Rental Cars - Recently, I’ve read a few forum questions asking about hand controls for rental cars. Well this seems to be the perfect topic to add to my travel pages, so here goes.

* Wheelchair Getaways© is the leading accessible van rental company in the United States. We rent wheelchair and scooter accessible vans in over 450 U.S. cities and in Toronto, Ontario Canada.

Although I have never gone through the process of securing an accessible rental car or van, I do know that most of the major rental car companies do offer them.

The best advice I’ve heard is to always call 24 hours ahead of your pick up time, and call the local number before you arrive to make certain they have the car ready. The rental companies are far more progressive now that they used to be. A few years back, you may or may not find your car ready for you when you arrived. Even more reason to call ahead. Traveling takes long enough these days without adding to it. Most services are pretty good now, but it’s your responsibility to make sure. I just have a routine checklist in my mind for traveling. I book a flight online, then call the airline. I book a room, then call the hotel. You get the picture. You only have to get screwed a few times before you learn to double check everything.

I’m not sure about renting a van so you’ll have to check with the rental agencies.

If you are picking up at an airport, it is best to try to find out ahead of time how to get to the rental counter. Sometimes they are hard to find. In some airports, some of the rental companies, like Dallas Hertz rental, will actually meet you at baggage claim area and will walk a short distance with you to get the car. If you plan well, everything should be ok.

In some airports, you will have to get on the rental car agencies bus to go and get your car and do the paperwork. The bad news is that I have found about 50% of the time the lifts on the buses don't work and you have to wait for the next one or have someone give you a boost into the bus (almost like a large curb) unless you can manage yourself. Good luck!