice before letting an untrained individual operate an adapted vehicle.
My van is a full-sized vehicle, equipped with a side wheelchair lift, and has a 9-inch lowered floor so that I can see clearly out of the windshield. It also allows me to haul coworkers or materials to meetings, and to haul my three grandsons in the back seat without crowding. It has a powerful engine, but is heavy and only gets about 12 miles per gallon. Because of that, it is also a bit more difficult to stop.
The charge for shipping my van from California to Virginia was about $1500, but fortunately it was paid by my new employer even though the van did not arrive until about three months after I started my job. After the extended period sitting in the body shop while it was being repaired, and enduring a weeklong trip across country on the back of a transport truck, I once again had to purchase two new batteries. Even so, it was great to have my van back under my control again so that I could enjoy the many museums and scenic wonders in the area without being restricted to public transportation options.
On one of those weekend trips, I had the opportunity to test out the stopping power when using a hand control brake. A vehicle had stopped unexpectedly on the highway in front of me, to make a left-hand turn into a private road, and despite pushing on the hand control as hard as possible I still struck the rear of the car ahead. The result was a ticket for failing to stop, $100 for repairing the dent in my bumper, and an unknown cost for significant damage to the back of the station wagon that was paid by my insurance. Thankfully no one was injured, but the accident also resulted in an increase in my insurance premiums going forward.
Having learned (the hard way) about the difficulty of bringing the van to an emergency stop, I paid another $3000 to have a brake booster installed so that it would require less pressure on the hand control when braking. Even with the booster, trying to hold the hand control brake tight while waiting at a stop light on the steep uphills of Seattle is a real adventure.
In January of this year, I resigned from my job in Washington, DC and moved west to the Washington area where I was raised. That required me to have my van transported by truck once again, this time at my own expense, and if you’re considering such services we should probably talk first. Searching on the Internet, I was faced with the choice of about 100 providers who offered to ship the van for costs ranging from $700-$3000. I contracted for shipping at about $1200, figuring that paying more would result in better service, and paid the nonrefundable $100 fee that was required. Three weeks later, after repeated failures to get anyone from that transport broker to call me back and explain why my van had not yet been picked up, I canceled the order and forfeited the deposit.
I now realize that there are auto transport brokers operating under different company names, sometimes working from in the same office. They simply enter into an agreement to ship a vehicle, collect the non-refundable deposit, then post the information on an electronic bulletin board where truckers who happen to be going the right direction can pick up the vehicle and be paid a reduced fee.
This time I contracted with the moving company that was hauling my household goods, at about twice the cost. I knew they had a great reputation, but I even purchased $20,000 worth of additional insurance in case something happened en route. That seemed improbable, but I am normally fairly cautious anyway. A series of major snowstorms that struck the mid-Atlantic region delayed shipping of my van once again, but about 45 days later I was advised that it had been picked up. We would soon be reunited!
About four days later I received a call from a claims adjuster for the moving company who advised that the driver had called her from Indiana and stated that he had apparently struck an overpass somewhere along the way and the roof of my van was “scraped.” As you probably know, these large transport trucks are usually two levels, so they can hold up to 10 vehicles at a time. It was inconceivable to me that any professional transport driver would depart on such a trip without measuring the height of his load, but that is apparently what happened.
When the transport truck arrived at my home, I found that the entire roof of the van had been collapsed, the front windshield was broken, water was leaking into the van, and two of the front doors would not close all the way. After a $20,000 repair which included an entire new roof and the purchase of more new batteries, I finally am driving my “bargain van” on a regular basis. Unfortunately that cost of independence for this particular vehicle has now risen to about $105,000, but I’m still happy to be driving myself wherever I want to go anyway. I wish that all of my peers were able to do the same.
© 2010 Michael Collins
