Ebbett Volkswagen saves in-home-care charity

Ebbett Volkswagen’s fleet of vehicles enables Aspire to deliver their services to the Waikato community.

Aspire is a community organisation that supports people with intellectual disabilities to live as independently as possible. Aspire’s services include residential and support living, 24/7 staff support and assistance to enable people to live life to the fullest.

Looking for the right fit

In 2014, Aspire was looking for a new fleet of vehicles. As a not-for-profit charity, money is tight but these vehicles are essential for transporting people around the community.

Simone Molenaar, chief executive, Aspire, explains what they were looking for in their new fleet. “We wanted a step up in safety and accessibility for staff driving vehicles, with smarter features that enabled better road safety,” she says. “Given that we support people with various abilities it was also important that the vehicles were easy for people to get in and out of and that they sit comfortably with enough room to meet their needs.

“We also wanted to support a Waikato business as part of our commitment to local sustainability.”

With these elements in mind, the Ebbett Volkswagen team sat down with Aspire to look through options and analyse the best vehicle for their needs. “We compared every manufacturer that might have been suitable to find out how much we could actually save them,” explains Richard van den Engel, dealer principal, Ebbett Volkswagen.