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!

Either thats an idea you have made up, or my husband is due a refund of tens of thousands of pounds.

Does that mean childless people should get a reduction on taxes, so not to pay for schools and child benefit?
The list of these kinds of examples are plentiful. It's a mark of society how well we look after our vulnerable.

But you can get enhanced mobility component for being too anxious to leave the house / not being able to go out alone etc. I see the enhanced rate awarded quite a bit for this.

I do think offering to swop benefits for leasing a car is very useful.

i am disabled and I live in a village. The buses are not wheelchair accessible. The trains are but only if I ring the station a couple of days in advance and even then they’ll cancel me if they’re busy.

motability will adapt cars and vans for the needs of disabled people. Most of the second hand wheelchair accessible vehicles on the market were originally motability.

it’s very hard to get a normal car adapted - I tried to find someone to do my xc90 which on theory can be done.

the aim is to give disabled people the ability to get out of their homes and access healthcare, work and social opportunities that otherwise they would not.

I do think that is worthy of some subsidy.

So you’re saying that the food a disabled person eats, the tissue they wipe themselves with, the shampoo they use, the toast they spend in a morning is all free as well then, is it? Just because our money comes from the government does not make it free!
If I went out and found a lease separate to Motability which included insurance, would you be saying that was a “free car” then?! If not, why not?

I was going to say.

My finances are absolutely changed and the reality is that DLA doesn't come to close to covering all of my son's needs due to his disability.

@LemaxObsessive good for you for trying, but honestly I think it is a waste of time. The hate towards disabled people on MN is massively upsetting.

OP, this makes me very angry too. We have a mobility car, my dd is severely autistic (non verbal) with some mobility issues. To have a mobility car we lose all of her mobility component…so £77 a week (not £77 a month as someone else said in their post), so £308 a month.we had to also paid a deposit for the car….I think it was around £500 which was for the most basic car without adaptions. I have lost friends and family members because they assume we are getting a nice new car for free. Without a mobility car my dd would not be able to access her placement, she wouldn’t be able to attend hospital appointments or enjoy any trips out. We live in a rural area and when we applied for the mobility car we were unable to afford a buy a car. The mobility car has been a gold send but it’s not free, it’s a similar price to renting a car or getting a car in finance.

You can find all about the information, about who is eligible for higher rate for mobility PIP, online, the information is all there. This lady may have other issues that your security guard has no knowledge of, as well.

Well thank goodness your not because then you would end up with a major housing & poverty crisis.

Yes unfortunately but Motability give you 4 weeks with it first and very kindly give you £2/3,000 (unsure of exact amount) to help you get another vehicle which is amazing. Also, prior to this, they allow you to keep driving it whilst you go through the appeal process which can be up to a year. They’re really kind actually and very understanding people. They have special training in handling disabled customers and it really shows. Buts regular ‘customer service’ to shame!

I don’t have an issue with motability but I have an issue with fraud around it
my neighbours get it for their child, she uses a power chair and won’t live independently. Fine, she needs it
but they have a car she can’t ever go in as she/her chair won’t fit
that’s not right to me as it’s not really for her benefit as they never take her anywhere

I genuinely don’t understand what you’re saying. If the money that someone gets is all from government benefits, then that makes all the things they buy with it free. How can it not be?

And yes I know a lot of disabled people work, but that doesn’t seem to be what you’re saying here. The money someone gets in benefits is free.

There is no woolly stuff! The criteria hasn’t changed since 2013! What has changed however, is the bloody media saying the type of bullshit I detailed above! That people are getting cars for bedwetting etc it’s NOT TRUE!

You can ONLY get a Motability if you are entitled to the Enhanced Rate (highest rate) of the Mobility Component of PIP or DLA (or the Scottish equivalent) or the Armed Forces/War Pensioner’s equivalent. This is a well known fact and has never changed.

You can ONLY get the higher rate of the mobility component of PIP if you
A. struggle to walk 20 metres unaided without severe, debilitating pain
or B. Cannot go out alone without getting into danger. That’s it. There’s no other physical way to get that Enhanced Rate of the Mobility Component. Fact.

I don’t care what The Sun or the Daily Mail said, or Nick Ferrari or what you read on X or Reddit. These are not my opinions these are facts.

They aren't taxed.

The 860,000 includes people who lease powerchairs and mobility scooters.

If they didn't have access to these safe, insured, maintained vehicles, they'd be using the money they are entitled to receive to spend on meeting their mobility needs in other ways. Or not having them met. Or making Uber even more than they receive at present.

As the company says themselves, 'the median income for a typical Motability Scheme customer household is around £18,400 - half the national average.
Our data also shows that around 30% of customers would be unable to secure vehicle cover at an affordable price elsewhere, meaning they could lose access to mobility altogether'.

The power chair is likely to be the vehicle that's being paid for through it, not the car.

I really hope they do something about motability. Because the scheme as it stands is mad imo. And no, I don’t think everyone should lose their motability cars. There are loads of examples in this thread where people are dependent on them. But the facts are clear - people are using the motability scheme to get very luxury vehicles. These are VAT exempt. Yes, you pay towards it, but it is nowhere close considering the insurance etc so that is being picked up by the public purse. BMW held a motability event in my area(!) Considering how the other welfare benefits are likely to take a battering or already have been reduced massively, I’d be very surprised if the system couldn’t be run in a better way and the money saved redirected to support disabled people better.

What a vile attitude to have… Nobody asks to be born disabled or to lose their career like I did and end up sedentary unable to do a job I loved so much I would’ve done for free. I payed into the system for decades as many have!

Agree with this. Nobody 'needs' the flash expensive cars - I see the need for the expense of specially adapted vehicles for wheelchair users etc, but otherwise no. What's wrong with a standard car? I wonder how much the range of cars is determined by the Motability company themselves, who make massive profits from reselling the cars after the 3 years is up (when the client gets to choose another brand new car).

Absolutely! I’ve worked for 20 plus years in the motor trade and predominantly for one of the ‘fancy’ brands. The amount of motability vehicles Ive dealt with that are being driven by young people - as named drivers for motability requirements is shocking. There is no way these cars are being used for the intended recipient - seats so far back almost horizontal, upgraded bass speakers in the boots, played loud enough to rattle teeth, and don’t get me started on the smell of weed emanating from the cars - you get the picture. I don’t have an issue with motability but the system is flawed.

OP, thanks so much for your post, you have said everything i have wanted to say, but more eloquently. Another nugget that many people are unaware of: Motability (running the scheme) is a charity.

I have a motability car. The £77 per week is given to the motability scheme in exchange for the vehicle. It also covers my fully comp insurance. There is nowhere i could get a brand new Audi plus insurance for £77 a week. So there is a chunk that is 'free' above and beyond my £77 weekly contribution.

The advance payment - I took my car out almost 3 years ago now. The advance payment didn't fully come out of my pocket, I got £750 towards it. If it had been less, I'd have got it fully funded, however I think the AP for my car was £1000 so I paid £250 towards it. Didn't you get the same OP? Maybe it's changed now?

Just posting to be fully transparent about the scheme.

I don’t have an issue with motability but I have an issue with fraud around it

Agree.

There are far too many people applying for Motability only for a relative to have sole use of the vehicle (son, daughter, grandchild etc). The relative pays the upfront cost for a “nicer” vehicle and the reimburses the applicant the benefit payment they forego in exchange for the vehicle.

As with any kind of benefit, there are those only too happy to take advantage of it.

A standard car, what is that exactly?

Because they still have a disability (maybe more than one) and they still have the additional costs of that disability.

Oh and the person that mentioned a grant, I have never had a grant for an AP, grants are difficult to get.

Also if the car needs adaptations, you might be lucky and get a grant, or you may have to pay for your own.

I don’t know much about cars but WHY does someone need an Audi not a Kia Stonic or Dacia spring (picked purely because they look a similar size. If you want the Audi keep the cash and put it towards the Audi or if you want it for free have the Dacia?

You don't know much about disabilities either do you? Lots of things high end cars have are disability friendly. Things like getting a smoother ride can mean the difference between working and not. Whether the car has 2 or 4 doors can make a huge difference as can how wide they open.

Things that are fairly standard now used to be only in luxury cars / high end models e.g. electric windows and AC.

Higher end cars often have better protection for the driver and passengers, if your spine is crumbling and someone runs in to you then that can save your life, at a minimum it hopefully doesn't make your disability worse.