Mobility aids like stair lifts, mobility scooters, and lift chairs are essential tools that help people maintain independence and safety at home and while out. Yet for many families, the cost of these products creates a significant obstacle to achieving the quality of life they deserve. By offering flexible financing programs, mobility businesses can make these life-changing solutions more attainable, allowing customers to act sooner, choose better equipment, and enjoy greater comfort and freedom in their daily lives.
Partnering with the right financing provider is fundamental to ensuring affordable access to mobility aids. United Consumer Financial Services, the consumer financing provider of choice for mobility businesses, provides affordable, flexible monthly payment options that increase sales and revenue for mobility aid retailers.
The Financial Barriers to Mobility and Independence
The cost of mobility equipment creates major hurdles for individuals and families needing accessibility for day-to-day living. Stair lifts, mobility scooters, lift chairs, and vehicle modifications often require a substantial upfront investment. This equipment and the resulting home modifications typically cost thousands of dollars. While medical insurance or government programs may cover a small portion, they rarely cover the full cost, leaving consumers with significant out-of-pocket expenses. These financial constraints can delay vital purchases, forcing people to adapt their lives to physical limitations rather than improve them. Addressing affordability through flexible payment options can help eliminate these delays and ensure people get the equipment they need when they need it most.
How Consumer Financing Expands Access to Essential Mobility Equipment and Increases Sales
Individuals and families need realistic pathways to purchase mobility aids quickly. This equipment sees everyday use. And because these aids are essential, when they break down and require replacement, the need is urgent. Offering consumer financing options opens assistive tech affordability and expands access to essential mobility equipment for more consumers when they need it: now. Here’s how:
- Consumer financing makes high-cost mobility aids affordable: Flexible financing programs make costly mobility solutions like chair lifts, stair lifts (and the home improvement services required for installation), mobility scooters, and even vehicle modifications or electric adjustable beds, immediately affordable. Instead of upfront costs in the thousands, financing breaks down large lump-sum prices into manageable monthly payments that fit within your customers’ budgets, removing cost barriers.
- Consumer financing facilitates immediate purchase, accessibility, and safety: Payment plans grant faster access to mobility equipment, eliminating the extensive wait times of traditional funding approvals. Saving a lump sum of cash to cover these costs can take months or even years, while applying for loans or grants can take weeks or months. Accessibility, independence, and quality of life should never be put on hold due to long, drawn-out funding issues. Providing consumer financing options shows clients you prioritize their well-being and empowers them to order the equipment they need today.
- Consumer financing expands market reach: Consumer financing helps families plan and budget for significant accessibility-related expenses. Accessibility needs span financial demographics, and your business must cater to all potential clients, including those with less-than-great credit and those who need to make equipment purchases now but don’t have thousands in savings. Partnering with a consumer financing firm like UCFS helps expand your market reach and improve adaptive device uptake: our high approval rates and flexible, affordable monthly payment plans make your products more accessible to more consumers. This not only better serves your target demographic but also expands your market reach and increases mobility aid sales.
- Consumer financing facilitates upgrades and cross-sells: The high cost of essential mobility equipment places enormous burdens on individuals and families who need these resources. Various financial obstacles inhibit accessibility, leading many customers to settle for less-than-ideal equipment because their need is urgent. Consumer financing addresses prohibitive costs by breaking down large lump sums into affordable monthly payments, increasing consumer purchasing power. Instead of choosing a lower-priced aid out of necessity, shoppers can upgrade to the equipment best suited to meet their needs –– without draining savings or disrupting their planned budgets. Upgrading their purchase, customizing equipment, or adding aid accessories is affordable and accessible: for just a few dollars more per monthly payment, shoppers can choose the product they want when they want it –– right now.
Best Practices for Offering Financing Programs to Increase Mobility Aid Sales
Offering consumer financing builds trust and positions your company as a compassionate, solutions-focused partner. Below are a few best practices for providing financing to increase mobility aid and equipment sales:
- Partner with an experienced consumer financing company: Industry experience makes the difference in successful, conversion-driving financing programs. United Consumer Financial Services brings the specific expertise mobility aid businesses need to optimize their financing programs and convert more quotes into sales.
- Choose a financing partner with thorough training options: Your team should be equipped to clearly and confidently walk customers through the financing process, explaining the benefits of accessible payment plans without confusing financing jargon. UCFS offers thorough, one-on-one training to help you maximize your financing program. Our seasoned team ensures you understand the ins and outs of our platform and how to most effectively present financing options to customers. When your sales team communicates financing with empathy and clarity, customers see the benefits of low payments and are more likely to take advantage of your financing options.
- Integrate financing options early and often: Your team should make customers aware of financing options from the first interaction. When shoppers know they can easily afford mobility aids with affordable monthly payments, the sales process is often faster and smoother for everyone involved. Integrating financing options directly into equipment quotes or estimates helps shoppers know exactly what they can expect in terms of payment amounts, which in turn helps convert more quotes into completed transactions.
Increase Access and Affordability of Mobility Equipment with UCFS
Offering consumer financing options makes mobility solutions immediately accessible to more people who need them. By partnering with United Consumer Financial Services, your business not only increases affordability but also strengthens customer relationships for long-term sales and revenue. Offering financing is a smart business move and a meaningful service to your clients and their families.
UCFS, a Marmon company, a division of Berkshire Hathaway, has been providing conversion-driving financing options to businesses for more than 45 years. Our industry-specific expertise helps mobility businesses make the most of their financing programs, maximizing reach, expanding access to more customers, and increasing sales.
UCFS offers
- A paperless, user-friendly application that can be completed in just a few minutes
- A prompt credit decision that allows you to proceed with the sale
- Same-as-cash payment options to attract your customers to make their purchase and not pay interest when the loan is repaid within the promotion period
- Flexible repayment plans that increase affordability, even for big-ticket items like mobility scooters, chair lifts and the home improvement services required for installation, vehicle modification, and more
- Clear, consistent terms that garner customer trust
- Fair interest rates that serve the consumer
- Payment collection throughout the life of the loan
Becoming a merchant with UCFS is easy. Integrating our consumer financing options into your sales process helps you serve more clients, fund wheelchairs and scooters, support independence spend, and sell more mobility aids from day one. Contact UCFS now to learn how the right financing program can help you ensure access to vital mobility equipment and grow your business starting today.
