If you are going to be driving the vehicle, we need to know you have a suitable driver’s licence.
If you don’t have a licence yet, we’ll need to know it’s likely you’re able to get one.
This means you’ll need to get a:
- GP to assess you using the national Assessing Fitness to Drive medical standards. This is not generally funded by the NDIS
- driver trained occupational therapist or your state or territory licensing authority to do a driving assessment with you. We may be able to fund this assessment, including a driving instructor for the on-road part.
Do you need help to transfer in and out of a vehicle?
You may need a piece of equipment that’s low cost and available off the shelf to help with vehicle transfer.
This type of equipment usually only needs minor adjustments or straightforward training.
This could include things like basic transfer equipment such as a:
- handy bar car handle
- swivel disc
- car transfer pad.
If you only need low cost standard equipment, you won’t need to get an assessment and quotes.
However, you need to talk with your occupational therapist about any type of equipment you need related to transport.
If the equipment meets our NDIS funding criteria, we’ll include funding for the equipment in your plan.
It will be in the core – consumables section of your plan.
You can talk to your My NDIS Contact or support coordinator for more information.
What other supports do we fund?
When we fund vehicle modifications and driving supports, we may also fund other related supports.
This includes help to:
- remove modifications from an old vehicle and fit them to a compatible new vehicle, where this is value for money. For example, if you buy a new car and need the equipment moved from your old car to the new one
- cover extra insurance costs because you own a modified vehicle. We’ll fund the increased amount of the premium that is a result of your disability related modifications, not the total cost of the policy. You’ll need to provide us with information from your insurer. This information will need to tell us the cost to insure the vehicle on its own and to insure the vehicle with the modifications
- get an engineering certificate or authorisation report that relates to the modification you need to give us when you register a modified vehicle. You can contact your state or territory government for more details on what you need to give us
- get specialised driving lessons if you need to learn to drive a modified vehicle
- get additional driving lessons where your disability affects your ability to learn to drive. It’s important to remember that learning to drive often costs money whether or not you have a disability so we don’t fund all driving lessons
- fund a solution to your regular transport needs while your vehicle is being modified. We may pay for a hire vehicle for you while your modification is being completed or we may add extra transport funding to your plan. We’ll consider your situation, what will meet your needs and be value for money in the short term.
You can talk to your My NDIS Contact or support coordinator about these extra supports.