Dealers Breed Loyalty with Mobility Programs

Ty Beck of Jordan Ford in San Antonio, Texas, specializes in helping customers with disabilities. He not only studies and researches their specific needs; he also finds them the best adaptive equipment available.

Beck began his work as a labor of love. His son Josh was born with Edwards Syndrome, a physically and mentally debilitating disease. When Josh grew to be a teenager – significantly beating the odds by living past infancy – he became too heavy for his father to lift into the family vehicle. Beck needed to find some special assist equipment. "There were few places to go in 1998 to get it done, so I built my own," he said.

The equipment enabled the family to bring Josh everywhere – from hospital appointments to family outings. Josh died in September 2007, soon after his 21st birthday. "Josh had the mental and physical abilities of a nine-month old baby," his father said. "But he always smiled when he went for a ride; he really enjoyed going places."

Ty Beck now spends the majority of his workdays helping outfit his customers. This might mean finding the latest high-tech wheelchair lift, or locating a simple "spinner" knob that mounts on the steering wheel to allow a right-arm amputee customer to steer and work the controls with the left hand. Or it could mean mounting the accelerator on the left side for an amputee without a right leg. Turn signals can also be moved to the right-hand side to accommodate an individual without a left arm.

Beck and his aftermarket partners have modified "pretty much every vehicle Ford makes," he said. The only limitations, he said, are imagination and money. For example, the joystick steering device costs about $55,000. Ford's Mobility Motoring Program provides up to $1,000 toward the cost of adaptive equipment.

Customers from all over the western United States come to Beck for his knowledge and expertise. He said more dealerships should take a closer look at this growing market segment.

"Dealers don't realize the incredible loyalty factor among people with disabilities and their families," he said. "I sold a van to a rodeo rider – a bull got the best of him – and then I sold cars to his mother, father, brothers, sisters and stepfather."

And when Beck had to put one customer – a returning Iraq War soldier – into a Chevy because it fit his needs best, 15 of the vet's army buddies came to him and bought Fords.