Wheelchair Getaways vs Affordable Car Rental Franchise Comparison

Below is an in-depth analysis and side-by-side comparison of Wheelchair Getaways vs Affordable Car Rental including start-up costs and fees, business experience requirements, training & support and financing options.

Start-Up Costs and Fees

 
Wheelchair Getaways Franchise
Affordable Car Rental Franchise
Investment $40,000 - $112,000$25,000 - $30,000
Franchise Fee $17,500$4,000 - $7,000
Royalty Fee $550/van/yr.-
Advertising Fee --
Year Founded 1988-
Year Franchised 1989-
Term Of Agreement 10 years-
Term Of Agreement 10 years-
Renewal Fee $5K-


Business Experience Requirements

 
Wheelchair Getaways Franchise
Affordable Car Rental Franchise
Experience --

Financing Options

 
Wheelchair Getaways Franchise
Affordable Car Rental Franchise
  In-House/3rd PartyIn-House/3rd Party
Franchise Fees No/No-/-
Start-up Costs No/No-/-
Equipment No/No-/-
Inventory No/No-/-
Receivables No/No-/-
Payroll No/No-/-

Training & Support

 
Wheelchair Getaways Franchise
Affordable Car Rental Franchise
Training --
Support Newsletter, Meetings, Toll-free phone line, Internet, Field operations/evaluations, Purchasing cooperatives-
Marketing Co-op advertising, Ad slicks, National media, Regional advertising-
Operations Franchise can be run from home.

25% of all franchisees own more than one unit

Number of employees needed to run franchised unit: 3

Absentee ownership of franchise is allowed. (100% of current franchisees are owner/operators)

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Expansion Plans

 
Wheelchair Getaways Franchise
Affordable Car Rental Franchise
US Expansion Yes-
Canada Expansion No-
International Expansion Yes-

Company Overviews

About Wheelchair Getaways

In 1921 the Pennsylvania-based Van Artsdalen Express was a successful freight company. By 1972, it had been restructured to operate school buses instead of trucks. While working for the company, J. Edward Van Artsdalen noticed that people using wheelchairs were some of the most poorly served individuals in the transportation market. Motivated by this discovery, Van Artsdalen founded Wheelchair Getaways Inc. in 1988. The company rents wheelchair-accessible vans to individuals and groups. The company began franchising in 1989 and was purchased by J. Stewart and Jean Gatewood in 1994. Wheelchair Getaways is now based in Versailles, Kentucky and owned by Richard Gatewood and Moon Ko.

About Affordable Car Rental

Affordable Car Rental, L.C. has been in the local car and truck rental industry since 1985, with over 200 locations nationwide and over 3000 vehicles on the road. Affordable Car Rental franchisees consist of automotive retail and repair facilities around the country who have realized they could fill a niche by supplying not just their own customers, but businesses as well as individuals and families in their communities with economical car and truck rentals.
Affordable Car Rentals therefore have an edge over competition in the vehicle servicing function in the industry.