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!

Agree i have my own car i don't want to lease a car that can be taken away at any point

look, it doesn’t make sense for the motability car to not be the family car.

imagine it - you have a three year old and a six year old in a wheelchair. Are you going to keep two cars just so that if you taking the three year old to swimming you don’t use the wheelchair adapted car?

lots of families can’t afford to run more than one car. If there’s a family member who uses a wheelchair it needs to be a wheelchair adapted car.

I can’t imagine being this naive.

My cousin has sole use of my gran’s Motability car.

My gran is perfectly fine and able to get around on her own, and she does.

She has no benefit from the vehicle.

They are not some kind of evil geniuses - they are absolutely not the only ones doing this.

No that’s ludicrous and obviously driving back and forth for the child fits within the criteria that the OP is saying exists. But OP is saying that someone else driving the car absolutely cannot do it for reasons unrelated to the recipient’s needs. I think if this is true then there is obviously widespread abuse of the system going on because parents absolutely do not only use the cars for the children.

It concerns me that nearly two million people have seemingly vanished overnight, leaving so few people in northern Ireland.

Ok, whatever. If your Gran is perfectly fine, as you claim, then why is she claiming at all?

Evidence?

Because it’s complete bollocks?

To get a car for her single mother granddaughter who could not otherwise afford a vehicle.

It’s not as hard to claim as many would have you think.

I am presuming the cousin applied for his Gran. So many people doing this hence the scrutiny

My understanding of cars is a lot of the higher spec cars are given because they're easier to adapt for someone who may need hand controls or whatever......either way these cars aren't free. They're paid for using the mobility part of their pip award. ......wouldn't it be refreshing if we had a political party who didn't immediately launch into an attack on our most vulnerable people as a way of gaslighting the rest of the country into believing they're the problem for all our issues......not years of underfunding and cuts by the absolute shitshow who we pay to serve us.

Just a thought. 🫠

It really isn’t.

But it’s entirely comical to see how quickly people want to deny this sort of thing goes on.

The car can be used for Parents to get to work, go shopping etc. That benefits a disabled child, by having a roof over their head, food in the fridge.

I’m fortunate not to be in the position of requiring a mobility vehicle so have no idea of the ins and outs.

I am really happy that those who require these vehicles are funded to give them access to their jobs and social lives as I enjoy.

Same! My DH has lost so much because of his disability. He would much rather be healthy & buy his own car.

I've no issue with the motability system but I just find it amusing, I suppose, that there are so many high performance cars with disabled badges that actually look really impractical. I sometimes think car sales people must push people to these cars.

The other thing do posters understand that if a Disabled Person has the 'magical' amount of £16K the only benefit available to them is PIP. whether daily ,mobility Standard or Enhanced. This means for instance that say 50 year old Autistic Man with a 'Masters Degree' with 25 years NI Contributions who has applied for 300 jobs since being made redundant 10 years gets Naff all apart from his enhanced PIP payment for Daily Needs ! (this man is a close friend)

There are so many problems with misspending and hopeless Government that the country is 'Skint' but it is not the fault of the disabled and even extremely bright people who are Un- Employable because of Autism !

Set out the criteria then

The Gran would have had to have the assessment, and provide medical evidence. Unless you are saying that they somehow did all of that, without the Gran's knowledge, which is a load of tripe.

Yeah, my car xc90 is currently cheaper to run than a motability car and my foldable wheelchair goes in the boot.

it is thirteen years old though and it’ll stop working at some point.

I’ve been driving over three decades with no accidents which helps with insurance - that and the car is now basically worthless as it’s so old. She still goes though.

Amusing? 🙄

This was the reasoning pretty much when I worked for the company and there was a cap of 2k AP, so the majority of luxury brands were off the scheme.

I'm not sure I agree, but also as many things it is about the optics and how things look so it does need some regulations so it gets less attention and criticism from the general public.

Poppy cock, and you know it! Good Night.

Maybe have a good look at yourself if you think there is anything comical about disabled people being afforded done independence and dignity.

Same situation for me - worked full time before and after ADHD diagnosis and wouldn't have qualified for PIP.

I qualify because of the brain tumour and epilepsy I was diagnosed with later, which means I have a motability car (that I'm not allowed to drive), but ADHD still appears first on my record.