Hand controls, lifts, transfer seats and home access. We supply it, we install it, and we are the ones who service it afterward.
Installed in-house · serviced in-house
A hand control, fitted to a Phantom
Driving controls
If driving has gotten harder
There are many reasons your ability to drive could be compromised. Leg or foot amputations, weakness and musculoskeletal issues can all potentially be resolved by one of the driving aids on this page.
None of it starts with us. Before we will install a system in your vehicle we require a driving rehab evaluation with the prescription that comes out of it. We only install equipment that has been prescribed and signed off on by a licensed CDRS — a Certified Driving Rehabilitation Specialist.
Examples
The systems available for a vehicle
If your evaluation came back naming a specific control, the term you were given is probably on this list. Bring the paperwork in and we will tell you what it means for the car you own.
Hand controls
There are many types of hand control that let you take back the steering wheel and the pedals by hand. Which one you get is the evaluator’s call, not ours.
Push-rock
Push-pull
Joystick
Spinner knobs
Foot controls
Not every solution is a hand control. Some of the most common fits move the pedals rather than replace them.
Left pedal accelerator
Pedal blockers
Pedal extenders
Seating systems
Valet seats are there to help you get in and out of the vehicle. They also make it easier to transfer directly from the seat to your equipment.
Valet seats
Transfer and turning seats
Custom powered seat options
Tie-downs and docking
Whether you want to drive from your equipment or simply need to secure someone during transport, there is a system for either one.
Docking systems
Four-point strap securement
Occupant restraints
Where to start
Getting the evaluation
CDRS evaluation · prescription · installation · training
We are lucky to have several providers around who can help get you driving again. Below is contact information for two licensed CDRS providers, both of which we have worked with in the past.
Neither one is ours and we cannot speak for them. Names, programs and phone numbers change, so confirm before you rely on either.
Steering spinner knob
Changing vehicles
Your controls may not have to be bought twice
If you are trading the car in, ask us before you assume the equipment goes with it. We help clients transfer their existing systems into new vehicles all the time.
Tell us at the start whether any controls need to be transferred. It changes what vehicle makes sense to buy, and it is a far cheaper conversation before the purchase than after it.
Left-foot accelerator
Driving controls
Fitted to your car, not to a catalog
A left-foot accelerator, like every control we fit, is mechanical hardware bolted into the car you already own. The geometry has to suit your reach, your strength and your seating position, and it has to be set with you sitting in the driver’s seat.
That is why we install rather than ship. It also means when something needs adjusting in two years, the person who set it up is the person you call.
Interior hoist for an SUV
Vehicle lifts
Will my chair work with a lift?
The type of lift required depends on two things: your vehicle and your power mobility device. Most scooters and standard powered wheelchairs are compatible with the lifts we use.
If yours does not have the brackets needed to transport it safely, that is usually not the end of it — there may be an add-on kit that makes it work.
Before you shop for a lift
Do the weight math first
450 lb at the lift · 550–600 lb combined
What you can carry depends largely on your vehicle. The towing rating at your hitch, and the type of body — unibody or frame — determine the overall weight capacity you have to work with.
The maximum weight a lift itself can handle tops out at around 450 lb, which puts the total combined weight right around 550 to 600 lb. That number is the whole decision.
A vehicle lift is a good option for people who have some mobility left, or whose equipment weighs in under 300 lb. As you add seat functions or other capability — deck size, tire size — you tend to add a lot of weight. Some power wheelchairs are right at 500 lb, which makes them completely incompatible with a lift. At that point the option left is a drive-in van.
That is not a downgrade. Vans tend to require less maintenance, because the design is simpler and the equipment lives enclosed instead of being exposed to the weather constantly.
Three ways a lift is built
And what each one asks of you
A lift you cannot operate on a bad day is not a solution. Read the capability list under each one honestly, and if a line on it gives you pause, say so — that is the useful part of the conversation, not the awkward part.
Inside lift
Mounted in the vehicle’s cargo area, with a hoist mechanism that swings outside the vehicle to load the mobility device and lift it in.
The operator should be able to:
Walk from the front of the vehicle to the rear and back
Stand for three to five minutes while the lift operates
Attach the docking device to the mobility device — which may take bending or kneeling, hand dexterity, and the balance and strength to get it attached
Fold the seat back or the scooter tiller down to its most compact position
Hold a button down on the handheld control while the lift operates
Guide the device clear of the vehicle while it raises, rotates and enters, through the complete lift cycle
Outside lift
Attached to the vehicle by a hitch. An actuator and platform secure the mobility device and carry it on the back of the vehicle.
The operator should be able to:
Walk from the front of the vehicle to the rear and back
Stand for two to three minutes while the lift operates
Drive or push the mobility device on and off the platform
Insert the key and rotate it 90 degrees to turn the lift on
Hold the up/down toggle switch while the lift operates
Requires the use of a tie-down system.
Rear-entry lift, also called a hybrid
Mounted in the cargo area, but built to move out and down so the mobility device is loaded onto the platform at ground level. It is then lifted automatically into the vehicle for transport.
The operator should be able to:
Walk from the front of the vehicle to the rear and back
Stand for up to three minutes while the lift operates
Drive or push the mobility device on and off the platform
Fold the seat back or the scooter tiller down to its most compact position
Hold a button down on the handheld control while the lift operates
May require the use of a tie-down system.
Different kind of lift
Looking for a car lift for a garage or shop?
Everything on this page lifts a person or their chair into a vehicle. If what you want raises the whole car off the ground — a two-post, four-post, scissor or mobile column lift — that is a different trade and we do not do it.
A separate company, with no ownership connection to us. We are pointing you in the right direction, nothing more — their prices, terms and availability are theirs.
Hitch-mounted platform lift
Budget for it
An outside lift is not finished without a tie-down
An outside lift requires the use of a tie-down system. A rear-entry lift may require one too. That is not an upsell at the end — it is part of the purchase, and we would rather you hear the number now than at pickup.
Ask what the tie-down costs when you ask what the lift costs.
Four-point securement
Riding safely
Four-point securement
A wheelchair that travels as a vehicle seat needs three things working together: floor anchorages fixed to the vehicle structure, retractors that tension four straps to the chair frame, and a separate occupant restraint across the passenger — a lap and shoulder belt anchored to the vehicle, never to the chair.
The chair’s own postural belt is not a seat belt. If someone has told you otherwise, bring the vehicle in and let us look at it.
Docking systems
Straps are not the only way
Four straps have to be hooked to the chair by somebody, every trip. That is worth thinking about before you choose. We work with various docking systems built to work with all types of powered wheelchairs and manual wheelchairs.
Whether you are traveling alone or with a caregiver, a securement system like the QLK-150 amplifies your ability to get where you need to go safely.
If you want to be able to drive from your equipment, that is a different specification from securing someone as a passenger. Tell us which one you are solving for at the start.
Are you the caregiver?
If you are looking for an easier transit tie-down system for someone you look after, come in and let us show you what is out there. You are the one using it twice a day in a parking lot, in the rain, in a hurry.
We work to make sure you feel secure. Bring the chair and the vehicle if you can — seeing it in person settles this faster than a phone call.
Powered transfer seat
Seating
Transfer seats and valet seats
Instead of driving from your power chair or manual chair, certain situations make it easier to drive from a standard seat, where you have more adjustability. That is what a transfer seat is for, and it is a real gain in independence.
A valet seat is there to help you get in and out of the vehicle. It also makes it easier to transfer directly from the seat to your equipment, and it makes it easier on your caregivers.
You do not have to be a wheelchair user for one to be the answer. Whether you have limited mobility or just have trouble stepping into these ever larger vehicles, a valet seat may be it. Custom powered seat options cover the more unique situations.
Home modifications
The route into the house
The route into the house matters as much as the route down the road. When a ramp is not the answer — because of the stairs inside, or because there is no room for the run outside — these are the other three options.
Straight stairlift
Basic stairlifts are on one flight and at one fixed angle. If that describes your staircase, this is the straightforward one.
Curved stairlift
Curved stairlifts are custom made to suit your environment. Because it is made for your staircase rather than pulled from stock, ask about price and lead time before you plan around a date.
Vertical platform lift
A ramp needs length, and a lot of houses do not have it. Platform lifts are the solution when the length needed for a ramp is not available.
How a home job starts
Send pictures first
If you have pictures you can email or text us, we can give you a quicker rough estimate. Nothing is committed at that stage, and it costs you a couple of photos.
Otherwise an appointment has to be made for us to come out to the home for measurements and an inspection. There is no way around that step for the real number — a rough estimate off a photo stays a rough estimate.
There is a $250 assessment fee for that visit, and it is credited toward the purchase and installation if you go ahead with the work. So if you hire us, the visit costs you nothing; if you do not, you have still paid for a real set of measurements you can take to somebody else.
We wanted to stay local with our custom mobility needs, and we are very glad we did. Steve took the time to speak with me on several occasions to address the vehicle and lift needed for my son. This helped us so much to make the proper choices. His attention to detail from planning, installation and training made this a truly comfortable transition for us. Thank you GCM.
— J Smith
Training is the step people forget to ask about. A lift or a control system you have not been walked through is a lift or a control system you will use wrong once, in a parking lot, on your own.
Two facts settle most of this
What the chair weighs decides whether a lift is even possible — most top out around 450 lb, so a heavy power chair points at a van instead. What is at your door decides ramp, stairlift or platform.
Tell us those two things and what you drive, and we can usually tell you over the phone which way this goes — before anybody quotes you anything.
