Transportation can be a major expense after a serious injury

You will have a lot of expenses to worry about after a serious car crash. You will likely have medical bills and a loss of income until you heal enough to get back to work. Your injury could affect your long-term earning potential.

Even once you get out of the hospital, the expenses related to your injury won’t necessarily end. Serious injuries may have lifelong consequences that affect your daily life and your career. A spinal cord injury, amputation or brain injury could affect your mobility and leave you dependent on assistive technology, such as a wheelchair.

Using a wheelchair will require changes to your daily life and your home. You may also need to invest in a new vehicle or retrofit your existing vehicle to make it wheelchair-accessible. Whether you buy a new wheelchair van or fix up an existing one, you can expect to spend thousands of dollars.

Wheelchair van costs go up to six figures

Vehicles on their own can be expensive. Even a mediocre used van could cost your family over $10,000. If you buy a brand new van, the price will be multiple times higher than that.

A van specifically designed to accommodate wheelchairs, whether in the driver’s seat, through the side entry or the back of the vehicle, could cost over $100,000. Used wheelchair-friendly vans may be less expensive, but they will still cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Those who already own a van or plan to purchase vans can pay professionals to customize the van and add the necessary equipment. Such changes will not be cheap. Many drivers will incur $10,000 or more in costs to change an existing van to make it wheelchair accessible.

Transportation costs could affect your settlement

Too many people negotiating insurance claims or planning civil lawsuits after a major motor vehicle collision only look at immediate expenses. Obviously, it is important for people to recover lost wages, medical expenses and property damage losses suffered in a car crash.

However, personal injury law also allows people to request compensation for secondary expenses, including the cost to make a vehicle accessible for someone injured in a crash. When you understand what expenses may play a role in your insurance claim or personal injury lawsuit, you will be in a better position to protect yourself.