We have a wheelchair lift and the process of shopping and deciding on a lift can be frustrating. We spoke with several providers and many were difficult to deal with. We finally went with
Classic Coach in Spartanburg, SC because Joe there was great to work with and was a great listener. He is very familiar with different equipment options and is a good educator. When searching for a provider, it is good to find someone who has a hands-on familiarity with the different equipment and what is possible in different vehicle types.
In our case we found a 2000 Dodge Ram conversion van with the high roof. We wanted the ability to have Macayla sit in the middle section of the van behind the driver seat and still leave room to sit in the captains chair in the middle section on the passenger side. This meant we had to have a rear-entry lift. We have found this to be very helpful in parking as handicap parking is usually hard to find. With the rear entry we can park in a normal space and still unload. The drawback is packing for trips. The only open space in the van for packing is the rear section, but that impedes loading and unloading Macayla on long trips. We removed the original bench seat in the rear of the van, but Joe at Classic Coach installed a special, two-person fold-away seat in the rear section. It gives extra seating when necessary, but folds out of the way the rest of the time.
We have a Braun Millennium Series lift that has a solid platform and folds up into the back door of the van (they are barn-door style). This is a fairly simple lift and has worked well. We have only had one problem with it when a hydraulic hose leaked. Other than that it has held up well for the last two years. A friend of ours has a side-entry lift that folds out of the way of the door after it folds up into position. It is nice because others can still access the van through the side door when the lift is stowed. Our lift blocks the entire rear door in the stowed position. However, our friend's lift is a bit more complicated and has had a few frustrating glitches with all of its safety features. They also must park somewhere that has enough space on the side of the van for loading and unloading. There are obvious trade-offs for different lifts and designs, but when you have a good provider who can help educate and brainstorm through the decision-making process.
The Classic Coach website has some great pictures of different options and it has links to three major lift companies that are worth checking out.
Recently, we went to the beach and wanted to take Macayla on a bike ride, but the only way that would be possible is with a special needs bike trailer. They cost thousands of dollars and we could not spend that. Fortunately, Macayla's wheelchair is more like a stroller where the seat comes off of the base and is held on by two rails that it slides onto. I was able to get two additional rails from Palmetto Seating who supplied the chair for us. I picked up a regular bike trailer meant for carrying small kids with a capacity of 100 lbs. I took all of the fabric off of it and with some scrap lumber I had around the house, I made a platform that Macayla's seat could latch onto. I spent $85 on the bike trailer, $10 on a trifold lounge chair (I used the middle section of it for the platform) and another $15 in hardware. Her chair fit right on it and it worked great. It was not as hard to pull as I thought it might be. She enjoyed the ride and we have a piece of equipment that we can keep for just over $100 that would have cost us thousands otherwise. I think I can also 
make a platform for her seating system from her Zippie wheelchair that we keep as back-up. The great thing about the kid carrier trailers is that they have a ready made attachment to convert them into a stroller. So when we got somewhere, the trailer quickly disconnected from the bike and we simply attached a front dolly wheel to the trailer tongue. The trailer was made by In-Step which is a Schwinn product. This has been a pretty good success so far and with a few modifications, it could be even better.
