Help me decide.......

[Sarahsmom85]

To fly and rent a handicap van or drive our own.

I'm trying to justify flying and renting a van. Maybe if I put it on paper it will become clear.
The facts.......

DH needs a WC van he has a power chair which he needs to use.
Our own van is a 94, over 170,000 miles. Can't afford to get a new one so need to make this one last.
Daughter (18) will be with us and could help drive. But I am nervous with anyone else driving. Guess I have been the main driver for so long.
I work from home so on lost of work time.
Two and half hours on a plane and we are there.
Drive takes 24hrs nonstop. DH could not take nonstop.


Renting a van will cost $80 +$2 +7 % tax for 14 days =$1228

Plane helpfully will get less then $200 = $600

IF WE DRIVE
Gas, tolls, 4 hotel rooms (2 each way) Food, the dog will need to be in a kennel 4 more days.
Wear and tear on the Van and on Us,

In Feb we drove to Florida to take a cruise, we took 2 days down and only one the night home. I worried the whole time that the van would brake down. The check oil light came on and it was oxygen sencor. By the time we got home DH was so sore and tired out. We at the time said we would never drive again. the
We use to travel all the time but we are in our 50's now so it is much tougher.
Now I'm looking at the cost. I'm a be penny pincher. I can save up enough by May. I will start putting items on e-bay. Good thing DD has a good college package or we would be staying home.
I still think I will fly and rent.
Comments.......

 

[Talking Hands]

Only comment I have is get over being the only driver and let your 18 share the driving. She'll do fine. Otherwise it is your decision.

Personally we prefer to drive wherever we go and hate flying.

 

[Figaro]

Hi, Sarahsmom85!

I don't remember how much the IRS allows per mile for car (what the actual cost is including wear and tear, maintenance and so on), but it was about 30 cents a mile a few years ago. Multiply that by the total number of miles and you have the "real" cost of driving. Most people only total up the gas, tolls, hotel, food costs for a trip, but the truth is, the wear and tear on the vehicle does add up, albeit at the end of the vehicle's life and not at the beginning.

We drive because we enjoy the drive down and back and because flying can be such a hassle with the wheelchair. But then, we have to drive 3 hours one way to get to the airport and weather up here in the frozen north can make that more wearing and worrying, both when we leave and when we get back(smile). But we are well aware of what the extra cost of driving is, although since we have relatively new cars, we won't be paying that cost until the end of the vehicle's life, which will come much sooner because of our choice to drive to Florida.

Add in worrying about a vehicle breakdown, loss of time and enjoyment if that happens, as well as the extra costs of repair and maybe even staying at a hotel on the road while the vehicle is repaired and it sounds like flying and renting would save a lot of time, be less stressful and probably not cost as much more as it seems.

Whatever you decide, I hope you have a wonderful trip!

 

[clkelley]

Another thing you might consider, if you are staying on Disney property is to forgo the rental van.

If you are not staying on Disney property, you might want to consider it. You can get a disabled accesible room at All-Stars or Pop Century for less than $100 a night. (sometimes a lot less) You can get a rollaway for your daughter, or get a second room for your daughter.

With Mears, if you require a disabled accesible van, you are almost guaranteed to be by yourself.

Sor for $79 RT you can be taken directly to your resort and then let Disney do the driving. That might make the actual cost a lot closer to driving your own van.

It seems to me much easier than having to mess with the lift on the rental van all the time.

Also, if you have a direct flight, flying with the electric chair was a breeze.

Hubby drove his scooter directly planeside, got on the plane, then the flight attendant handed him his key. Once we landed, we gave the flight attendant the scooter key, and the scooter was waiting for us when we got off the plane

 

[Sarahsmom85]

I guess I should have added a few things.

We have already rented a 3 br villa off site. DD Boyfriend will be flying in for a week and also my brother might we flying down too if he can get the time off. The price was great (less then a week anywhere else) and we can eat some meal there and we have plenty of room.

We just got back from Las Vegas, and had a horrible time with public transportation. Cabs not showinng up on time, 2 1/2 hr wait, bus drivers had suckie atitude, Trolley drive wanted to know how come we didn't take the bus. DH said either rent or take our own van.

I really don't mind flying. We use to drive all the time, now DH health isn't as good as it use to be. Driving home last yr was very hard on him.

ALso as far as tax goes I can right most of the trip off as business expense.

 

[clkelley]

Well then I agree you should by all means rent a van.

I tried staying off property once and relying on paid transportation as a regular person, NEVER AGAIN!!

Carol

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Find out what it would take to rent a van up where you live, especially if it is from a major (national) company. It might cost less than down here.

Yes, you would have the same time and in-transit costs, but at least you would be in a newer, probably more comfortable, van and if anything goes wrong it is the rental company's problem, not yours.

 

[Sarahsmom85]

Nobody around here rents Wheelchair vans, and if they did they would probably charge the same rates. Plus if it was per mile it would cost a whole lot more.

We tried to rent one in Vegas and it was $100 a day and they couldn't even get us one for our whole stay.

If I could rent one up here and it was unlimited miles then I might consider it.

I think I'm at the point where money is second to wear and tear on my husband.
I talked to him again last night about driving and said it was up to me.

I might see if I can get a lower rate at the rental company since there are more than one in the Orlando area I might see if one will do better with a 2 week rental.

 

[SueM in MN]

Since you are staying off site, you are really kind of in a bind since you need to have a van one way or another. If you were staying at a WDW resort, the transportation is generally good, but having to rely on people to come pick you up and take you where you want to go will be too hard.
I guess that I would be a bit wary of driving a van with that many miles on it that far. It may turn into a very expensive money saving method if the van breaks down and has to be fixed while you are on the road needing to pay for extra hotel bills. Another thing to think about is what might break down. If it's the mechanical parts of the van itself, anyplace can fix that - if it's the lift, you might be out of luck.
Flying with a power wheelchair is a little different than flying with a manual one (or an ecv). We have not been brave enough to fly with DD's power wheelchair yet, but next trip, we plan to. We will be staying at OKW, so will probably just use Mears and then use WDW transportation. (But, if you find a good rate for a wheelchair van down there, we might use that too!)

We used a company called Wheelchair Getaways when our van got rear ended and needed to be out for repairs for a week. I have no idea how much they cost (the insurance of the lady who hit us had to pay for it), but I was very impressed with the company. Each area is served by an individual franchise and the people are in the business because they have people in their families with disabilities and see the need for the service. Some of the franchises serve big areas (like a whole state) but they do pretty much cover the whole US.

 

[Sarahsmom85]

Wheelchair Getaway is $100 a day.

DH chair is at the repair shop right now because something happened to it on the plane from Vegas. I don't know if they dropped it or what. But it was making a clicking noise.
We have flown a few times and we never have had problems with his chair before. Back in 85 and 86 I pushed him all over Disney and transfered him in and out of a car. Those days are over.

One of the reseasons we are staying off site (besides getting a great deal) is we are doing a more Orlando experience instead of a Disney experience. We plan to spend somedays just sitting by the pool. And doing off site things. This is also kind of an adult trip, no one under 18.


If you have time I'll tell you our drive to Florida trip last yr.
My daughter was graduating high school and for a present we where going to take her on a cruise. One of our friend where going to go with us but things didn't work out. Daughters boyfriends family where planning a cruise and asked us to join them. Drove to Florida taking 2 days to drive down. We met with the DD Bf's older sister and her bf in Ft Lauderdale. BF family was driving down in there newer fancy van. The mom, dad, bf, sister and two twin brothers. They stopped at mom's sister house overnight she lives 2 hrs out of FT. L. By cell phone (thank GOD for cell phones) Kelly (mom) tells Shannon her daughter who is at a hotel with us that they will met us at the hotel before we leave for the ship. We are sitting by the pool waiting and we get a call saying there van stopped working. This is just about noon because that was check out time and we all checked out waiting for BF family. Now we are trying to figure out what to do. Kelly has a call into auto club. Shannon wants to jump in her car (a small two seater) and go after them. Kelly calls back van starts. Calls again stopped again. Finially she gets it to a exit and finds a place to leave it for repair while on ship. Now how to get them for there to where we are. If we drive 2 hrs up and back we would miss the boat. Of course now its almost 1 o'clock. KELLY call taxi, they cannot take 6 people in taxi. Call limo service none available. Now this is the SPECIAL part. A customer in the store hears whats going on and tells Kelly if she could wait, she would go home and get her van and take them to the ship. Is that a nice person or what? She went home and sent her husband back with the van and he got them to the ship on time.
Kelly's van was newer than mine and she had it checked out before she left and still something when wrong. It cost her over $500 to have it fixed.
I had to stop because my check engine light came on. They checked everything and said everything was ok and just the oxygen sensor. Then on the way home I guess I had air in my tank because i couldn't get alot of gas to go in and the gage read low.

This van has to last us another 5 or 6 yrs. So if I just drive it locally I just might get it to last that long. Oh yah, We have a lowered floor mini van with a ramp. At least if it breaks I and use it manually. Can you believe they want $400 a month for 10 yrs for a new van. Sorry just cann't do it.
If someone wants to fix the health system and I don't have to pay $477 a month for health insurance I could get a new van.
But thats not a Disney topic. LOL

 

[Michigan]

If you have a prescription the wheelchair conversion part of the van purchase is deductible on your income tax as a medical expense. Also, does you husband work? In Michigan the state Rehab will pay for the conversion if you have a job and use the van to get to it even if the person with the disability isn't the driver. They also pay for it if your in college.