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Tips on Buying Auto Insurance for Those with Disabilities

Are you a safe driver? Discount! Are you married? Discount! Is your vehicle modified in any way? Oops. Modified vehicles send up red flags to insurance companies. They automatically link “modified” with activities like street racing, and can then legally hike premiums or deny coverage.

Make sure your company knows the modifications are due to disabilities and they understand the insurance is for the vehicle and the conversion components, plus coverage for replacement costs.

Shop around to get the best price.

According to The Hartford Financial Services Group, “Insuring a significantly modified vehicle, which increases the value of the vehicle, will cost more than the same non-modified vehicle, if the modifications are insured for physical damage — comprehensive and collision coverage. Liability coverage is not affected by vehicle modifications. If the modifications are not insured, premium will not be impacted.”

Modifications are not the only factors that influence premiums.

• Gender: Younger men pay more, as they tend to drive more aggressively and take more risks than females.
• Age: Young drivers in general pay more (a lot more) until they turn 21 (sometimes 25) and then rates increase again when they become seniors.

• Marital status: Single people pay more as they are more accident prone than married couples.
• Driving record: Tickets and/or accidents drive premiums higher.
• Type of vehicle: More expensive cars cost more to repair and that jacks up premiums.
• Education: (1) Lower premiums by taking a defensive driving class and sending a copy of the certificate to your insurance company. (2) College and high school students receive discounts by maintaining a high GPA. (3) College grads pay lower premiums than those with less education.
• Credit score: If you pay bills on time, you’re less likely to file an insurance claim, so your premiums are lower.
• Occupation: The more stressful your occupation and/or the more time you spend driving means higher premiums.
• Your location: Urban areas increase your premiums, as accidents and auto theft are much lower in rural areas. However, even moving 2 miles can possibly raise your insurance.
• Safety equipment: Candidates for lower rates include anti-theft devices, front and side airbags and an onboard service like OnStar and others.
• Organizations: Ask about discounts for organizations to which you belong, including military, senior organizations, etc.

This mobility safety update has been brought to you by NMEDA – the National Mobility Equipment Dealers Association. Need some information on how to make your vehicle wheelchair accessible or upgraded with the latest and most convenient features? Contact a NMEDA dealer in your local area. Your local NMEDA member is a mobility equipment and accessibility expert!

Wheelchair Vans: A Beginner’s Glossary of Terms

If you are a person with disabilities who has never bought a wheelchair van before, it is vital to understand the jargon salespeople use. To talk their language, we’ve offered a beginner’s glossary of terms to wet your feet before going to a dealership.

Accessible: Readily usable by a person with disabilities. It could be a vehicle modified for someone with a wheelchair, lodging with a shower that allows easy access for a wheelchair and grab bars, parking reserved for those with disabilities, etc. Sometimes involves a ramp, lift or other means to get into or out of something.

Conversion: A vehicle rolls off the assembly line at a manufacturing plant as a passenger van without ramps, lifts or other wheelchair accessible equipment. The van is modified by a separate company that installs accessible and adaptive devices. It is then a conversion van/vehicle and will be sold to someone with disabilities.

Hand Controls: Also called driving controls or adaptive aids, these may include steering devices, accelerator, brakes and other functions that have been altered for use by one’s hand.

Kneeling system: The vehicle actually “kneels” by lowering itself closer to the ground for easy ramp loading and unloading. (Air suspension is the magic in kneeling.) The kneeling system makes it easier to get the wheelchair into and out of the vehicle.

Tie-downs: (Also called restraints or docking systems.) A vital safety feature for wheelchairs, tie-downs feature heavy straps or harnesses mounted to the floor in a four-point restraining system. Fasteners attach to the wheelchair to hold it securely in place and give the greatest amount of stability and prevent injury in case of an accident.

Post purchase resellers program: When you are ready to sell the van or vehicle, many dealers will buy it back at a discounted price or sell it for you for a fee.

There are many more terms, but these will get you started on the road to freedom.

This mobility safety update has been brought to you by NMEDA – the National Mobility Equipment Dealers Association. Need some information on how to make your vehicle wheelchair accessible or upgraded with the latest and most convenient features? Contact a NMEDA dealer in your local area. Your local NMEDA member is a mobility equipment and accessibility expert!

Tips on Traveling with Service Animals

Service animals – whether they’re dogs, monkeys or parrots – make life easier for those with disabilities to do many things, including travel.

According to the ADA, “Service animals are animals that are individually trained to perform tasks for people with disabilities. Service animals are working animals, not pets.”

You and your service animal have many rights when traveling on airplanes.

• Airlines must provide animal relief areas for a service animal.
• If the flight is 8 hours or longer, you may have to provide documentation that the animal can fly without needing a relief area.
• Those flying with emotional support or psychiatric service animals must provide advance notice and check-in, plus a current letter from a licensed mental health professional.
• Foreign air carriers are not required to carry service animals other than dogs.
• Screening a passenger with a service animal usually takes more time, so inform a security officer that your furry companion is not a pet, but a service animal. (They will normally move you to the front of the screening line.)

Service dogs

Because service dogs usually wear a harness identifying them as a service dog, they do not need health certificates when traveling in the U.S., or certification, tags, or ID cards. For special rules for Hawaii, visit Hawaii Department of Agriculture, Animal Quarantine Station at http://hawaii.gov/hdoa/ai/aqs/info or call 808-483-7151.

Documentation may be required for an animal traveling to international destinations.

Cab companies cannot legally refuse to provide services to individuals with disabilities or their service animals. They also cannot charge more for transporting individuals with disabilities and their service animals than they charge others for equivalent services.

If you have questions about service animals or other requirements of the ADA, call the U.S. Department of Justice’s toll-free ADA Information Line at 800-514-0301 (voice) or 800-514-0383 (TDD).

This mobility safety update has been brought to you by NMEDA – the National Mobility Equipment Dealers Association. Need some information on how to make your vehicle wheelchair accessible or upgraded with the latest and most convenient features? Contact a NMEDA dealer in your local area. Your local NMEDA member is a mobility equipment and accessibility expert!

Accessibility Pros and Cons: Minivan vs Full-Size Van

What are the perks and drawbacks of a minivan vs. a full-size van when buying or modifying accessible transportation? Because almost any type of vehicle can be modified to fill the needs of someone with disabilities, it is a tough but important question.

Polls have shown that the minivan is the most popular, but it all depends on the needs and finances of the person buying a new or used vehicle. Following are some of the pros and cons.

MINIVAN PROS:

Costs less than a full-sized van or SUV

Uses a ramp, which is preferred over a bulky, more expensive lift

Gets better gas mileage

Drives like a car and is more maneuverable

MINIVAN CONS:

If you are taller than 56 inches when seated in the wheelchair, you need a full-size accessible van.

Not much cargo space or room for passengers

Not much ground clearance with lowered floor minivans. They are more apt to bottom out, especially with passengers in the rear seat.

FULL-SIZED VAN PROS:

More space for passengers and cargo

No worries about bottoming out as there is ample ground clearance

Roomy enough to easily maneuver a wheelchair

Large enough to tow another vehicle

FULL-SIZED VAN CONS:

Driving and maneuverability more challenging than a minivan

Very low gas mileage

Not as stable as a minivan due to its high center of gravity

OTHER OPTIONS:

SUVs have lower gas mileage than a full-size van, but are expensive to maintain, have higher insurance rates and that same unstable high center of gravity.

CARS are better on gas, but using a car as accessible transportation is not only awkward and difficult, but inconvenient, as you would have to use a foldable wheelchair.

PICK-UP TRUCKS have same drawbacks as an SUV, but the wheelchair is exposed to the elements, shortening its life; and the transfer chair system is expensive.

This mobility safety update has been brought to you by NMEDA – the National Mobility Equipment Dealers Association. Need some information on how to make your vehicle wheelchair accessible or upgraded with the latest and most convenient features? Contact a NMEDA dealer in your local area. Your local NMEDA member is a mobility equipment and accessibility expert!

Basics: Buying an Inside Wheelchair Lift for a Van

If you have a motorized wheelchair, you know how awkward and heavy it is getting it in and out of a vehicle without a wheelchair lift. But even a manual wheelchair can be difficult to wrangle on and off, and if the person with disabilities is alone, they too need a lift.

Whether the situation is temporary or permanent, there are several basic considerations before buying a lift, as there are advantages and disadvantages to each. Deciding on the right one can make all the difference in the world – to your budget, your confidence and your comfort.

The simplest and easiest to install is the outside lift, which usually attaches to a trailer hitch on the back, taking up no space inside the vehicle. It is also kindest to the budget.

But most people with disabilities prefer an inside lift, which comes in three basic types: electric, hydraulic and gravity.

• Electric wheelchair lifts run off the vehicle’s battery. Electric lifts are easier and less expensive to repair than hydraulic.
• Hydraulic wheelchair lifts are powered by hydraulics. We’re talking cylinders, a pumping system, hydraulic fluid – complicated stuff – and the reason this lift is usually more expensive. However, it also makes for a smoother ride than electric power.
• Gravity lifts use power to lift and fold, but gravity to lower them to the ground.

You also need to decide between an unoccupied lift, which stows the chair while the person rides in the van, and an occupied lift, which lifts the chair and its rider into the van.

• An occupied lift requires a separate person to operate the lift controls inside the van. (The lift can be set up for one-person use if the controls are integrated with the lift.)

• Many lifts allow the wheelchair to be loaded onto the lift while the person with the disability gets into the vehicle. Once inside, the person uses the controller to lift the wheelchair into the vehicle, then raise and fold the lift, all automatically.

This mobility safety update has been brought to you by NMEDA – the National Mobility Equipment Dealers Association. Need some information on how to make your vehicle wheelchair accessible or upgraded with the latest and most convenient features? Contact a NMEDA dealer in your local area. Your local NMEDA member is a mobility equipment and accessibility expert!

Seat Belt Safety Tips for Seniors and Those with Disabilities

If your vehicle is older than three years, you probably don’t have the safest seat belts installed. In 2007 automakers were required to equip all vehicles with advanced frontal air bags. The big difference is – sensors take into account the weight and size of an occupant.

The force with which this type of airbag inflates depends on crash severity, distance from the driver and passenger and weight of the driver and passenger.

Even if you do have the latest and greatest seat belts, seniors or those with disabilities may still have risks. For example, side airbags protect the torso, pelvis and head, but if they deploy with too much force, seniors can be injured. Dual-stage and dual-threshold airbags are recommended, especially for those with osteoporosis.

For some adults with disabilities, even that might risk injury. To install an air bag on/off switch or deactivate a frontal air bag, follow the instructions at www.Safercar.gov (http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/airbags/).

If transferring to a seat is not feasible, you must secure the wheelchair to the vehicle facing forward and use crash-tested seatbelts for the wheelchair-seated rider. Your wheelchair seat belt may not be designed to withstand a crash force. Make sure it is a crash-tested lap and shoulder belt.

The best seat belts won’t help if they’re not used; and three out of four seat belts are not even used correctly. See if you are using yours safely:

• The lap belt and shoulder belt should be secured across the pelvis and rib cage, which are better at withstanding crash forces than other parts of the body.
• The shoulder belt should be placed across the middle of your chest and away from your neck.
• The lap belt should be adjusted across your hips below your stomach.
• Before you buy a new car, check to see that its seat belts are a good fit for you.
• If you seat belts don’t fit well or you need a roomier belt, ask the dealer about seat belt adjusters or contact the vehicle manufacturer to obtain seat belt extenders.

If you have an older car with lap belts only, ask about retro-fitting your car with safer lap/shoulder belts. To find adaptations available from specific manufacturers, visit the Website of the National Mobility Equipment Dealers Association, www.nmeda.org.

This mobility safety update has been brought to you by NMEDA – the National Mobility Equipment Dealers Association. Need some information on how to make your vehicle wheelchair accessible or upgraded with the latest and most convenient features? Contact a NMEDA dealer in your local area. Your local NMEDA member is a mobility equipment and accessibility expert!

4 Rules On Aging And Maintaining Our Health

As Mickey Mantle said, “If I knew I was going to live this long, I’d have taken better care of myself.”

Basically, the rules to a longer, healthier life consist of two do’s and two don’t’s.

• Don’t drink to excess.
• Don’t smoke.
• Do eat according to the food pyramid.
• Do exercise regularly.

We know the evils of drinking to excess and smoking, and eating too much will make us fat, but how does eating right and exercising impact the aging process?

Saying “It’s just darned good for you” doesn’t encourage us to get off the couch or eat five servings of veggies a day. But enjoying healthy foods and moving our bodies can actually slow physical aging.

EXERCISE

• Regular exercise helps lower blood pressure, fights diabetes and sharpens our brains. (With age, the body doesn’t repair itself as it once did, so exercise with a doctor’s permission.)

• Stress can physically shrink our brains. And who among us can afford that? Exercise, even mental exercise, helps alleviate stress.
• Not even heavy exercise, but just being consistently active fights brain fog, reduces inflammation, and prevents type 2 diabetes and other chronic conditions.

FOOD

• Too much sugar in our diets makes our skin wrinkle before our years. Many foods contain hefty amounts of sugar – a single 12-ounce can of soda has around 13 teaspoons. Yummy but dangerous.
• Antioxidants – found in dark-colored fruits and vegetables – fight free radicals that damage cells and make us look older (and can lead to cancer.)
• Omega-3-rich fish fights chronic inflammation and improves our mood and attitude.

There’s many more foods and a variety of exercises and activities we can all develop a passion for – which can add to our health and our years.

This mobility safety update has been brought to you by NMEDA – the National Mobility Equipment Dealers Association. Need some information on how to make your vehicle wheelchair accessible or upgraded with the latest and most convenient features? Contact a NMEDA dealer in your local area. Your local NMEDA member is a mobility equipment and accessibility expert!