Renting Adapted Cars in Specific Countries.

EUROPE (specific countries - see below).

A new database was brought to my attention by Dave Davis (RTG newsletter): Printable travel guides by the European Comission. They contain comprehensive info sorted by countries, including addresses of car-rental companies.
I asked their permission to quote these addresses, but even now the reader may find them directly there. This is a huge database, but it's updating policy is not clear to the author.
In the UK there is a travel agency that provides car-rental in resorts popular in this market. WinterSunshineHolidays sugests checking the box Disabled Requirements and they will check availability of cars with hand-controls.

Comment from founder of accessab site:
From: accessab@concentric.net (Carol Randall) 

Our research has indicated also that hand controls in Europe definitely
can still be a problem. For what it's worth many Americans travel with
portable ones but even then they often have to use them without the knowledge
of the rental company which is not the best situation. Are hand controls
available on rental cars in your country.

Currently we do provide what information we have on companies and
locations that do make them available in our database under transportation.
We also have a ''What's News'' page and would be happy to include
an article or information that you feel would be useful in a future edition.
We try to change them every month to five weeks.

Thank you for taking the time to give us your input.

Regards,
Carol Randall
Access-Able Travel Source

The 2002 brochure of Hertz-Europe says: 
... hand controls are available at participating locations at an additional fee.
No list of ''participating locations'' is given but it sounds promising. The brochure is intended mainly to the American customer.

The current EU policy on disabled parking may be found in Council Recommendation on a parking card for people with disabilities.

UK.

The most established service for disabled drivers in Europe seems to be in the UK.

Germany.

To the author's knowledge, Germany is the best country to rent cars from in Western Europe. It's central location enables driving to any other Western-European country in 1 day or less. Prices are usually reasonable and there is large selection of companies and cars. Notice restrictions on taking rented cars to Eastern Europe.

Europcar offered cars with hand-controls in it's site. Recently they removed hand controls from their list of special equipment on the English web page. Europcar still rents cars (apparently only ''VW Golf'') with hand-controls (their standard is a rotary right-hand system) and other adaptations. One must contact airport offices directly (best way is by Fax). There is a problem with overseas reservation offices of Europcar, refusing to serve drivers who need hand-controls even when cars are available.

From Autoeurope I got the following message on Sep. 1998: The only country where we have hand control cars available is in Germany. These cars are located only in major cities and are available on a request basis.
On June 2000 I found the following statement in ''Global Access'' newsletter:
An ''Auto Europe'' representative recently informed us that ''Auto Europe'' now offers (some) hand-control vehicles. Call +1-800-223-5555 (USA). The representative advised us that some agents might seem confused about hand control availability because there aren’t a lot of requests for them, and newer agents may not even know about them, so be sure ask to speak with a supervisor.

A local company specializing in rental to disabled drivers is AFB. The author has no independent information on this company and their URL is dead for some time. I faxed them an inquiry.

RV RV (motor home) rental company can be found in Stutgart. In the pictures you may see the hand-controls, lift and other facilities. They offer also a minivan with lift and hand-controls. The site includes tables of rates (including transfer to airports outside Stutgart).
Van rental is offered also by Paravan. They are located in Pfronstetten-Aichelau (south of Munich), so you should verify delivery to airport and service outside Germany. In the main page look for the English flag icon for pages in English.

With SIXT I had evidence that they have cars with hand-controls, but their official position is:
Datum: Dienstag, 25. Mai 1999 13:28

Sorry, but we cannot offer cars with hand - controls.
The installation of a portable hand - control system on our car is not
possible.

Best regards
Jana Kindermann/ Sixt Reservation

It also seems from their list of cars that the cheapest automatic car is a Mercedes 240...

Recently I got from a friend 2 addresses of German travel agents specializing in services to disabled travelers:
Menzel in southern Germany, phones: +49-62237052, +49-627191091/0, Faxes: +49-622371807, +49-627172942 (two branches).
Thomas Beker, a disabled travel agent.
Above addresses were not checked yet.

Important info may be found in the Tourism for All Guide of the EU to Germany. It has info on car/van rental, adapted facilities and alternative transportation. The version viewed seems to be updated to 2001.

Germany has a very sophisticated rehabilitation industry. A problem with it is that most of their URL's are in the German language without translation. Therefore they will not appear in search engines under English terms and ordinary web-surfers will not be able to contact them. With that approach, the Germans are losing clients and partially isolate themselves.

France.

It seems that the major car-rental companies offer cars with hand-controls at least in Paris. In a recent trip I noticed that there are only small or very expensive automatics. Mid-sized and station-wagons are rare. This may pose a problem to a disabled driver with a family who wishes to rent a car in France.
Lvea offers various automatic cars with hand-controls or left gas pedal. They show in details the types of hand-controls, unlike other sites viewed by the author.
When looking in the interenet in English, notice their special terminology:
Adapted cars and busses:
Individual cars.
Hand-controls:
Manual accelerator and brake.
Hertz, Avis and a local company were mentioned at the time of writing in search for individual cars in France. The local company no longer rents cars with hand-controls, but it is still listed. This ref may be too specific and volatile. See also their main page Paris Ile de France Pour Tous.

Access in Paris, including car-rental, is reported in Access Project (PHSP). They quote text from a 1997 book and say: 
Hertz have six Pegueot 309s which can be fitted with hand controls, given a few days notice.
Hertz can be contacted on Tel: 01.45.74.97.39. ...

Other car hire firms offering this service which we listed in 1993, have unfortunately discontinued it.
The site you are watching now is quoted with other relevant sites in the french version of Planet-Cars.

flag Greece.

On August 2000 the author had a very pleasent surprise in Crete, Greece. The Chania branch of Budget (??) agreed to rent an automatic car with permission to install portable hand-controls. The car was a sensible 1500 cc Asian model (not like the more expensive cars the author was forced to rent in some other Western European countries). Another unique fact was that the rental was arranged through a travel agency in the authors's country (ask me for more details) collaborating with Club-Tours in Crete. The author wishes to thank them all and hope they will set an example to others.
On January 2003 I got the URL of the SIRENS vaction resort for people with disabilities. I contacted the director, Mr. Clio Psaraki, and he promises to arrange a similar car with permission to install the LYNX system. The rental location is Athens airport, not far from the resort. I didn't try it yet.

Spain.

Europcar offers (in Spanish) adapted cars. It says (on Sep. 2001 in Spanish):
Europcar es la primera empresa del sector, y hasta ahora la unica que dispone de vehiculos especialmente concebidos para personas con discapacidades: transmision automatica, acelerador y freno mediante palancas junto al volante.
The customer must make sure that the hand-controls are usable for him/her, since they are not the ''standard'' know in USA and other countries.
The online reservation page of Hertz offers (in Spanish) right or left hand controls (Controles Manuales). From experience, the customer must make sure that the car is automatic. At least up to 1995 they had hand-controls on manual cars (with clutch)!

The Netherlands.

3/2001 update: Accessible Rotterdam says that ''Budget'' provides ''hire of car conversions'' and ''Fully converted vehicles and wheelchair mini-buses can be hired''. The Budget NL site quoted there has pages only in local language at the time of writing.
Later ''Accessible Rotterdam'' says: 
Until June 2001 it was possible to hire an adjusted car with this firm.
Unfortunately, they have stopped this service. At the moment,
there is no alternative but we will keep on searching for it.

Italy.

As part of the initiative ''European Year dedicated to the disabled persons'' Fiat declared the Plan Autonomy Car rental. This URL is a press report in Italian from March 2003. ( You may get reasonable translation to English using Google.) According to that report, Fiat Autonomy offers 9 Punto 1.2 cars with Speedgear transmission for rental in several major Italian airports. The hand-controls are different from the US and other countries standard systems. Therefore one should verify that the system will be usable for him/her. Fiat Autonomy is the official URL but the English version does not include the rental info (the main part of the ''Autonomy program'' is leasing and sales of adapted cars and related facilities for local customers). I hope they will extend the service to larger cars and provide more details in English. Larger cars are essential for tourists who travel with families and wheelchairs - the Punto is too small. The URL lists several cars but it is not clear if all are automatic and fitted with hand-controls.

A firm in Florence was trying to establish a service of car rental to disabled drivers. They don't have (at the time of writing) a URL in English.
On Jan 2002 Carol Randall informs in the ''Access-able Newslatter'': 
DISAPPOINTING NEWS:  We have just been informed that Elite-Rent-A-Car has
discontinued the rental the three adapted cars and the accessible van,
Florence, Italy.  They say it is because of a lack of demand.
I find this strange as there is a serious lack of this type of rental throughout
of Italy. Perhaps they didn’t try hard enough to get the word out...
It may be also the effect of the Sep 11th 2001 event, but the lack of an English page indicated their attitude to visitors from other countries.

Interesting info may be found in Tourism for All EU document on Italy. They say in the 2001 issue:
There are no companies offering adapted vehicles. Adaptations can be done on personal cars in Italy
by contacting:

Guidosimplex
via del Podere di San Giusto 29
00166 Roma
Tel. 06.6140531/6140532
Fax 06.6140535

Portugal.

A very nice URL was brought to my attention by D.C. from Irland. It is Wheeling Around the Algarve. It offers adapted car and van rentals or vans with drivers. With some of the adapted cars they don't specify ''automatic'', so one has to verify this point before renting the car.
Another address given by D.C. is ''Adaptcar'' based in Lisbon. It has no known URL so it's phone and fax are specified:
Tel: +351-21-8123526,
FAX: +351-21-8123516.
D.C. notes that you may need to pay with cash, since they don't work with credit cards.

Norway.

When the author wanted to rent an adapted car for traveling around Scandinavia several years ago, the only option seemed to be to rent it from Germany. Now ''Caravaning for You'' says ''Motor vehicles with hand controls can be hired from Euro Booking Service ..., Oslo, tel: +47 22 33 38 43, fax: +47 22 33 38 44''.

Australia.

Judging by the number of companies renting adapted cars and vans, it seems that there is no problem there. The policy approaches that of the USA, as can be seen in Australia's Disability Discrimination Act related page. In a case described there they say: A man complained that he was unable to hire a car fitted with hand controls, which he required because of his disability, when he visited a major rural centre. The car hire company agreed to provide a car with hand controls on reasonable notice.
A few randomly selected links are:

New Zealand.

Since January 2000 the following service is offered by Mobility for Independence. It is unique in the sense that they rent and install hand-controls on rented/private cars. They are considering adding motor home (RV) with lift and hand-controls to their fleet. They use the Monarch hand-controls. When relevant, check if it fits your abilities.

On April 2003 I got the following from James in New-Zealand: 
''I rented a car through Avis with hand controls (I couldn't find any other
operator that was able to help). The controls are the standard (NZ at least)
Cullen (push towards dashboard for brake, or floor for throttle).

There are some limitations - the car has to be a category 'A' vehicle (which
is the largest available) and they require advance notice of the requirement
(a few days).

There is also a minimum number of days (perhaps 5?) that the car needs to be
rented - other wise a NZ$250 'fitting' fee applies.

Other than that - the car I rented was extremely new (less than 200km) and
satisfactory - although the hand controls were not very well adjusted.''
It is good to know that there is a rental option in such a nice and remote place.

Switzerland.

In 1984 Swissair with ''Budget'' offered Station-Wagon cars with hand controls as a package deal with the flights. The deal was discontinued and renewed several times, it is worth checking with them directly in Switzerland (not through travel agent) when relevant.
On Feb. 1999 I was privately informed that Elite has a car with hand-controls. I even got a positive e-mail confirmation from them: 
	As per your request , please clarify if the gear (automatic of course ) is
	incorporated to the driving wheel.. if yes we have only the Chrysler Voyager
	6 seater vehicle ( minivan).

	As regards set of portable hand control ... what the implication... need
	special support to fix same... please advise before we can confirm.
But after 3 hours(!) they changed their mind:
Disabled unwanted 
	As per my mail of this day, I'm really sorry in not giving you the right
	answer.

	UNFORTUNATELY WE DO NOT HAVE ANY VEHICLE AS REQUIRED . AND EVEN IF YOU
	PLACE YOUR
	PORTABLE HAND CONTROL TO DRIVE ,  YOU NEED AN AUTHROSATION FROM THE COMPETENT
	LOCAL AUTHORITIES.
And later: 
	Sorry to insist but unfortunately we never had a hand control vehcile for
	rent.
	We can do the needful if you ask for , after authorisation of the local
	authorities.
	Costs will depend on the number of time you will rent the car in geneva.
	The cost to install same in a vehicle will be approx. 3500.- CHF or less .
	If you have your own kit .which should be one homologated by the Swiss
	Authorities and to be covered by the insurances.

I brought this lengthy exchange as an example of treating disabled customers as unwanted even in some of the most civilized societies. Please correct me if I am wrong...

Well, maybe... Access-Able newsletter and later RTG brought to my attention the existence of Mietauto. This is a local company that rents ''special'' cars, among them cars for disabled persons. At the time of writing it offers a sensible station-wagon automatic car with hand-controls or left gas pedal.
''Mietauto'' offer also a vans with a lift, but without hand-controls.

CANADA

At first I thought that Canada is more or less similar to the USA in automotive and rehabilitation subjects. They even had a company renting RV's (motor homes) with facilities for the severly disabled (it's URL is dead now).
On the other hand, I got a detailed message claiming that the situation in Canada is deteriorating: it is much harder than before to find a rented car with hand-controls, the existing ones have bad systems etc. Confirmation to that story may be found in the magazine Magic Carpet, Autumn 1998.
On June 1999 the following message was received about the situation in British Columbia:
... Most major car rental agencies have cars with handcontrols for rent. You specify which type of vehicle you wish to have and they then have the controls installed in that vehicle. From personal experience, you MUST clarify vehicle type or you may not get the type you want. In BC, hand-controlled cars are available from the Vancouver Airport location only. Most local rental agencies are independently owned and may not have the equipment but it never hurts to try them as well. Another source for rental vehicles is the BC Paraplegic Association. They have accessible cars and vans for rent. You can contact them at:
BCPA,
780 S.W. Marine Drive,
Vancouver, British Columbia,
V6P 5Y7 CANADA.
Tel: (604) 324-3611,
Fax: (604) 326-1229.

Adapted van rental (without hand-controls) is offered by Driving Force.
For information on government requirements, see Car Rental Directory for Government Employees which mentions hand-controls, but not where to find cars having them...

A natural choice for some cases was to rent a car in USA and travel with it to Canada. Since the events of Sep. 11th and the 2003 Iraq war the USA borders and visa procedures became prohibitive for many tourists, so take care...

See also the book Anyone Can Travel which covers traveling abroad from the Canadian perspective.

Namibia

Thanks to ''Drift'', I got the link to hand-controlled vehicles for disabled travellers in Namibia, Southern Africa. They offer a sensible car with extra equipment needed to travel there. The author has no personal experience, but if it is as it looks in their page, they should be an example to much richer countries in the west!

South Africa

In April 2004 I had personal experience of renting from Europcar through a travel agent. Europcar installs right hand-controls (gas down, brakes forward) for each rental, so they charge a certain fee for the installation. They say the demand is very low, so they can't have a car with permanently-installed system. The only automatic classes in Europcar are D (Toyota Corolla 1.6L or equiv.) and F (Toyota Camry or VW Passat or equiv.). In certain locations only one of them is offered.
Availability in Avis and Budget is mentioned in: ''Let's Go S.A.'' and Zulinyati Safaris (work with Avis, quotes rates; Only calss E with hand-controls). Avis demands 72 hours notice and offers hand-controls only in major branches.
If you have a LYNX system, it is possible to use the company's services to rent a car with permission to use the system.
See also Khaya Car Hire. They ''are proud to be the most broadly based Black Economic Empowerment Car Hire Company in South Africa''.


The official S.A. consulate site in N.Y. says:
The larger car rental companies can provide vehicles with hand controls. This sentence is quoted exactly in some of the following URL's.
Kenor Safaris.
World Road Congress 2003.
Southern African Places.
Stay-Finder.
S.A. Trek.
''Itravelto'' tips.
Cape Info.
Technikon Pretoria accessibility pages.
The Great Karoo (click ''tourist tips'').

It is very interesting to observe that in Southern Africa this service for disabled drivers is more developed than in most European countries!

Israel

''Eldan'' offers 1600 cc automatic cars with left or right-hand controls. You may need to reserve about 10 days in advance to allow installation of system. At the time of writing their Internet site does not contain this info.
VAN Van rental (search ''Israel'') is offered by Orthopedit. At the time of writing they have GMC vans with a lift and left-hand controls.
''Access-Able'' mention also ''Magister Tours''. Service to disabled customers is provided by Zvi Gur (who is one of the founders of Access-Unlimited).

In summer 2003 the company ''Or-Tour'' in Northern Israel started car-rental to disabled drivers. They have a small automatic car with standard hand controls. They are ready to deliver the car to the international airport. There is no URL. Their phone is +972-4-9925005, Fax +972-4-9923220.

An Israeli company specializing in RV rental abroad is Bandana. At the time of writing they offer only a very large RV with hand-controls in USA.

A nice collection of links and info may be found in Access Project (PHSP).

For Israeli travellers abroad, MILBAT is arranging rental of portable hand-controls at the destination airport. It also gives information services about access and accomodations.

USA.

Last but not least, availability in the USA seems to be the best. The major international companies have cars with hand-controls in most big cities, so if that satifies you, you may continue with next chapter... If you have special needs or want to know more, see the following:

Country-Specific Traffic regulations.

Traffic regulations are mostly universal, but some countries have some strange (even dangerous) peculiarities:
UK and Ireland:
Circles (round-abouts) are very special and abundant, learn how to behave there and take care. Green light immediatly before a circle does not mean you have right of way into the circle. There are no signs relating these trafic lights to pedestrian crossing only.
Ireland:
They decided to introduce unique one-way signs. The signs are self-explanatory (like no-left-turn etc.). Some road signs are missing where expected (or not clear), use good maps.
Madrid:
Trafic lights before and immediatly after an intersection are not synchronized. You may have to block the intersection to give right to pedestrians having green light.
Netherlands:
The rules for giving way to cars coming from the right side are enforced without signs. While driving in a main road you must give way to cars coming from very small streets.
Copenhagen:
There are unique arrangements for bicycles. They have priority in many intersections, but not always visible by the car drivers in time. Some bicycles are very fast, so watch mirrors when turning right!
Greece:
Continous white lines on the road are very frequently ignored. On the other hand, slow vehicles are expected to travel on road shoulder to give way to faster cars. Have good maps, not enough direction signs exist in many regions.
South Africa:
Driving is on the left side of the road, like in the UK. Like in Greece, slow vehicles are expected to travel on road shoulder to give way to faster cars. The overtaking vehicle is expected to thank the slower vehicle with short application of the ''hazard'' lights. In some towns there are ''all-way stop'' signs designed to slow the trafic in the main roads. It is similar to cross-roads in the USA. Due to lack of sidewalks in many places, exect many pedestrians on the road.

It will be for the benefit of all future readers if you'll bring to my attention any addition/correction to above information!

Disclaimer:

  1. The author has no commercial interest in any of the mentioned companies. Their name / links are given only as illustration and service to potential customers.
  2. Some companies may have discontinued or changed services. The author takes no responsibility for consequences of such changes.
  3. The author takes no responsibility for any mis-haps occuring while using the above-mentioned services.
Last update: 4/2004.

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