First Call vehicle
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The First Call Vehicle is a vehicle used in the funeral service industry. This type of vehicle is used to pick up the remains of a recently deceased person, and transport that person to the funeral home for preparation. This initial pickup is called the "first call", which is where the name of these vehicles come from. While some funeral homes will use their hearse for these initial pickups, having vehicles available for first calls and just using the hearse for funerals helps save wear and tear on that vehicle.
Usually the vehicles used for this purpose are minivans. In some cases, funeral homes purchase minivans that have been specially converted into first call vehicles by the same companies that produce hearses. In other cases, general purpose work minivans are purchased. These minivans do not have the rear seats installed. For example, on the A&E show Family Plots, the funeral home featured uses a plain white Chevy Astro type minivan for these pickups. When a regular work minivan is used, a metal deck is purchased and installed in the van. These metal decks are generally available from funeral supply companies, and are used to hold a stretcher or casket in place.
In the United States, larger SUV's such as the Chevrolet Suburban and Ford Excursion have also come into use; their large wheelbase, pickup truck-derived chassis and larger displacement engines make them popular choices, well suited to their purpose and requiring little alteration from the showroom floor. From the 1970's to the mid-1990's, full-sized station wagons such as the Chevrolet Caprice, Buick Roadmaster and Ford LTD were popular options as well. Conversion on these ranged from simply tinting or blacking-out the rear windows, and installing a metal deck (or sometimes, just bars) to hold the stretcher or casket in place, to having the rear section done up as a landau and the installation of a casket tray, similar to a hearse. Many of these vehicles are still in service around the country.
It is also not uncommon for older hearses to be employed as a first call vehicle; this often makes sense for the funerator when a new hearse is purchased, as opposed to purhasing a second new vehicle outright.
The First Call vehicle is sometimes operated by an outside company that has contracts with various mortuaries and funeral homes, rather than by the funeral homes themselves.
