What Size Rental Car Will fit a Wheelchair and Walker?

[Echie]

Has anyone traveled with a wheelchair and a walker before and rented a car? If so what size car did you rent?

I realize every wheelchair and walker are a different size, but I'm just trying to figure out what sized rental car we should book to make sure everything fits... I have an SUV at home so I know that everything would fit into one of those, but could we get away with renting a full-size car and still have everything fit?

My mom has a traveling wheelchair (pretty just basic one) and a walker that we will need to fit into the rental car, along with 2 suitcases...

TIA!

 

[missypriss19]

I believe a full size car would do. I have a buick lucerne and I can fit my DH wheelchair, large suitcase, and 2 small suitcases in the trunk. I also had a Geo Prism that I could fit both a wheelchair and a walker in but nothing else.

 

[Mary976]

Cars and wheelchairs can be tricky. Among the issues we've discovered (DD uses a chair)...
*the space in the trunk (obvious)
*the height required to get the chair into the trunk (you'll be lifting it MANY times, so this is important, some trunks have a "cut out" area in the middle so they are not as high). You also don't want to scratch up the car in the loading process. At home, we keep a car floor mat in the trunk that we lay over the edge of the trunk when we are loading DD's chair.
*Whether the trunk has protrusions at the tires that will keep the chair from going in properly and/or the trunk from closing
*the slope of the trunk from front to back. It may look like the chair will fit, but when you fold the chair and put it in, the chair may be too "fat" to go all the way to the back of the trunk, thereby meaning it will not fit. DD's wheels come off, but that's not the case for all chairs.

My advice it to get a larger car (at least a full-size) and to rent from somewhere that lets you look at different cars. Enterprise and Alamo do this for sure, and I know some other places do as well. My advice is to get the chair all the way in and close the trunk before deciding if the car will work for you. Don't just eyeball it (been there, done that!) Also, if anywhere has PT Crusiers, I seem to remember that they are easy to load AND easy for people with disabilities to get into.

Good luck!
Mary

 

[Echie]

Thank you both so very much for your helpful responses! I really appreciate it!!!