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Original poster

Misuse of Motability vehicles.

104 replies

fifitot · 16/04/2011 11:43

Just sounding as just this week 2 of my friends got brand new cars under this scheme. If you don't know, someone getting a high rate of disability allowance can get this paid direct to a car dealer and get a brand new car which includes free insurance and servicing costs. No problem with that at all. Even if the person cannot drive themselves they can have a named driver but the issue is that the car must be primarily for the use of the disabled person, even if it is as a passenger, or for doing errands for them etc. It s a good scheme that assists disabled people.

It is not for relatives to scam the system and get a brand new car which is parked miles away in another town, never to be used by the disabled person themselves or in connection with that person. 2 people I know have recently got cars by conspiring with their parents/brother. These cars are parked outside their own homes, they never use them in connection with their relatives and are quite open about how they have 'played the system'. It really bloody annoys me.

And don't even get me started on the misuse of the blue badges!

OP posts:
lou33 · 17/08/2012 13:59

If someone is abusing the system, report them. However, until recently a named driver did not have to live locally to the recipient of dla, and who the Motability car would be for. This is either recently changed, or about to, and named drivers will have to live within 5 miles of the person who has need of the car, but anyone over 5 miles away who is currently a named driver on the insurance will be allowed to drive it until the policy expires.

There is nothing to be lost by checking the car is being used for those intended, though if there are 2 recients of high rate mobility dla in the same household, then it is perfectly lawful to have 2 Motability cars. Abusing the use of these vehicles makes me so mad, however.

busynotbored · 17/08/2012 14:02

we have a mobility as my 8 year old DS is disabled. We had a 5 seater but swopped it for a 7 seater when I was pregnant with DD so we had room for 3 children, pushchair and wheelchair when needed. When we'd looked at mobility cars the first time round there were no 7 seaters unless we paid a £1000 towards it, a year later we got a 7 seater with no deposit. I use it for the school run and shopping etc, i'm shopping for DS so it's allowed. The type of car you can choose changes every three months i think.

thebestisyettocome · 17/08/2012 14:03

I think that's where I'm a bit Confused DP gets the higher rate of mobility but I'm not certain he gets the care component.

ILiveInAPineapple · 17/08/2012 14:42

My mum gets higher rate dla and mobility for a terminal condition, and she gets the motability car by surrendering the mobility element of dla, and she pays a deposit to get a car that better suits her needs.
You can add family onto the insurance - my dad drives the car to work and back as my mum can't go out without him anyway - but the family members have to live within five miles according to the insurance rules, so I am not on the insurance as I live more than five miles away.
I assume if I had been (fradulently) put on the insurance and then had an accident, it would come to light that I live more than five miles away (driving licence address?) and therefore the insurance would be invalid, I would have committed an offence, and my mother would be left with a £25k car to pay for?! Not worth the risk in my book!

JuliaScurr · 17/08/2012 19:24

A friend's mother is in the position of sometimes having no driver for her specially expensiely adapted car as my friend livesover 5 miles away

lou33 · 17/08/2012 19:39

Julia, it might be worth her contacting Motability about her predicament due to their rule change, as they will consider waiving that rule if there is enough evidence to show it has enough cause to ( I assume you have to prove that there is no other alternative driver locally and the impact on the dla recipient if they are unable to use the car as a result) , on a case by case basis.

Socknickingpixie · 17/08/2012 19:54

hecate if you have to give up the dla mobility to get the car then you are paying for it. dla is money you are perfectly entitled to have as a result of your disability. if you choose to use the mobility bit to pay for something to keep you mobile then you are using it compleatly as intended. its your money so you are paying for it.

also if you are a blue badge holder or could qualify for one then your car (whoever provides it) can be registered as tax exempt so no road tax is payable,this is automatic and there is no requirement to give up any dla for road tax.

op i would be very concerned that the person who should have the car was being bullied or abused/controlled in some way so report you may be keeping someone safe by doing so

OutragedAtThePriceOfFreddos · 17/08/2012 20:06

Havent read all the posts, but if a disabled person is awarded the level of DLA that will get them a car, then it's really up to them what they do with that. The person with the disability will lose money if they choose to have a car in their name. Which would seem a daft thing to do if they don't have a reason to, but that would be up to them.

EldritchCleavage · 17/08/2012 21:53

But why whine on here if you aren't even going to report it? No wonder the system is 'easily abused' if people in your position won't speak up.

HecateHarshPants · 18/08/2012 10:15

sock. I am confused by your post to me. What that I have said are you replying to?

thekidsrule · 18/08/2012 10:44

Someone I know has a mobility car as she has a mild problem with her legs. She doesn't drive so her DH does. He works full-time so takes the car to work everyday and she goes shopping, visit family etc by walking or going on the bus

i would of thought if this was the case and the lady can walk over a certain distance DLA rules,she maybe would not be entitled to the car herself

HecateHarshPants · 18/08/2012 10:50

It isn't up to them, freddo. There are rules about use of mobility vehicles.

the scheme has terms and conditions

it's very clear it can't be lent, sub leased or sold. Must be used by or for the benefit of the person who gets the DLA, etc and you have to sign to say you agree to that.

There is no room for doubt on this. Someone (not the person who's leased the car through their DLA) using it to go to work, or to pick up their kids, or to nip about themselves - is breaking the rules. Someone renting the car to a family member is breaking the rules.

thekidsrule · 18/08/2012 10:53

what can happen is dla recipient applys for the car and pays the car dealership

named relative/friend then pays the claimant the same as the dealership requires,thus claimant keeps their payment without financial loss

named driver gets a decent car,tax,insurance service and full use of the car

this is my experience of the abuse of the system

often its a very cheap way of obtaining a car with all the extras,if you leased a car added tax,parking,service,insurance its a cheap way for somebody to obtain a car and it does happen

sad but true

ApocalypseCheeseToastie · 18/08/2012 10:53

They aren't free.

Debs75 · 18/08/2012 14:32

It isn't as black and while as that Hecate. Motability take into account family/work circumstances and they dont penalise against using the car for work and leaving the disabled person at home/school. It is being used for the direct benefit as wages are coming into the household.
If they were as strict then it would put many people off. Why have a great new car that you can only use in a limited way? Not everyone could afford 2 cars

HecateHarshPants · 18/08/2012 14:40

Fair enough. as I said upthread, I used to have one, and it was presented to me as very black and white. For my use. Either by me or by someone else for me.

Not for me to give to someone else and have them give me money for it. Not for someone else to keep and use freely and give me a lift in it if I wanted one.

If that's not the case, then fair enough. But the link I posted above suggests that it is. And how it was presented to me when I had mine suggests that it is.

Motability paid for my driving lessons and put me hand controls in and I am very grateful to them. I just think it should be used the way it's intended.

Why does the link I posted from the motability website say that it must be used by or for the person and cannot be lent, subleased or sold, if that is not the case? That's very misleading of them, isn't it? They should amend that.

busynotbored · 18/08/2012 14:42

debs75 - really ? i didn't know that. DH once took his car to work in the school holidays when it was peeing it down and me and the Dcs were staying at home all day. My BIL said if he got stopped they would take the car off us, I've never done it since !

MAYBELATERNOWIMBUSY · 18/08/2012 14:48

damn ,grrrrr, oh no, how,? unfair! but of course you living in your perfect glass house , no doubt an upstanding wouldn"t fart in church (OR AT LEAST ADMIT YOU DID)member of community! why not simply take pics and sent them to Dave(cameron)he will sort this out OR! even better ,to the DAILY "they are all fucking destroying this country, grass them up" snaill! now, get a brown paper bag and breathe in /out slowly , thats right dear ,slowly !(net curtain twitches!) fella returns from works night out , smelling of perfume .. it"s simply all too much!(or sad)

McHappyPants2012 · 18/08/2012 15:20

As long as the person using the car always has the car available for the person who needs it I really don't see what the problem is.

threesocksmorganwinsgold · 18/08/2012 15:29

here we ago op is outraged,(and jealous as it wasn't around when she needed it) but not enough to do anything about it.
we have a motibility WAV for my dd. it is a godsend and well after seeing those shit wheelchair on a bus threads the only way dd can get about.

Birdsgottafly · 18/08/2012 15:35

using it to go to work, or to pick up their kids, or to nip about themselves - is breaking the rules

Not necessarily, as long as the disabled person benefits in some way, which if it is their children, they do.

DH once took his car to work in the school holidays

That is fine as long as you benefit from his wages, the guidelines are written loosely to allow for interpritation.

Birdsgottafly · 18/08/2012 15:37

For instance, if a partner/parent etc is a carer for the disabled person, but is awarded respite for lesuire, to allow them to carry on caring well, then the use of the car to access said lesuire, would benefit the disabled person, because it allows the carer to destress.

threesocksmorganwinsgold · 18/08/2012 15:42

I use dd's WAV all the time, if she is at school I use it.
I have to, what happens if you don't and you get a call to pick them up?

HecateHarshPants · 18/08/2012 15:44

Yes. your partner using it, your children being taken places in it - those things you would do. That's family use of the family car. That's your car. That's reasonable

But the op - eons ago! - wasn't talking of that situation. She was talking of relatives who live miles away using it as their family car. That's not the same thing at all. someone using it to go to work. pick up their kids. Nip about themselves. That's not on, is it? Someone who is not of your household using the car as their car primarily, even if they take you to the gp now and again is against the rules.

As is said relative sub-leasing from you. It clearly states in the T&C that that isn't allowed.

I don't know, but I wouldn't mind betting that that invalidates the insurance, and if it does - if they hit someone's car...

ZillionChocolate · 18/08/2012 16:12

I'm with Hecate on this one. I looked at the rules a while back for a friend. It seemed to me that Motability were happy for you to use it as a family car, but not for you to allow friends/relatives to use it for their own benefit. It seemed to me that to have the free road tax, the disabled person had to be in the car, and you can't have a motability car without the free road tax.