Motability cars - should they be UK made?

Actually I didn’t work on the sales side so no commission at all. But what I will say is I know for a fact that motability don’t act on reports of fraud either.

Why don't we just go back to these eh? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invacar

Just like in the good old days with added prejudice and stigma.

Cut and paste from Motability site:
re WAVs

Get to know the cost
WAVWheelchair Accessible Vehicles tend to cost more than standard cars because there are different stages and companies involved in getting the conversion right for you. And because there are fewer WAVWheelchair Accessible Vehicles on the road than standard cars, suppliers cannot benefit from mass production.
Advance Payments
You’ll need to pay an Advance Payment at the start of your lease to make up the difference between your allowance payments and what the lease costs.
If you need a WAVWheelchair Accessible Vehicle but cannot afford the Advance Payment, Motability Foundation might be able to give you a grant, depending on your circumstances.

Because it enables disabled people to do stuff like.

go to work so they can pay tax

Exactly which make and model were you referring to, though? And did you repirt these abuses to Motability?

Yes they should

What is wrong with having a Vauxhall or Ford (as examples of lower to mid range cars)

why are larger higher range BMW’s and Mercedes even on the list

and there is plenty of PIP fraud what there is also is people who are desperately needing the extra support not quite reaching the threshold which they absolutely should do and having to fight for it

the PIP system and benefits in general is a mess

we have 1 in 4 young adult’s on long term sick with a huge increase in PIP applications/payments of course something is very wrong

It makes a change from PIP recipients climbing Everest I suppose.

To be specific - sports models of certain vehicle - think VW Scirocco. Very popular in the day. Not suitable for elderly though. You could get the more powerful engine.

Have you seen how much cars cost now?

and they still only get £77.05 a week. Look at what you can lease (with insurance and maintenance) for that

Such unbelievable shite some people come out with - young lads buying sports cars with their grandmothers’s PIP 🤣🤣🤣

This is a good point.

@Cantbleedingcope could you please share the make and model of two seater sports car you are referring to?

It's all a load of rubbish.

Those cars aren't available on Motability. You can even go through car searches on the Motability website and clearly see that no 2 seater sports cars show up.

You realise autism is a huge spectrum ?
My child is autistic and gets HRM under SMI, he's 15 but cognitively around 2 or 3 he's totally non verbal goes to a special school for children with severe and profound learning disabilities has extremely challenging behaviour needs 1:1 supervision at all times
When he transfers to PIP next year he will still qualify because he can't travel anywhere independently, and there, s not a cat in he'll, s chance he would be able to plan a journey independently, people don't just get it for autism they have ro meet very strict criteria.

No sports cars are available through motability.

there were many young lads who came in and were getting a car in their grandmothers name for the purpose allegedly to take her to hospital appointments

It was always the same story. Now if they had been getting a suitable ‘regular’ vehicle I may not have batted an eyelid, however when they were getting a very low, 2 seater style higher powered sports car that would be very difficult for an elderly or infirm person to get in and out of - and also barely room for a pram let alone any walking device or wheelchair to go into it, then I very much doubt these cars were being used to ferry their grandmother around. Granny probably never saw the interior of them!

Presumably you reported these abuses to Motability? Presumably you refused contracts to these young men who either turned up without their grandmothers or who were clearly coercing them?

Or perhaps you were happy to accept the contracts and the commission you made? Shameful.

@SerendipityJane
I hope that’s sarcastic!
Please please tell me you don’t think disabled people avoid VAT? Do you mean that VAT free disability equipment shouldn’t be VAT free? Which of course very little is

I think like anyone else, disabled people need a choice of vehicles and using British manufacturers only may not provide those choices. Why should they be restricted to just certain manufacturers?

I worked in a German branded car garage briefly years ago - we had some severely disabled people who came in and I was thrilled to see that they were getting the vehicles they needed. There were some families who literally brought me to tears with their happiness at finally getting a car that suited their specific requirements. I loved helping these people.

There are however sadly some people who do abuse the disability payments - for example there were many young lads who came in and were getting a car in their grandmothers name for the purpose allegedly to take her to hospital appointments. It was always the same story. Now if they had been getting a suitable ‘regular’ vehicle I may not have batted an eyelid, however when they were getting a very low, 2 seater style higher powered sports car that would be very difficult for an elderly or infirm person to get in and out of - and also barely room for a pram let alone any walking device or wheelchair to go into it, then I very much doubt these cars were being used to ferry their grandmother around. Granny probably never saw the interior of them!

I think this is predominantly where people will have a negative view of the scheme. For others though who really need it, it’s an absolute lifeline for them and literally the only way they can live an as normal and independent life as possible. The issue isn’t the motability scheme - it’s the benefits system and their inability to police fraud.

If the scheme was restricted to cars with a value of under 30k it would save exactly nothing.

Maybe read up on the scheme

@1apenny2apenny
Are you alleging that Motability is a tax paid enterprise?
Are you saying that a charity cannot fund whatever it leases (within its stated remit)?
Are you one of the many who think the cars are fully paid for by taxpayers and given to the driver/leaseholder for free?
As numerous people have already pointed out on this thread the cars are not given to people as this line of thinking implies- the mobility component of DLA or PIP (the benefits part) is exchanged for the use of the car for 3-5 years. The user has to pay down payments for most cars. Motability/the car provider then takes that car back and sells it.

Motability is being targeted by Reeves ad it’s reported to be 4 billion in profit - clearly the charity is not losing money by taking the mobility component to a) lease the car b) maintaining it va service of repairs and c) providing insurance.

The insurance is paid for by Motability not the fucking taxpayer on top of the taxpayers paying for the DLA/Pip.

If someone in receipt of DLA spends every penny of their mobility component on squishamals because they can’t no longer go out as their parents can’t get a suitable car - is that ok? No? Why not..?

I don't care where my motability car comes from as long as it's suitable for my disabled son and only WAVs are suitable for him. I don't think it should be restricted, people often pay down payments from their own money.

I think there will be huge reform of the scheme to come in general to be honest, with changes made to the vehicles etc. They don’t need to be £30k cars for a start.

for people who have anxiety/autism and sometimes struggle to leave the house!

You don’t get enhanced mobility PIP or HRM DLA for sometimes struggling to leave the house.

I believe UK manufactured cars are Toyota, Nissan, Vauxhall, Mini, Jaguar Land Rover plus other prestige marques. Quite a range

None of which had a vehicle on the scheme that was suitable for DS1 when we were looking for the vehicle we collected earlier this year. We didn’t look at vehicles that were not on the scheme, so I can’t comment on them.

Some of them have cars manufactured outside of the UK. For example, Vauxhall’s Frontera is manufactured in Slovakia, I believe.

Maybe the real scandal here is all these disabled people dodging VAT. Before we start asking the wealthy to pay more tax, surely we should start with these chancers ?