I have a friend who recently planned a vacation with her family on Lake Michigan. She was thrilled beyond belief when she found a beautiful vacation rental online — secluded beachfront, gorgeous sunset views, gourmet kitchen…THE WORKS! And the price for a week’s stay was a complete bargain. She made the reservations online, and told everyone she knew about the deal they’d found.

Well, they made the eight-hour drive to Lake Michigan, pulled in the driveway to this phenomenal vacation home, and were surprised to see several construction trucks and a crew of about 10 workers pounding away on a half-complete addition to the home. It was a beautiful location, to be sure. So beautiful that the owners had decided to make the home a duplex and discount rentals at the home for that particular summer. That trip went down as the vacation of power tools, incessant hammering, and chatty construction workers who were constantly trying to bum a steak off the grill.

The independence you’re about to purchase deserves considerable research and deliberation — not a haphazard scan through random websites.

Relying on Internet pictures to plan your vacation has its own risks, as my friend learned, but it can be borderline reckless when you’re making a purchase as important as a wheelchair van. Online mobility sellers hope you’ll be sold by a few nice pictures and won’t do the research to make sure this vehicle is the best fit for you. Quite simply, once you’ve made that purchase, you’re not their problem anymore.

The accessible wheelchair vehicle you fall in love with online could actually be a terrible fit for you in person. Maybe the model you’re looking at is too low to the ground, so low that you can’t see when you’re behind the wheel. Maybe there’s an option at your BraunAbility dealership that offers more versatile seating arrangements for your family. Whatever the case, you’ve got to check it out for yourself — and that’s just one of the many reasons we stand behind our network of BraunAbility dealers (over 200 nationwide, by the way!). The independence you’re about to purchase deserves considerable research and deliberation – not a haphazard scan through random websites.

Speaking of research, we’ve got a couple of resources to make the process a little easier for you. Whether you’re purchasing your first Entervan or Rampvan or considering trading in for a newer model, check out our Buyer’s Guide tab on BraunAbility.com. You’ll see links to our FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) and a  Top 10 Tips to Consider When Shopping for a Mobility Conversion, recently published by Edmunds.com.

We hope they’ll both help your research process. As always, let us know if there are any other questions we can answer!

Tags: BraunAbililty, entervan, rampvan, wheelchair accessible vehicle, wheelchair van

Find your nearest dealer to learn more about BraunAbility wheelchair vans and wheelchair lifts, and to schedule an Entervan or Rampvan demonstration at your convenience.