Motability scheme is changing

Man of Honour
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
159,534
I think they should drop it to £15k personally as why do they need expensive cars.

£15k doesnt buy much car. Heck even a Citroen Picasso thing costs more than that, and you often need quite a bit of space to fit a wheelchair etc in.

Even a base Focus has a list price of almost £20k.
 
Soldato
Joined
30 Sep 2009
Posts
3,626
i actually bought the daily mail today, i read this story, i also read a story about a family whose £300k house is going to have to be demolished because it is ravaged with japanese knot-weed. the most interesting part of the paper was on page 2 though, they actually have a column dedicated to apologies and mistakes made by themselves.
 
Soldato
Joined
5 Oct 2009
Posts
13,823
Location
Spalding, Lincs
I work at Kwik Fit who does the tyres for Motability, all I can say is that these changes are good, I've seen people in all sorts of cars, BMW 3 series, couple of Jags and all sorts.

I think if they are being provided with a car then a corsa or fiesta would be fine, or a berlingo for wheelchair users.

It's certainly abused by far too many people sadly.
 
Associate
Joined
9 Apr 2009
Posts
718
So they get £55 a week plus Disability Living Allowance, so all you have to do is put petrol in, a guy in the next street gets it and he had a hip replacement, can walk, all he does is walk from his door to the car which is about 10 yards. Also when he moved onto a brand new car his son ended up with his old one. :rolleyes:

Thought it was for the most serious cases in disability. Add in the cost of insurance/tax its a massive saving. No wonder its abused, its basically a free car. £220 towards the payment of a car is crazy.

If his son kept the Motability car once he had received a new one that would be because the son opted to buy the Motability car. At the end of the three years you normally give it back in exchange for the new car and it is then sold on the used market.
 
Soldato
Joined
19 Jul 2005
Posts
7,069
Location
S. Yorkshire
So they get £55 a week plus Disability Living Allowance
No, their DLA is £55 per week but they give that up in favour of taking a car instead. If the car lease over the 3 year period is greater than £55 per week then the excess cost can be paid up front in the form of a non-refundable advanced payment. An example could be that a bog standard Zetec (or whatever that trim level is these days) might fall within the £55 per week category and require zero advance payment. A Titanium with all the trim upgrades could require a £1500 advance payment.
At the end of the three years that advance payment is not given back.

Basically you pay £7200 over a 3 year period to hire a car. The benefit to most people is that there is no tax, no maintenance costs, no tyre costs, no servicing costs and the opportunity to be driving a brand new car. You don't own it, you never will under the scheme.
 
Associate
Joined
24 Oct 2011
Posts
37
alternatives to motability

I have looked at alternatives when my Motability lease expires next year. There are some good PCPs available. They dont include insurance or maintainence but on a 2 year 10000 miles pa, I'm looking at £330pa insurance ( I know this will vary for others), one service at £225 and I would allow £125 for a new tyre ( motability work on 2 tyres per lease). Brakes should not be a problem and the warranty takes care of the rest. PCP costs can be as low as £125 for a small car and even a premium badge can be had for £240 per month. Doing the maths its possible to have a C class on a 2 year lease for about the same as one on the scheme (working on a pro rata basis).
I think anyone over the age of 40 with a good driving record, living outside central london or the other major cities (ie high cost insurance areas) and driving less than 10000 miles pa could benefit.
Food for thought, and bear in mind these PCP costs include VAT.
 
Associate
Joined
30 Sep 2004
Posts
1,038
Location
Colchester, Essex
No, their DLA is £55 per week but they give that up in favour of taking a car instead. If the car lease over the 3 year period is greater than £55 per week then the excess cost can be paid up front in the form of a non-refundable advanced payment. An example could be that a bog standard Zetec (or whatever that trim level is these days) might fall within the £55 per week category and require zero advance payment. A Titanium with all the trim upgrades could require a £1500 advance payment.
At the end of the three years that advance payment is not given back.

Basically you pay £7200 over a 3 year period to hire a car. The benefit to most people is that there is no tax, no maintenance costs, no tyre costs, no servicing costs and the opportunity to be driving a brand new car. You don't own it, you never will under the scheme.

Not quite right, you pay the mobility component (£55/week) towards the car you can also get a care component of DLA that is assessed on the same form, but you keep this money, as it's used for help with personal care, rather than getting around. For example, someone could get none/lower/middle/upper rate care (£0/£19.55/£49.30/£73.60) per week plus none/lower/upper mobility (£0/£19.55/£51.40) in any combination, the only people eligible for motability are those with upper rate mobility component, they can in addition can get none/any one of the care components that they keep.
 
Commissario
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
32,996
Location
Panting like a fiend
Some of the comments in here make me really rather annoyed (although some of the others pleasently surprise me by being reasonable).

A 40k car costs the "taxpayer" no more under Motorbility than a £10k car, as you pay the same monthly fee (usually all your DLA mobility allowance) AND a hefty upfront fee to cover the depreciation of the car over 3 years above the level that the DLA payments would cover.
A £10k car might have Zero upfront fee, but a £40k one might have £5-10k - IIRC under the current rules the Motorbility scheme has actually been running at a slight but noticeable profit.
Also Motorbility are a huge fleet hire, they get big discounts on the cars under the scheme, so will usually pay a fair bit less than any individual would to get the cars (they have a hefty discount on the RRP), so the "£40k car" is probably closer to £30 or £35k, and the scheme normally ends up with getting a slight profit at the end of it.

The change has been made mainly for the sake of the DM and image and uneducated idiots who can't ever be bothered to look into the truth.

A £15k car for example probably won't be suitable for many people (why stop at £15k, you can get a Picanto for £6 or £7k), as one of the things that people who take the motorbity option often require is a dealership near enough to them that the car can be serviced with minimal inconvenience, or may need an Automatic (usually costs a bit more), or a larger vehicle to enable them to get in and out comfortably.
It's surprising how important an extra few inches in height to the seat can suddenly become when you' have say a hip problem, or how important a higher cabin area can be if you can't bend easily/without pain, let alone little things like the height and position of the boot opening, or the size of the boot (things that are really quite important considerations if you've got a wheelchair, especially if the person who pushes it may be a little older, or smaller), and those are all before the normal considerations of things like how comfortable is the driving position for you, or can you see around comfortably from the drivers seat (the pillars in some cars are really badly placed for people of some heights)

Also the 5 mile ruling is going to make a lot of problems for people who may drive the car themselves when going around the town, but have a family member nominated to help them when it comes to longer drives or things like hospital visits (IIRC under motorbility only the nominated drivers, or the staff of the servicing garage etc can ever drive the car).

It's unfortunately the Motorbility scheme throwing the baby out of the bathwater in an attempt to appease the DM readers who can't or won't be happy until the only choice for motorbility cars is a nice little orange plastic three wheeled thing that only takes the disabled person.
There are problems with the old scheme, but it would probably have cost less to have dealt with them - the changes in the rules now aren't likely to stop someone from lying about where they live, and a lot of the people that abused the scheme lived in the same town (or even same house) as the person who the car was for the use of.
 
Soldato
Joined
24 Jun 2008
Posts
8,328
5 miles is way too short.
I ( or rather /we .. there's a few family who live within walking distance and we go together) regularly drive over 15 miles to visit the older family members 3-4 times a week.
 
Associate
Joined
24 Oct 2011
Posts
37
No, their DLA is £55 per week but they give that up in favour of taking a car instead. If the car lease over the 3 year period is greater than £55 per week then the excess cost can be paid up front in the form of a non-refundable advanced payment. An example could be that a bog standard Zetec (or whatever that trim level is these days) might fall within the £55 per week category and require zero advance payment. A Titanium with all the trim upgrades could require a £1500 advance payment.
At the end of the three years that advance payment is not given back.

Basically you pay £7200 over a 3 year period to hire a car. The benefit to most people is that there is no tax, no maintenance costs, no tyre costs, no servicing costs and the opportunity to be driving a brand new car. You don't own it, you never will under the scheme.

Its actually a lot more than £7200 over 3 years. Its nearer £8600 as DLA increases in line with inflation and any increse (in most cases) goes towards the cost. So the much publices BMW x3 would cost £9500-15000 AP plus £8600, at least £18100 for a 3 year lease equating to £503 per month.
 
Associate
Joined
24 Oct 2011
Posts
37
When the new rules were announced on 21st October, Motability said the new car selection rules and the Max £2000 AP would take effect straight away but they would honour existing commitments, fair enough. Basically you had until 31st December if you wanted to order a car over the £2k limit. But in November they allowed a new car on the scheme, the Mercedes B class with several models over £2k and £3699 in one case. This is contrary to their own rules and must throw confusion as to how or if the new rules will actually come into force?
 
Soldato
Joined
16 Nov 2009
Posts
16,030
Location
UK
It's surprising how important an extra few inches in height to the seat can suddenly become when you' have say a hip problem, or how important a higher cabin area can be if you can't bend easily/without pain, let alone little things like the height and position of the boot opening, or the size of the boot (things that are really quite important considerations if you've got a wheelchair, especially if the person who pushes it may be a little older, or smaller), and those are all before the normal considerations of things like how comfortable is the driving position for you, or can you see around comfortably from the drivers seat (the pillars in some cars are really badly placed for people of some heights)

You know your stuff. Something like a Nissan Note has a perfect seat height for me to 'swivel' into, whereas whenever I get into or out of my friend's MX5 it's like I'm on bloomin' Gladiators!

With the Motability scheme, if a vehicle is paid for by your DLA, what benefits do you get over just using your DLA to fund a non-Motability?
 
Permabanned
Joined
15 Nov 2011
Posts
1,156
What's wrong with a £25k cap? Maybe they are saying that someone who claims but adds funds to get a £40k car, doesn't need financial help.

Whats wrong! My sons seat that spin around and cone out to the floot cost £35K. The hoist to lift his chair that cost £15K then a month after having it was not enough as he got a new chair and the system will only allow you to be speced for what you have at the time, dispite in 1 month a new chair coming! Oh and then a decent car to move it all, so 250kg for a chair, 1 child, 1 baby, 2 adults and it be practical we had no option but the top end ford galaxy!

It's not just the car it's the add ons! DLA is ment to cover that but dont! In the end i spoke to Laim Fox my local MP and he personly bought it for me via some charity thing they have access too.

The insurance thing is an odd one. There now telling us we have to get a D1 lience due to weight yet the law says what weight!

They have also reduced the mileage. There is a huge fee if you go over and with a disabled child your always on the road to hospitals and what not!
 
Back
Top Bottom