Need a Ride?

When it comes to building a business, you can't just give your goods away.

Or can you?

In Tampa, Fla., employees at Ride-Away, the Londonderry, N.H.-based provider of modified vehicles for the disabled, are experiencing first-hand the benefits of just giving their products away — for a little while, at least.

Through the company's new program, Vans of Valor, Ride-Away is loaning out its Braun Entervan conversion vehicles to disabled veterans. During the vehicle loan period, Ride-Away covers all costs, from maintenance and insurance to licensing, registration and adaptive equipment — and the program is paying off.

Big time.

“There's obviously some business sense behind the program,” explains Russ Guajardo, Ride-Away sales consultant and the brain behind Vans of Valor.

“We are providing a service to fit the need the veteran is faced with, but in turn we also develop business in the form of a van sale when the veteran is at a stage where he or she can purchase a van.

“As far as business sense goes, it's basically securing a future purchase for your company, so the initial expense and the operating expense will eventually pay for themselves many times over.”

But the rewards of Vans of Valor are not only evident in Ride-Away's bottom line. The program, like many business-building ideas, began as a labor of love.

A military man himself, Guajardo has been a regular visitor and volunteer at Tampa's James A. Haley VA Medical Center for years. His volunteer hours were often spent with veterans suffering debilitating injuries, and, after his nephew Cory suffered a traumatic brain injury in a car accident, Guajardo decided something must be done to help those in need.

He approached Ride-Away President Mark Lore with his idea for loaning out the company's modified vehicles and, two months later, Vans of Valor was born.

“We had the sheer advantage of numbers,” Guajardo said. “We had inventory; we already had a rental business in place. All we had to do was transfer vans to the Vans of Valor program.”

The program loaned its first van in the late spring of last year. Since then, Ride-Away has been loaning four Braun Entervan conversion vans — three Dodge Grand Caravans and one Chevrolet Uplander — on a consistent basis to veterans who are recommended to the program by the local VA. The vans are specifically modified to fit the needs of each vet and are delivered directly to the recipient's home.