If you’ve used a wheelchair for more than a few years, there’s a good chance you have an old manual or power wheelchair, maybe multiple, cluttering your garage, spare room or storage shed. Many of these chairs are in good condition and could be an upgrade for someone who doesn’t have a decent chair because of financial issues or because they need one right now, not in the six to 12 months it takes to navigate the system to get one.

I set out to see what options and resources exist to ensure that potentially useful chairs find new homes with people in need and not end up in landfills. Here is a look at places you can donate or sell a used chair to or find a used chair at no or low cost, and what to do with a chair that’s too well-used to save.

Selling Your Used Power Chair

There are a lot of used power chairs in excellent condition because of minimal use. Often this is because, unfortunately, the power chair user died or went into a care home, says Alex Vander Pool of Marc’s Mobility, a Lakeland, Florida, company that buys and sells used power chairs. “We currently have about 300 units ranging from scooters to high-end power chairs, so we only buy chairs in excellent condition,” he adds.

“A power chair used daily for five years is generally worn beyond resale,” says Randy Brayman of Timeless Mobility, a Highland, Michigan, company that resells lightly-used DME ranging from scooters to high-end power chairs. “I only sell equipment that is in great condition. If a chair is too worn to resell, meaning the condition is less than a 7 out of 10, I’ll pay the person a small fee of $100, take it for parts that can be used to fix another chair, and sell the non-usable parts and batteries for scrap,” he says.

Brayman’s pricing formula for purchasing a used wheelchair in excellent condition is to buy it for 50% of the price that Timeless Mobility will sell it for, which is generally one-tenth of the new retail price. “Let’s say we have a power chair that retails for $30,000 in pristine condition. I will resell it for around $3,000. For purchase, I pay the customer about 50% of the price I sell it for, so on a $30,000 chair, I would pay around $1,500 and sell it for $3,000.”

Make Your Old Chair A Beach Chair

With a Wheeleez All-Terrain/Beach Conversion Kit, you can turn that old folding chair gathering dust in your attic into a beach cruiser that’ll let you traverse the local dunes and catch some rays. The kits come with three low-pressure balloon wheels and a front and rear chassis made from aluminum. With mounting hardware and easy installation instructions, you don’t have to be handy to convert your chair. Kits start at $679 and range to $899 depending on rear wheel size and capacity. You can watch the conversion process here: youtube.com/watch?v=VbDX0MPq7Qw

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Selling Your Used Manual Chair

I could not find any large-scale commercial operations that purchase and resell used manual wheelchairs. Since manual chair frames tend to last, especially rigid/non-folding ones, they can be fixed up by replacing worn components like wheels, casters, bearings and wheel locks. Parts like these can be found for reasonable prices at online DME sites, including Sportaid and Living Spinal.

When it comes to pricing a used manual chair, Dave Moore, who used to run a business that sold demo chairs, offers this formula, “You start at 20% of MSRP for a used chair in mint condition and then lower the price depending on wear and tear. Hence, a used manual chair isn’t worth much to the seller but is priceless for the person that needs it, especially when it is a correct size and fit.”

Disability product Facebook groups are good places to list a manual or power chair for sale (see resources). Other online sites to list and look for used chairs include Facebook Marketplace, eBay and Craigslist. Be warned — online used chair price listings tend to be all over the board as it can be difficult for potential sellers to grasp how quickly wheelchair values depreciate.

What to Do With a Dead Chair

What can you do with a wheelchair that is at the end of its life and not worth donating? Former reseller Dave Moore suggests asking a scrap metal recycling center in your area to refer you to a metal scrapper, as they will usually be happy to take the chair off your hands. “This is especially true for power chairs because of the recycling value in the copper and other metals in the chair, plus core values for batteries,” he says. “Where I live, a set of used group 24 batteries fetches $20 for the core value.” Scrapping your old chair puts a little money in your pocket while ensuring that some of the materials are repurposed instead of winding up in the landfill.

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Donating Or Getting Used Chairs At No Cost

Donating your chair to a nonprofit comes with the double bonus of knowing it will likely help someone in need and getting a tax write-off for yourself. One example is the ALS Association, which accepts used DME in good condition at all locations. They have a “durable medical equipment loan program” that provides donated assistive technology ranging from shower chairs and cushions to manual and power chairs for people with ALS. “Because ALS is a progressive condition with a prognosis of two to five years, somebody with ALS doesn’t have time to go through the red tape of getting assistive technology,” says Amy Sugimodo of the Sacramento Chapter ALS Association. Although anybody can donate, only people with ALS are eligible to borrow the equipment. “We have never had to turn away anyone with ALS for any requested DME. They can come down to our chapter, and we work with a nurse or ATP to [properly fit them].”

The Triumph Foundation, located in Southern California, gets top marks as a place to donate manual and power chairs. They take the wheelchairs to their warehouse and fix them up, including adding fresh batteries to power chairs. It’s also an excellent place for those who can’t afford a used chair. “Being able to provide a refurbished chair that is the right chair with the right fit is especially important for somebody with a new injury,” says Andrew Skinner, the organization’s founder. “They are often released from the hospital with the wrong type of chair or a chair that doesn’t fit.”

The Triumph Foundation maintains a list of who has what type and size of chair. “If we match a person donating a power chair in another part of the country with somebody in need of a power chair, we have grants for new batteries,” says Skinner.

Another great place to donate a chair or find DME at no cost is through one of the Centers for Independent Living in your state. Many CILs accept wheelchairs and other DME that is still in good condition. They’ll typically clean, repair and make it available for people with disabilities for free or minimal cost. “If your local CIL doesn’t repurpose DME, it can steer you to an organization that does,” says Ana Acton, Deputy of California Department of Rehabilitation.

Your local United Spinal Chapter or SCI support group are other places to check for donating used wheelchairs and DME. Some, like San Francisco Bay Area’s NorCal SCI, maintain a durable equipment closet of donated equipment that is matched with those who need it.

Resources

• Disability Equipment – Buy/Sell/Trade
• Disability Trading Zone
• NorCal SCI DME Equipment Closet
• Triumph Foundation
• Wheeleez

Power Chair Resellers:

• Marc’s Mobility
• Timeless Mobility