my father has PSP, he was diagnosed about 18 months ago and I have read all sorts of brilliant advice on this forum, and also from the helpline. What I can't find though is whether anyone can recommend a car that is easier to get in and out of.
My father is about 5'11 and is now very stiff. He can walk a little but bending his head forward to get into their existing car is increasingly difficult and although he doesn't leave the house much he still has to to get to the doctor, optician etc. We are looking for a car that has a door that opens quite wide and lots of head room, that doesn't require you to climb into it, but also you don't have to lower yourself down into the seat. This website (Research institute for disabled consumers) ridc.org.uk/features-review... has a really useful tool for searching but I thought maybe somebody might have some real life experience that would help?
Many thanks.
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Crhome
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We bought our WAV off Allied Mobility who allow you to try a car out locally to see what is suitable but they also do lease cars, if that helps. Good luck. AliBee
I’ve found it difficult since needs keep changing so I’ve bought and sold more cars this year than the previous 15 years 😥.
Typical wheelchair accessible vehicles (where you ride in the wheelchair) have not been right for now - many have the wheelchair passenger sitting far back in the car on their own.
Our current is a Japanese import with a Wellcab seat - good for now but may be difficult to maintain.
While he is able to sit down/stand up and perhaps prefers to be in the front passenger seat, I would suggest looking for a second hand car that either already has a swivel seat - or look to put one in. You might also want to consider space for bringing equipment (wheelchairs, walking frames etc) so a larger car is likely to be useful.
We found the car on Auto trader - if you use the key word "disability" instead of "wheelchair" it often brings up a handful of Japanese cars with these seats. While my husband is still able to make the transfer from seat to wheelchair, this takes the stress out of going in the car and the seat is comfortable. It swivels, moves out of a large door opening and lowers itself at the press of a button - with a remote, There is also a button on the seat that does the same thing. It remains to be seen whether the car is reliable and whether I can sell it on once it no longer fits our needs.
As my husband’s PSP got worse the car became an issue - too low, not enough boot space for a wheeled walker etc so on someone’s recommendation I went to Toyota and looked at the Toyota Yaris Cross hybrid and immediately knew it was perfect. The seat height is just right so he can get in and out easily - there’s plenty of leg room AND I can get both his wheelchair and fold-up zimmer in the boot (or along back seat). It’s very economical too. My husband loves it … and so do I 😊 would love to hear your opinion once you’ve been to see it.
I had a similar problem with my husband, who was 6 ft. He was finding it difficult to get into our Mazda 6. We went on the off-chance to our dealer and found a CX5 SUV, which was ideal. Large boot for his wheelchair and / or walker, plenty of space to get in and out with the aid of a rotating cushion and good leg room.
It was ideal, and I have only just changed it for a smaller Mazda as it was too big for me.
Hi there, my wife has had PSP for the last five years. She is unable to walk without holding my hands for support. Eyesight poor/balance gone. We have a Mitsubishi shogun. Plenty of room for electric scooter +wheelchair and wide door for access. Hope this helps.
Thanks everyone, this is very helpful and I'm going to have a look at all the cars you have suggested. Do any of you have a view on whether we should rethink the plan of a new car for Dad to get into the front seat of, considering that his mobility is declining quite fast, and instead think about a comfortable wheel chair and taxis/a car that you can wheel the wheelchair into? Maybe less exhausting? Has anyone gone down this route? And is there such thing as a comfortable wheel chair - we have a very light one for in the house that wouldn't be comfortable (or safe?) in a car. Or a large electric self drive one that hasn't been a great success.
Hi, we bought a wheelchair accessible car for my mum. As the condition progressed quickly my advice would be to try and stay two steps ahead as buying and selling cars can be an added stress. To make a wheelchair as comfortable as possible I would recommend a VicAir cushion. I think they are around £600 pounds but was the only type of cushion that seemed to do the job.
We tried various cars but things progressed quite quickly and my husband was in a wheelchair before we found a suitable car. Whilst he was still trying to get into my car, he found the handle strap that goes around the window frame, helped him get in and out of the car. He didn’t get on with the handle that went into the lock.
We hired a Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle WAV to see if we got on with it. I’d always driven a very small manual car. My daughter prefers driving an automatic, so we tried one of these. The guy was really helpful and took me on test drives to make sure I was comfortable driving it. After hiring one of these for a while, we bought a second hand one. We tried a Fiat Diablo and now have a Peugeot Partner Teepee.
I have a,Ford Kuga which I got through the mobility component of PIP. My partner wanted à car with a flat boot so that he can slide out my scooter instead of having to lift it out
Hi, there is a company called Driving Miss Daisy that operates around the uk that could be worth looking at. From memory, my mum’s ability to get in and out of a car to and from a wheelchair with assistance was no longer than a year. After then, the only way to enjoy life outside of the house was to get a purpose built vehicle that accommodated the wheelchair with mum in it. Dad bought an adapted Citroen Belingo which has been so vital. He didn’t want to spend too much money but equally needed a comfortable drive and a vehicle that was easy to manoeuvre the wheelchair in and out, with ramp and fixings. It works very well and was the best purchase. Hindsight is a great thing, going straight to this type of vehicle saves switching and changing as the disease progresses and ultimately money. Hope this helps?
Hi, having looked after my husband for 11 years and with hindsight, I would have bought a wheelchair accessible car from the beginning. It would have saved my back from having to carry his wheelchair in and out of the boot of the car etc. I agree completely with bechonbear .
Hi Crhome, we had a Skoda Karoq and installed an Autochair Milford Person in car hoist. This lifted my wife (PSP) in a sling (which she stayed sitting in in the car) from a wheelchair into the standard car seat. The only drawback was we could not open the glove box which contained the disc player etc. Before we had this we could only go to one place a day, as it was too tiring for her. Once installed we went to to several places in a day.
If you buy a car and have it installed before driving it off the forecourt you could get the car VAT free - please check this is still the case.
There are many car adaptions on the market, so it pays to do your research. All my very best wishes.
Hi, we found our daughters Nissan Quashqai a very nice size for my wife who has PSP to get in and out of it’s not too low and not too high you can just slide into it, hope this gives you some ideas all the very best
I forgot to mention the wheelchairs in my previous reply.
My husband uses a standard NHS issued wheelchair. He found it helpful to have an extra small honeycomb cushion on the standard 2” cushion but after talking to wheelchair service we have put the Jay union cushion from his powered chair onto the standard chair. Both chairs fit well into the WAV and this one has an electric pulley system to get the manual chair into the vehicle as I couldn’t push him up the ramp without it!
On a totally different point we use a wheeled shower chair/commode to transfer him to his chair to the bathroom. Much more movability than a wheelchair!
I’ve got a Nissan Xtrail and I can just sit on seat no flopping down and I’ve never hit head on door and it doesn’t touch the roof, the other one on my list was Ford torneo I’ve you can go electric there’s the Citroen berlingo or Peugeot rifter
In all honesty you would probably be better off looking for a 2nd hand wav
I don't know if this would be useful to you but when I started having difficulties getting my wife into the car to sit properly I investigated lifting devices and found this apparatus that attaches to the hinges on you car door. I have been using it for 2 years now and would be lost without it. aulift.com.au I hope this helpsRegards
Thank you for all these helpful thoughts and suggestions - drawing on other people's experiences makes this a little less hard. A lot to think about, and practical issues of what is available near by etc. I like the idea of hiring a WAV to see how that works out before committing. Thanks again!
If you are in the UK, have you applied for PIP? My husband gets the higher rate of PIP but he also qualifies for the motability allowance. The first car we had from motability was a Citroen C5 but we had that for less than a year, as Brian couldn’t bend his body sufficiently to get into the car and was really struggling to transfer. We then went back to Motability, who were great. We applied for a WAV, which was approved but we had to wait for 6 months for the WAV to be available. We have a Peugot Horizon Rifter which is a diesel, automatic drive (which I’d never driven an automatic before!). It’s fine except for a few quibbles. We have 2 granddaughters but as we only had one rear seat fitted, we can only take one of them in the car and the deposit is quite hefty (approx £5000) but we applied for a grant from Motability and this helped us purchase the WAV. Also, with no boot, the shopping gets dumped on the front seat! Based on our experience, whilst Brian could transfer the C5 was a great choice (good headroom, lots of boot room, comfy to ride and easy to drive) but the WAV is now an essential. Hope this helps. Take care
I’ve just googled this and it seems that you cannot get motability allowance with Attendance allowance. I didn’t know this when I posted so I’m really sorry if I have mislead anyone.
It's useful to those who are young enough to benefit from the scheme. Self-funding a new motability vehicle can be very expensive.
I know many are surprised that the mobility allowance and motability schemes don't apply because of the patients age. I have also struggled to find a way to get free road tax for our vehicle even though it is only used for my husband's benefit. The road tax process requires you to have one of the benefits other than attendance allowance. I suppose I should be happy that we are still able to go out quite often. Stay positive 🌻🫂
Strongly recommend you get a van into which you can load a wheel chair. If your experience is like ours you will soon be very glad you made that choice.
Not sure where you are in the country but my wife has no mobility now so we purchased a Peugeot Partner Tepee with a winch which is really useful when getting the wheelchair into the back. The wheelchair was supplied by wheelchair services in conjunction with the local Hospice for free.
When my wife was a bit more able I had a passenger swivel seat fitted by Chapman cars which makes it very easy to sit in then swivel back round facing front, they will only fit on certain cars (£1400) If you search for a WAV then see if you can find one that already has a swivel passenger seat you will then cover every eventuality. Hope this helps.
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