Fancy cars for disabled people

[LemaxObsessive]

Motability.

I am sick to absolute death of seeing people saying on various threads, that Motability vehicles are “given” to us disabled people “for free”.

PIP is awarded in 2 separate elements.

1. Daily Living (day to day care needs etc)
2. Mobility

Each element is paid at different rates depending on how affected by your disability you are (and yes, medical evidence is required). However, to be eligible for Motability, you need to be getting the highest rate of the Mobility element. This is currently £77.05 per week (which works out at £308.20 per 4 weeks or £333.88 per month).

When you join Motability you agree for the DWP to give Motability that £77.05 per week instead of it being paid to your bank. If you also receive the Daily Living element of PIP then you will still receive that directly.

You ALSO, in most cases, have to pay an advance payment (AP) for the vehicle. The better the vehicle, the higher the AP. You do not get the AP back.
The £77.05 per week pays for the lease of the car, insurance, roadside assistance, tyres & windshield cover. Disabled people in receipt of the highest rate of the PIP mobility element are already exempt from road tax.

With regards to the ‘fancy’ cars such as BMW, Audi & Mercedes, as you can imagine all of these have a whopping great AP in the multiple thousands of pounds; Which as I said, you don’t get back.
The taxpayer is not paying a penny towards these vehicles besides the fact that Motability don’t currently pay VAT which I believe is up for discussion.

I think a really important point to make here is that PIP is categorically not means tested (even millionaires can claim it, provided their health meets the criteria) and is not paid to replace a disabled person’s income! In other words, people do not live off PIP instead of working, it is paid to cover the added costs associated with being disabled. Costs non-disabled people likely have never even considered, such as cleaners when we can’t do it, basic gardening when we can’t do it, extra electricity for when medical equipment is used at home, ready meals when we’re bed-bound, delivery charges for every single thing we buy because click & collect isn't possible, taxis to work because the bus always already has a wheelchair user on it, along with lots of other small but mounting costs we have zero choice but to pay because the alternative isn’t an option for us. The lowest rate of PIP is just £29.20 per week so we’re not talking big money!

Millions of PIP claimants work full time but crucially, couldn’t do so without PIP and in many cases, without Motability!

As I said above, even wealthy people are eligible to claim PIP to cover the added costs associated with their disability and they can, if they receive the highest rate of the Mobility Component of PIP choose to use Motability. If they want to spend £7,999 plus £77.05 per week to lease an Audi Q4 for 3 years then they can but not many do because it’s a lot of money to have nothing to show for it after 3 years.

So no, nobody is being ‘given free BMWs, Audis or Mercedes’ regardless of what’s being said by anyone!

Exactly. I was born with most of my disabilities. Contrary to the claim of the HCP, I haven't been cured because there isn't one

The Labour Party, would do well to liaise with disability groups, who have direct contact with disabled people, who have had to navigate the PIP system. They are the people who can see the waste, and inefficiency going on. The amount of money being spent on assessing people, who should in all honesty be assessed only once, is just wasteful. The fact that appeals are through the roof, speaks to a problem with the assessment process.

Hi everyone. We're dropping in with a reminder of our Talk guidelines. Strong views are fine, but attacking other users isn’t. Posts should be focused on the topic and ongoing breaches of our site rules could result in posting suspension.

So you think it’s amusing that a person with a lung condition or with Parkinson’s like I have, might want to to drive a performance car?? Eh? So all disabled people should be driving around in basic Dacia dusters?!!! Do disabled people not have an interest in nice cars? Are we all the same?

The issue is a lot of people need bigger cars, can’t get in anything low down, need a bigger boot space for a wheelchair but doesn’t need to be a WAV.

When I have worked with clients who are sending evidence to the grants team for what type of car they need they often have a criteria that wipes out small cars completely but they don’t need adaptations.

People on here don't want sensible, they want all or nothing.... with nothing being unacceptable.

The issue is not about what a Disabled person may or may not want. No one would have an issue whether a disabled person drives a Dacia as you say or a Ferrari if they paid for it from their own money. But if it is being funded by the tax payer, then yes, they should drive a reasonable car that does the job f getting them from A to B safely.

@TheDevilFindsWorkForIdleMumsExactly. That poor Dad must be exhausted

Sounds to me like he has something else going on that you’re not aware of. I’m not saying there aren’t scroungers and fraudsters but trust me, I’ve been on PIP for 12 years and it’s NOT as easy as the DailyMail try to say it is! Every single one of my consultants and doctors including my GP, are contacted every time I’m reassessed and a very, very thorough and invasive physical assessment takes place every time also. Like I said, I’m sure it does get played but I genuinely cannot fathom how it’s done based on my own experience of the process.

Thank you! I was genuinely nervous about coming back to this thread as I knew the disability-haters would be out in full force. (Still glad I posted though, as my OP needed to be said!)

I have pip.

my assessment was via zoom.

they waived the in person asssesent largely because at the time I applied I had recently been assaulted by a male and was having trouble being around men.

when I say having trouble I mean I had a dissociative attack and seizure and then lost my memory for 24 hours.

i requested a female assessor and that was fine.

i did have a lot of paper evidence including full hospital records from my accident and I allowed them full nhs access to my medical records.

As usual, it is because the system is being abused. I couldn’t understand how so many people on our local council estates had Mercs and BMWs. Then it turned out they were funded by Motability as they had elderly parents they needed to ferry around.

Vivi0, @youalrighthas said nothing wrong! In fact it’s bang on - you don’t know what these people have going on medically. You seem to be taking offence at nothing!

Have you reported this abuse?

I don’t think the authorities see it as abuse. If you have an elderly relative, then you deserve money to put down on a luxury car to drive them around.

That’s your opinion.

I know exactly what my grandmother had going on medically.

@youalright has followed me about this thread, accusing me of lying and making up absolute nonsense about me. She then started harrassing someone else this morning with the aggressive accusations.

The Mumsnet post you thanked them for, well, that was aimed at her 😂, not the “disability-haters”, who I note have still to make an appearance on this thread.

Lol.

It would be so easy to do too. Lifelong disability? Assessor can tick a box that says 'does not need to be reassessed'.

I don't know it would save £millions, but would definitely save £thousands.

@LemaxObsessivei know my BIL and he can manage to lay a deck, build hobby room in the garden by himself as well as easily travel by himself following his football team. There is nothing wrong with the man apart from being a drain on society

And that is why they will do precisely nothing. They need a handy scapegoat!🐐

They claimed the reason why we have to be reassessed is because some people on DLA had lifetime awards, got better and didn't inform DWP about this

Whilst there are probably a minority who have improved and not said anything, I don't think it's that widespread

No other country in the world does this and it is a huge perk that encourages people to claim pIP.

come to that I doubt any other country has the percentage of the population we have claiming the equivalent of pip.

Other Countries do offer assistance for disabled people. They may not call it PIP, but something else.

Yes in america it’s literally called disability payments. You are right, many countries do.

Absolute tosh. Yes they do, don’t spread misinformation.