AIBU to feel horrified at the number of Motability vehicles being provided?

You read my mind.

It’s really not but ok! Enjoy your daytime tv tomorrow.

With a sticker to mark it out from other cars as one mumsnetter proposed. An inverted black triangle would go down well with some posters on this thread.

😘😘🫛

So, eugenics how fascinating.

I remember that too. Why does the general public need to know what cars are in use by disabled people? Is it so they know who to throw rotten tomatoes at?

I will do before my 3 night shifts.

I feel deprived. No new car I’ve ever bought has been wrapped up or “revealed”.

I would not wish to be a single parent with multiple children who all have disabilities, to the severity of meeting criteria for high rate mobility benefits. Plenty of people in that situation would happily trade places.

You cannot pay tax if you don’t make your own money.

😂

Tell that to those paying inheritance tax, capital gains tax and taxes on share and investment income!

😂

Raising kids is very much hard work if you do.it properly. My sister is disabled and often poorly. She would have loved to have children but it would not have been a good idea. She would have needed a lot of support to do so. She hasn't worked for 15 years. Her partner has a well paid job . It would be very difficult without that. It's sad though. Seeing how she struggles daily makes me wonder how "disabled" are "disabled" people with two children or more. I have two and I am.not disabled but knackered all the time! I work though ...

Although God knows that's not because their parents don't want them to!

I have been trying to compile a thread post trying to break down all of the recent (and not so recent) threads about PIP into actual facts backed up with real data from Government reports

im still working my way through - and also wondering if it's worth the energy as a lot of posters can't even differentiate between any type of benefit. Just rage/jealousy/smugness that they don't get what the more vulnerable in society do.

Anyway after that preamble...... here's a bit on Motability

There are currently

37% of all PIP recipients receive high rate care and high rate mobility. Meaning these are the only ones who are permitted to access the motability scheme.

This is around 1.5 million people.

Currently there are about 870,000 motability cars being leased.

To lease a car the mobility portion (£320 per 4 weeks) of the PIP payment goes straight to Motability for the lease of the car. Most cars have an advance payment.

To have an adapted vehicle, eg to fit a hoist there is no other way to lease a vehicle except through the Motability scheme. I believe its very difficult to buy an adaptive car, possibly impossible new and few and far between second hand. The advance payment on these is often well over £5,000.

Of the approx 870,000 Motability vehicles 200,000 are leased by DLA recipients. Mostly children or adults in areas that haven't moved to PIP yet.

There are about 1 million people who are entitled to lease a vehicle yet don't. These are people who get the full payment of PIP

There are around 2.6 million other claimants who are NOT eligible for a car

Could that freedom not be provided in a second hand car, or a free bus pass?

Absolutely, but very few disabled people are not capable of parenting. With the right support, many can. Those that can't... people with LD for example. I know a couple with LD who keep having kids, and having them removed. They love their children, but they are just not capable of looking after them. The dad actually works. You can work and not be able to parent too.

On here, a few people have said if you are disabled to the point you get PIP, then you should not be having kids... and that simply is not true, and is offensive to boot.

My DS age 10 has autism and learning difficulties, and attends a specialist SEN school. He takes significantly more supervision and care than others his age, has meltdowns and little perception of danger etc. He does not meet criteria for high rate mobility DLA/a mobility car. It is very difficult to get- needs must be high and a lot of evidence backed by professionals has to be provided.

Motability cars are leased not bought.

There is a great programme on Channel 4 catch up (was on last night) called The Experiment.

I think some of you PP might recognise yourself in some of the ideas floating there.

Communal housing, jobs for the disabled- they cover it all

You do understand Motability cars are leased not owned?

Oh and buses are all well and good but if you are a wheelchair user it is the luck of the draw if you get the one wheelchair space available.

Some disabled people are eligible for a free bus pass, but it doesn’t meet the needs of all disabled people. For example, not everyone lives on bus routes, some have very limited bus services and buses aren’t suitable for all disabled people.

Second hand cars would cost Motability more in maintenance costs. It would also mean their resale value was less.

There is no difference in cost to the taxpayer between a basic car and a luxury car on the scheme.

The cost difference is borne entirely by the hirer - and motability vehicles are leased, they're not given. The hirer exchanges the mobility portion of their pip. If the vehicle costs more than the weekly pip the extra is paid in the form of an up front deposit. At the end of the lease the vehicle is handed back and sold by Motability. Let's not forget that some "basic" cars will have greater depreciation over the term of the lease than other "less basic" vehicles.

Some users of Motability vehicles will also be children with SEND and lets not pretend for a moment that any money saved will go to them!

Thanks now I want to have cheese on toast because you're right, OP has all the hallmarks of cheese dream.

You need to go through Motability to get things like hoists fitted, and you can not get a second hand car via the scheme either.

Yes, a free bus pass is great, but if you are a wheelchair/scooter user, relying on a bus to get you to work is pretty much a gamble as to whether you get to work on time or not.
A friend of mine with MS was on PIP and had a Motability car which she relied on to get to work. Someone actually suggested she should give it up and get the train instead. We don't all live in London! Our little train station would take her 30 miles away from her work, not drop her off on the doorstep.

Often no.

Buses may not be accessible or go where the person needs to go. (It's three buses from my local town to my local hospital, for example)

And second hand cars may not be cheaper or meet the needs of the person.

My mum for example is a wheelchair user. She needs a specially adapted vehicle. They're like hens' teeth to buy second hand and the second hand one she had been her current motability car broke down halfway to a hospital appointment and left her stranded on the side of a duel carriageway.

I am not in favour of scrapping/restricting the motabilty scheme, but you can pay for things adaptations like hoists privately.