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Chewed up and spat out by Aspect Conversions (the WAV-EVO suppliers), reconciled to the fact that the wheelchair accessible vehicle (WAV) market does not pander to aesthetic sensibilities or ‘reasonableness’ in price-point, I revisited the checklist for the purchase of my new, and very first, WAV ... and tossed it!
I took to heart the advice of OMME (Oprah Magazine’s Money Editor - who better?): if you need it but don’t love it, pay as little as possible for optimum functionality. I abandoned the trip to New York (OMME says: if you love it but don’t need it, don’t spend it … yeah, she was starting to irritate me at this point too!) and concentrated on finding a car!
Time to get down to the essentials: I wanted easy, immediate and acceptable pricing. EaZyD wanted it in black – a bit girly, d’ya think? From the man watching himself do pirouette’s in the window as he said, ‘it’s gotta be black. I don’t care about anything else’ … nooo! The OMME’s advice was firm – pay as little as possible, whether it’s in black, silver or bright pink, for the car you hate least … and that was the Chrysler.
Steering Developments Limited (SDL), whose Voyager was the 1st WAV we saw back in 2005, had a 2nd hand Voyager for sale with low mileage, not black but close – it passed the EaZyD colour test – so, we bought it, for less than we were going to pay for the WAV-EVO (who let me down so badly, did I say…?). I’ve been in it twice so far and, rather embarrassingly, panicked both times as I came out but, hey, the wheelchair stayed upright, as did I and I’m sure I’ll get used to it … err, I have to, it will be our only mode of transport soon! It arrives, after some fitting, next week and I am so relieved, possibly even happy, but I don’t want to go overboard here!
Whilst It’s definitely the best of what we have seen out there and SDL were a treat to deal with after Aspect Conversions, it has crucified us, paying so much for a car we don’t love. Compromise and costly - the world of disability, ya gotta love it, not!
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