How to choose a wheelchair accessible vehicle to hire

Take these with the passenger seated, because a person changes the shape of a chair more than you'd expect. Write them in your phone so you have them on every call.

• Width at the widest point, usually the push rims or the armrests.
• Length from the tip of the footplates to the furthest point at the back, including any anti-tip bars.
• Seated height, from the floor to the top of the passenger's head. This is the one that's easy to forget, and it decides whether they can ride sitting up straight.
• Combined weight of the chair and passenger, which matters most for a power chair and for any vehicle with a lift.

A ramp folds out, usually from the back, and the chair is pushed or driven up it. It needs no power, and there's little to go wrong. The thing to ask about is length: a longer ramp makes a gentler slope, which matters if a carer is pushing a manual chair. A ramp also needs clear space behind the vehicle to fold out, so think about where you'll load, whether that's a driveway, a kerb or a hospital pick-up bay.

A lift is a powered platform that raises the chair from the ground to the floor of the vehicle. It suits heavy power chairs and anyone who can't manage a slope. Every lift has a platform size and a rated load, so check both against your measurements.

Neither is better across the board. It comes down to the chair, who is helping, and where you'll be getting in and out.

Compare the passenger's seated height with two numbers on the vehicle: the height of the door opening, and the internal height where the chair ends up. The second one is what they'll be sitting under for the whole trip. Leave room for bumps in the road and for a hat.

In a wheelchair accessible vehicle the chair is fastened to the floor, usually with straps at four points or a docking system, and the passenger wears a seatbelt of their own. The two do different jobs: one holds the chair, the other holds the person.

Ask which system the vehicle uses and whether it suits your chair. Some chairs have marked points where the straps should go. And ask to be shown how it works before you drive away, not halfway through the first trip.

Count who else is coming. Ask where the chair sits (the back, or further forward beside other seats), whether a carer can sit next to the passenger, and how much room is left for bags and equipment once the chair is in.

In NSW, a standard car licence (class C) covers vehicles up to 4.5 tonnes gross vehicle mass that seat up to 12 adults, driver included. Most wheelchair accessible vans and people movers sit inside that, but check the vehicle you're booking. Hire companies also set their own rules on driver age and extra drivers, so ask.

• Ramp length and gradient, or the lift's platform size and rated load.
• Internal height at the chair position, and the door opening height.
• The floor space for the chair, width by length.
• How the chair is secured, and how the passenger is belted in.
• How many wheelchair positions there are, and how many other seats.
• What insurance covers the hire, what the excess is, and whether there's a bond.
• Whether you collect the vehicle or it's delivered.
• If the hire is NDIS funded, how they work with your plan.

Every Drivable vehicle page has a spec table with these same lines: access type, ramp length and gradient, internal height at the chair position, the chair footprint it takes, how the chair is secured, chair positions and seats. Where a figure hasn't been measured yet, it says “Ask Marco” rather than guessing.

Start with the wheelchair accessible fleet, read about wheelchair accessible vehicle hire in Sydney, or, for funded hire, the NDIS hire page.