Hiring a stairlift

[Hamjamwich]

Has anyone done this for their relative? I have a well known company coming to give a quote. How much is it likely to cost for 6 months, presuming that's the standard hire term?

Never occured to me that you could hire them but then again I suspect it depends a lot on the type of stairlift you want.

When we got a stairlift for my (late) mother we had the usual suspects around and they all said they could install in a day or so but they used modular parts and the track ran up the RH side of the stairs which meant they the chair blocked the stairs for my dad (or anyone else who wanted access).
We went with Flow who make a bespoke track which could twist, turn & rise unlike all the others so could fit on the LH side and could turn 180degrees to allow the chair to park out of the way.
The only downside was the cost but when my mum died, although the track had to be scrapped they did give us something for the chair (it was to be refurbished and offered to someone who didn't want to pay for a new one).

The sales places sometimes recycle ones and these are available at lower prices but there is a market crying out for some entrepreneurs! I couldn’t find any to hire stair lifts anywhere and certainly not in time for DF’s EOL.

Am I allowed to mention the brands?

I’m sure brands can be mentioned if nothing defamatory.
I know of a reconditioned stairlift fitted a month ago that cost £1700. Number of uses by intended owner- ZERO. Friend commented last night her neighbour’s was £1k per use. Google reconditioned stair lifts etc and you may get non branded options.

Stannah

We decided to rent a stair lift for my mum. The deciding factor for us was that when it was no longer needed they would come and remove it rather than us having to dispose of it. It is very difficult to sell them on as each staircase is different. The surprise for us was that although we rented we still had to put quite a large payment down upfront. I'm afraid I can't remember how much it was now as mum died last year and we started the contract a about 18 months prior to that.

Hiring means that the company will maintain it. My parent paid £950 installation and then £70 per month rental. That’s for stairs with a landing. If it’s only needed for 6 months that works out a lot… I’m not sure about removing it. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the same as the initial installation cost.

Can your community / social OT do it any quicker? If not and you don't have standard staircase probably only choice. Other option would be a bed and commode downstairs...people mentioning only using once or twice the thing is the person has to be able to walk.to it and get on/off it safely

You could try getting a quote from a local firm as well. And perhaps a quote to buy a reconditioned stairlift. We bought a reconditioned stairlift from a local firm, much cheaper than we thought even with bespoke rail. OK, he used it for only 3months, but it needed to keep him out of a care home for only 3 weeks to pay for itself

Should have added that the time between agreeing and fitting was very short - I think these companies know the need can be brief

@Restzol

Hiring means that the company will maintain it. My parent paid £950 installation and then £70 per month rental. That’s for stairs with a landing. If it’s only needed for 6 months that works out a lot… I’m not sure about removing it. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the same as the initial installation cost.

Buying means the company will maintain it under guarantee for the first year.

Don't think you can sell one that you buy when it is no longer needed. We ended up paying for it to be taken away, admittedly after four years. We tried offering it to neighbours who had exactly the same staircases but the moving costs were too high compared to buying a new one.

Hiring sounds like a good idea to me.

Make sure the electrics in the house are ok before you start though.

My parents had ancient electrics which became a problem after installation

I think my folks went through Age UK to get a recommendation (purchase rather than rental) and bought from a company called Handicare. It's proven very reliable and used several times a day over a couple of years.

The track for my parents Flow stairlift was bespoke so had to be scrapped. The chair however was a different matter and they bought it back as well as recovering & disposing of the track. There was no recovery cost although it would be sensible to assume that if we had disposed of the track ourselves they would have paid even more for the chair.
My mother used the chair for over 2-years and although bought outright the warranty was 2-years which included 2-annual services so she had no further costs.

If you have an awkward staircase (steep, narrow, twisting etc) then I recommend you take a look at the Flow as they can navigate where the other names cannot (plenty of videos online).