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!

Water your own grass.

I’m severely immunocompromised but don’t fit into any of the categories of PIP. I also have stage 4 endo, adenomyosis, hidradenitis supprativa and some other autoimmune conditions
the drugs side effects are bad and give me flu symptoms (shivering, 40c temp, burning up, headache) for 24-48hrs so I do them on a weekend so not to affect any work hours

on a good day I can exercise, work, cook etc
on a bad day like a medication day I can’t do anything except stay in bed

I’m trying. I’m just exhausted and praying I don’t develop another health condition and that I’ll get employment with a company that understands I will get sick

I just had a quick google to see what hidradenitis supprativa is. It sounds like you have a lot to contend with, with regards to your health. That takes enough energy. As you may know though, when trying to claim PIP, it is not about what conditions you have, but how they affect a person. I don't know, obviously if you have previously tried to claim, and of course you don't have to disclose, but if you were to make a claim, you can get help from the CAB, who can help you fill in the rather daunting, forms.

I understand. But however your neighbours are living has no impact on that at all.
Considering what is going on with your health, would it be worth getting sick notes from your GP and see if you can get more UC? Although the process can take a while. It will also take some pressure of you in terms of work search commitments so you can focus more on your health.

I’m not entitled to any more UC, just the standard single person amount
I’m not sick as such, this is just my life so I don’t think the GP would do anything. I need to work 40hrs to afford to live but it’s hard finding a job that pays 28-30k and is accepting that I need to take annual leave on certain days for appointments
plus my sickness is always higher as I can’t fight any infections

Blimey you know a lot about the ins and outs of your neighbours. I’ve lived in my street for 30 years and I couldn’t tell you whether they work or not especially now working from home is so prevalent. Stop concerning yourself with what others appear to have, your jealousy will only exacerbate your problems.

So let me explain than my teen is nearly 16 but cognitively around two or three
He currently gets HRM under severe mental impairment becsuse its recognised how unsafe it is for him to use public transport, although he csn physically walk ( for miles) its like having a 16 year old toddler
If you feel that you meet the PIP criteria than appeal!
Your condition, have no bearing on your neighbours daughters disabilities.

I only know my neighbours names, because I happened to take in a few parcels for them. I am friendly, say hello etc, but that is as far as it goes!

You can’t be that disabled if you’ve got this much time and energy to stalk your neighbours. I hope they stay safe, you sound dangerous.

Comparison is always the thief of joy.
You've decided they both don't work and haven't for 20 yrs. Frankly pretty unlikely unless already rich, or have a well off family supporting them.

Jealousy over their apparently quite severely disabled daughter is very sad.

Your frustration that you're living with painful disabling conditions, have now lost your job, and benefits are low, is very, very, understandable.

I managed for half a lifetime before I was forced to claim PIP to continue to work. Also 'just' disabled, not really ill, after all, and NHS treated for conditions.

Driving, working, and wheelchair, got used against me to say my very obvious disabilities clearly didn't really affect me that much.
Reality was of course they did and I was slowly killing myself.

At that time I was loosing approximately ten weeks of the year to hospitalization, seriously affected by both conditions including (Chron's) and medication side effects, unable to drive a lot of the time. Others with 'apparently' less issues, confusingly got PIP.
It took a medically catastrophic event hospitalizing me for over a year to qualify.

Then it was a horrible often humiliating journey, in order to help me just return to working and not be JC (who declared me unemployable) and UC dependent.

HRM doesn't make you well off, it's all absorbed by the expenses of staying working. If I traded mine for a Motability charity vehicle or electric wheelchair I wouldn't then be be able to afford the disability expenses of continuing my work.

Even after awarded, it's repeatedly stopped because of hospital stays, I get reported as fraudulent, and at one awful interview, an unhinged sociopath reduced me to a blubbering mess while stood over my wheelchair spittleing and yelling, and stripped me of high points in several categories to zero in most and no longer entitled to any support.

I too am terrified of conditions worsening or developing others and becoming entirely unemployable, on a fixed income being taken up by council appointed un-caring carers, and being shut up in my home surrounded by awful neighbors.

One of my Dc's has severe acquired brain damage. She was granted PIP as soon as discharged from neurosurgical hospital, and apart from neighbors claiming she was now just a stupid, fat, lazy teen, rather than profoundly brain damaged and electric wheelchair dependent, (where her mobility allowance goes) has had an otherwise smooth ride with HRM renewals ever since.
And yes she used to get to go to a young disabled day center as well.
Quite the situation to envy.

It's a total lottery for many. I'd suggest getting CAB advice on how to fill out the application forms and what evidence is required, and see if your situation has deteriorated enough to qualify.

I’m not dangerous
he’s told me they don’t work. I see the taxis for her as I can’t get off my drive when they are there so I plan around it. He said he had a new car coming on motability, then I saw it
being disabled and no job funnily means a lot of time at home with a bedroom that overlooks the road

I can also tell you what my other neighbours do, how much they paid for their house, about dental and medical issues because people talk

Same

I assume the taxis are for school transport?

It's wird how some poster get all defensive of legspain neighbours... I mean 2 adults don't work, have a new car ever so often, big house, children picked up for school.... all that cost money. Granted, they might have won the lottery, an auntie left them millions or they had a big payout for something rather. But now likely is that?
I think we are allowed to question some of the benefits that are given to seemingly healthy 2 adult families.
The state is broke, the benefits system is broken yet nobody wants to take responsibility. Nobody actually admits that sometimes some benefits are just claimed because someone is entitled to it rather than an actual need. Eventually something will have to give...

They hsve a disabled daughter ,so the new car evey so often is probably a mobility car.

The car IS a mobility car but isn't adapted , the family also have school transport.

Obviously they are entitled to the car but do they truly need it?

You don't think they truly need it just because it isn't adapted? The high rate mobility element of DLA is about more than children who can't walk, that is just one way it is possible a child can be awarded high rate mobility.

The other 2 ways are virtually unable to walk and severely mentally impaired. Both also very valid reasons as to why a motability car may be needed even though it may not need to be adapted.

HRM has very specific requirements for a child to be awarded it.

@MarieAntoinetteQueenOfFrance just because a car isn’t adapted doesn’t mean it isn’t necessary.

@Kirbert2 there are actually more than 3 ways of qualifying for HRM DLA.
-Unable or virtually unable to walk (VUW) caused by a physical condition.
-Severely visually impaired.
-Deaf and blind.
-Under the severe mental impairment (SMI) rules.
-Amputation of both legs through or above the ankles.
-Are for any reasons without both legs to the same extent as if they had been amputated through or above the ankles.

Ah yeah, I knew it wasn't quite as straight forward as I said but not the full details because my son physically can't walk so it wasn't as complicated as it can be.

How is it being defensive by correctly pointing out, that being jealous, which is a strong emotion, and does nothing to promote well being in a person's body, going to help that poster? And suggesting that the energy is used to make her situation more tolerable. Posters have offered suggestions, that may actually be of some use to her. Her neighbours situation has nothing to do with that poster.

What do tou mean truly need it do you think its only people in wheel chairs who truly need it?
I'm sick of peoole who have no idea about the mobility scheme making up their own rules about who should qualify.

and there is really, truly nothing to be jealous about because the only reason they have a motability car and maybe even can't work as some children need 2:1, not 1:1 supervision is because they have a severely disabled child.

No one crosses their fingers for abnormalities on an ultrasound scan
No one hopes their child has an accident and suffers a traumatic brain injury
No one hopes their child gets cancer and now can't walk due to complications

Because we all really know that the ultimate thing we want for our kids is to be healthy and no one is going to give that up for a motability car.

@Kirbert2 Exactly. But this is where we are. It is so sad. The constant punching down, and blaming the wrong people.

Yes, I am questioning the need for a mobility car that has not been adjusted in certain circumstances.
What is the physical difference between a non adaped mobility car and any other car. (Other than being partially financed by the taxpayer).
I am not questioning the overall entitlement, as clearly if the mobility element is awarded getting a car is an option. But in the example above, it's not needed to get DC to school, it's not adapted to specific needs, so what is the reason behind the car?