The story of Wheelers began in the early 80s with Ron Smith who founded and operated Metrocare; a private, non-emergency ambulance, and wheelchair shuttle. Metrocare specialized in transporting customers for non-emergency health services. In 1985, Tammy Freeland was hired on to do the bookkeeping and payroll for Metrocare, a year later she and Ron were married. One day in 1987, a customer called with a request, asking to rent one of Metrocare’s wheelchair-accessible ambulances without a driver. Tammy and Ron had never received a request like that before, and after some research realized that despite the demand, no one else seemed to be offering the ability for wheelchair-using clients to just rent accessible vans. From that one client request Wheelers Accessible Van Rentals was born.
Ron and Tammy started small, their first two vehicles were Astro vans that they kept in their home garage. Ron modified the vans himself to allow for wheelchair access. Constantly innovating, he would often draw plans for future modifications right on the floor of the garage. Since then, Wheelers has grown to a fleet of over 100 vans in 13 locations across the United States, with hopes of increasing the number of vans in their fleet and expanding into even more locations! Much has changed since the small, two-car operation back in the 80s but one thing has remained the same and that is Wheelers’ commitment to their customers! Wheelers is proud to be a fierce advocate for the community of wheelchair users and is committed to providing freedom and independence so you can go where you want when you want!
