Used Buses For Sale | Call 516-333-7483 | How to start Non-Emergency Transportation (NEMT) business?
Channel: Major Vehicle Exchange
Date: 05/05/2021

The most difficult and daunting task for starting any transportation company is to purchase the right vehicle. Once you have a good and reliable vehicle to start with then everything else automatically falls in line with licensing, registration, staff hiring, management, etc. The vehicle is the foundation stone upon which the entire transportation business is built around. If you have the right vehicle, you are in business, or else not. Once the vehicle is purchased, the company will need a driver and at least one attendant who is qualified enough to have a basic understanding of how to handle patients along with their medical equipment and support systems. A general transportation company needs just a driver to get started. However, Non-Emergency Medical Transportation companies will need a driver or driver/attendant and an attendant to get started. The service can either be started with a van or a bus that is equipped with a wheelchair lift or a ramp. Because there will be a lot of wheelchair-bound customers who need to safely enter and exit the vehicle. In the absence of a wheelchair lift or ramp, it will be impossible to cater to these customers safely.

Many startups start operations with a wheelchair van. However, these vehicles are severely limited to just one or a maximum of two wheelchair passengers per trip. If there is a surge in demand and more than two wheelchair passengers on the same route visiting the same healthcare facility then these vans are inadequate. They will have to make several trips on the same route to cater to every passenger. Due to the increasing competition if you miss out on one passenger then your competition is most likely to pick them up. This is a loss for your business and if you make several trips on the same route then this will lead to loss of time as well as fuel. Therefore it is sometimes advisable to start with a wheelchair lift-equipped bus for sale. They can accommodate 14 passengers in a single trip and have several flip seats to make space for as many as 5 (and sometimes more) wheelchair-bound passengers.

A bus for sale is a larger vehicle which obviously costs more than a car or a van. However, their pre owned versions can be purchased for substantially less than the price of a new bus for sale. A budget of $15,000 to $30,000 will be sufficient to buy a decent and basic feature 15 passenger wheelchair bus. We often recommend startup transportation companies to begin with a bus because you don't want to buy a van now and then buy a bus one year down the road and then struggle to sell the van. It can be better to start with a used bus for sale and stick to it until demand increases and then purchase another used wheelchair lift-equipped bus. 

Some startups may not have a budget of $25,000 and may opt to start operations with a cheap wheelchair ramp-equipped van for sale. That comes with reliability issues and many startups will be surprised at the flexibility of some financing companies to fund a bus purchase. They can use the same money to make a down payment for the bus and the remainder will be financed by these third-party financial institutions that include banks, credit unions and independent leasing companies. They can customize their requirements in many instances depending on the individual customer's ability to pay back. The interest rates are less attractive for new businesses in many instances but the buyer often gets financing even if they have below average or average credit history. Due to the ease and simplicity of the bus buying process, many startups have changed their mind and started operations with a wheelchair bus instead of a wheelchair van.


https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-start-a-non-emergency-transportation/answer/Charles-Kaufman-8