Luxury cars removed from the motability scheme

Don't believe everything the Mail or the Telegraph tell you...

Honestly. You should be ashamed. These cars ARE NOT GIVEN. They are paid for by the adult recipient of higher rate PIP or the parents/carer of a child who receives the mobility element of DLA. People have to personally make a down payment, often of several thousand, to have the more expensive cars.

A family with one or more disabled children might be entitled to the higher rate/mobility element of DLA and therefore a motability car. Should they - and perhaps their additional children and dog - wedge themselves into a ‘basic little car’ just because some people are begrudging? It’s perfectly ok to make a big down payment and have a more suitable car. It doesn’t affect you or anyone else at all.

What if I drove a top of the range Mercedes before becoming disabled and would like to use my PIP - and my own funds for the advance payment which can be thousands - to continue driving the same car? Or don’t think now that I’m disabled I shouldn’t be aspirational and have nice things THAT I PAY FOR?!

Yes of course it is easy to game it that way. 😂
All families have to go to shops to buy food etc - and understand that they do that without demanding a handout to do so…
Yet somehow now it’s deemed (by those who are gaming the system) that someone else should pay…. always...

Tell me you know nothing about the motability scheme without telling me you know nothing about the motability scheme ….

Because they make things up on the fly, based on public opinion. And as this thread clearly shows, the public generally don't actually know how things work ;)

It’s such a weird lie isn’t it, a bit like the person claiming you can get a two seater sports car. Imagine being so confidently idiotic, although our two seater lie seems to have gone suspiciously quiet.

Indeed😂😂😂

Curious - who pays for the road tax and insurance on a Motability car? If that cost is paid for by the state, then the state has an obligation to make that cost effective, and if that means getting the most basic option which fits the needs of the person in question, why is that wrong?

Speaking as someone who has several family members - with spurious disability claims which prevent them from doing bog all except work - each with pretty nice new cars, one of whom doesn’t use it and rents it out to another (able bodies, yet also unemployed) family member because she doesn’t even drive.

of course I know this isn’t all mobility car users, but it doesn’t half stick in your gullet when you are out working, paying full whack and seeing this….

@OneBookTooMany
Do you want to scrap any of the charities that ACTUALLY takes government funds )as Motability does not - it takes the leaseholder’s money)…?
Which ones shall we start with - Bernardo’s? Royal British Legion? Mencap? NSPCC? Marie Curie? Crisis? MacMillan? Salvation Army? …any of the dozens and dozens of charities that do rely on direct government provision..

Yes exactly this. The recipient could upgrade from the basic model but had to pay the difference. The cost to the tax payer was the same regardless of the type of vehicle.

Are you not going to stick up for people with disabilities by removing any and all posts that spout blatant lies about motability? Or is mumsnet happy for people to spread lies about vulnerable people?

I think most people understand what the scheme is. They’re essentially arguing for a means testing element to PIP- that it’s not a good use of public funds to be paying benefits to people rich enough to pay the extra for a luxury car.

It would be nice if we could afford to pay everyone the money to offset the disadvantages of their disability. Meanwhile in the real world there are people living in real poverty who are not receiving sufficient help, while we spend money providing cars to people who can demonstrably afford their own, based not on need but simply on disability. It’s not “benefit bashing” to object to that.

If you are genuinely interested in this, and not trying to be goady, you can easily google the motability website and it will tell you everything you need to know.

@WhyamIinahandcartandwherearewegoing
Have you considered reporting these family members to the DWP and/or Motability?
I’m sure you don’t think my 8 year old daughter is scamming the country out of road tax by leasing a car through the registered charity Motability.
Have you expressed your concern about these matters to your MP?

@Pepperedpickles genuinely not being goady, though I can assure you the - albeit anecdotal - family situation is 100% true.

This.
Sad that this actually has to be spelled out to people who cannot grasp that very simple principle.

Better use by whose standards? Your standards aren't the same as everyone else's.

The government (taxpayer) pays road tax and insurance. You can get several named drivers insured if they are to drive you around. However this opens the system up to abuse as you could get someone insured and let them drive it around all week.

PSC is a driving instructor, so why would they not know of such things, and yes according to the rules I’ve just checked you can get a Mobility Car for anxiety.
The problem is the more things get abused the less money there is for those who are genuine.

That's an interesting point.

Suppose I have a missing leg, and I get £50 a month to help with my transport needs.

Does it make any difference to you if I spend it all on bus fares, or put it towards the £500 a month I spend on taxis, or the £1000 a month I spend on leasing a car?

@Sneezo
But you are just objecting to PIP?
Or does that apply to DLA too?
Do you object to universal credit which costs about £72.5 billion (last year’s figure)?
Child benefit?
Free healthcare?
Early years support and childcare costs?
Free education?
State pension?
Or is it JUST the disability benefits?

So perhaps make it that motability is only available to those who need an adapted vehicle?
As it sounds like everyone else could just use regular leasing schemes and pay for it with the mobility element of their pip and they'd be no worse off that now? As apparently motability makes it no cheaper for them?

It isn't gaming anything. If you have a disabled child, you are allowed to use the motability car as a family car.

I’m sure your daughter is not, and that’s why seeing money wasted on people taking the piss should really get sorted out. It takes money away from a budget designed to help those in need, or rather, makes the welfare bill increase as a whole and put further pressure on us all, unfairly.

and yes, whilst I probs should report it, I’m sure that in itself would have people telling me I’m an a*sehole for doing so 😳