Motability cars - should they be UK made?

"Able bodied drivers pay for their own cars."

Able bodied drivers don't need to have the space for 3 carers to accompany them. They don't need space for the wheelchair. They don't need sliding doors so they can be got out of the car safely. They don't need a car that accommodates their specialist harness. They can choose any car.

That does not really answer the question though, as disabled people pay for their cars on Motability. So why should their choice be limited?

Cars for the disabled often need expensive modifications and need to be larger- do you not agree with supporting the disabled to be mobile?

Able bodied drivers pay for their own cars.

According to one of the broadsheets today, if the chancellor implements input VAT on Motability cars, it will increase the average cost of a lease by £6,500 plus. In other words, she’s cutting the benefits to those disabled people by at least £2,000 pa?

How many people on here could afford to pay that, given those also on UC start losing benefits, when they have over £6,000? I suspect the number of people who would be able to afford a car, could drop off a cliff? 1,700 are employed in Motability - many of them could lose their jobs. If the second hand car market loses all those well maintained, fairly low mileage cars, that will put up the price of the remaining second hand cars, due to the law of supply and demand.

It really is disgusting that the government targets some of the most disabled and impoverished people in society to fill its black hole in public finances - because the government is run by people with no business experience and don’t think through the ramifications of their stupid ideas?

Who would have thought increasing employers NI would mean redundancies, freezes in recruitment, more inflation and a crisis in the care sector, with fixed incomes and high staff costs? Anyone who runs a business, but not the chancellor!

Sounds about right. Much easier to spout stuff, but less willing to show any facts.

FWIW I’d give up DS’s Motability vehicle in a heartbeat if the disabilities he had could be swapped so he did not struggle.

As it is the car is a lifeline , it’s his only access with the outside world. It gets him to Colchester Zoo (his happy place) and back . At age 22 most young men are socialising, having relationships, working and generally enjoying life on their own. My son cannot do this, he can’t even get on a bus by himself.

The car is a link with the outside world,

Literally just one would do

Yes,I can remember the name that they were given. Don't think anyone would get away with saying it out loud nowadays though!

It’s too much like work to go through them!

The rules are there to ensure people are properly ensured, and to ensure that the disabled person the car is to benefit, is indeed the one benefiting from it.

It's not meant to make life harder - I used to use mine to commute to jobs in various difference places, when I went out to peoples homes to work. That was fine, it was pre-agreed with Motability and the insurer, even though it wasn't the standard use. We no longer need that agreement because I no longer work outside the house.

Absolutely they expect you to use it ass a family car despite what people on here think you should use it as
It makes no sense to have a separate car .for all other journeys unless you can afford it .
When we got my sons second cat the dealership even said enjoy your car

The basic policy covers you for driving to and from a single place of work. But my husband's new job requires a car to be driven around to people's houses - he then goes in to their house. So this clearly wasn't allowed under the policy. So I called Direct Line and they upgraded the policy. My nephew, who drives around to different schools as a teacher, has a motability car and he did the same. This isn't commuting as such. They asked if my husband was the main earner - he is. I don't know what would happened if I had said no.

I drove DDs Motability car all the time, even if she wasn't with me. I was on call 24/7 365 days a year in the event of a medical emergency - and there were too many of those to count. So if DD was at school, holiday club or respite and I was out and about, i would be in her Motability car, so I could get to her if I got an emergency phone call from whichever setting she was at. Imagine if I'd had to leave her car at home and go out on the very infrequent bus, then catch the bus back home to pick her car up before getting to her in an emergency.

Thank goodness the people who made the rules about the Motability scheme have more common sense and empathy than some of the people on this thread!

"Commuting" is the key word. To keep it separate from "business use" and "Social and domestic".

I learned a long time ago to take anything people say (especially in official positions) at face value. If you want the truth, you have to read the truth, not somebodies "what I think it says" version of it.

I can recall the rather unPC name for them. I guess that's due a revival too ?

Well if some people had their way,disabled people would be having to use those blue,3 wheeler disability cars that were around years ago. Got to keep disabled people in their place you know.

Yes, we have an adult daughter with epilepsy. She lives at home and we have a car in her name, which we drive. The problem is more if they move into independent or supported living as they may put a tracker on the car.

Hm. I phoned Direct Line as my husband is in a similar situation work wise and they just changed the policy to add his business use. The motability people didn't know anything about what you could and couldnt for and they told me to phone Direct Line. They asked plenty of questions and then approved it. Otherwise we were going to have to buy another car.

The education system and the NHS are just as much benefits as disability benefits?

So is the state pension.

disability benefits, and especially Motability cars; what bothers us far more is tax evasion, loopholes and inconsistencies in the law.

what loop holes and inconsistencies are you referring to out of interest @BlueandWhitePorcelain ?

We are not economists, but as accountants, DH and I have spent 45 years looking at the tax system.

We are not worried about how this country is going to afford disability benefits, and especially Motability cars; what bothers us far more is tax evasion, loopholes and inconsistencies in the law.

As parents of someone with a life threatening condition, we do not want to be told her car is a perk. I have three ND immediate relatives, ADHD and autistic traits, and none of them show such little empathy.

We also don’t want the faux concern from others, who don’t understand the system, that we should be grateful they want to restrict our decisions on how to spend DD’s benefits, when they have no conception of what she needs; because the truth is they are jealous of anything she gets, to make her life a tiny bit easier; and they want a bigger share of the cake for themselves.

Would all those posters like it, if they had a heart attack, and the rest of us, said they are not to have any treatment from the NHS, because it’s our money and why should it be wasted on them? They should have looked after themselves better. The education system and the NHS are just as much benefits as disability benefits?

I am also keen to see UK manufacturing given a boost

If UK manufacturing can't make what people want at a price they can afford, then it can fuck right off.

I am old enough to remember the absolute shite pumped out by UK manufacturing when it had to be subsidised the first time.

If she went with that idea then maybe it’s needs to extend to the insurance company used etc