To get a motability car ( and also what’s allowed ?! )

[Justnavigating]

Hi

My 18 year old is in receipt of enhanced mobility PIP. We can get a motability car with it.

I never considered it before as I already have a car. My husband did too , until recently . Now he needs my car ( he earns more and works longer hours , not possible with public transport ) . I take my child everywhere - social groups , days out , meeting friends etc . This has been impacted slightly but not massively with me not having the car all the time .

However , my husband has a new job . 6 days per week and longer hours. This means that the things I take my child to that they rely on are not going to be possible . Nor will the days out ( related to a specific hobby that means a lot to them ) . She also hates being in the house and when I had the car was always with me everywhere - shopping , drives out etc . Now that we can’t do that it is really having an affect and will be worse with the new job . Adding up what I spend on taxis for work, alongside the taxis now for social groups and any days out , I feel that getting a car through motability might be a good option.

However - I will be using it for work too . Is this allowed ? Obviously my work benefits my child and I only work when they are at college ( I do work less in the holidays and I guess would be happy to still get a taxi there if I wasn’t allowed to use the car as it’s not when she is in college ) but realistically me working and using it would be benefitting her due to income and it’s not like she would be getting the bus to places because I have the car and she can’t use it - she can’t drive !!

Am I allowed to use it for work ? It’s not a job that I need my car for ( as in I’m not using the car for a business like deliveries etc ) it’s just going to and from work .

What about if I have a day off for example - am I allowed to use it to take my other children to school ( I don’t do school runs as I work but just if I did happen to have a day off / I may be moving jobs to one where I work from home sometimes so if I was able to do school runs could I ? ) or if I was off and I wanted to get the shopping done or go to see someone could I if my child wasn’t with me ? ) - this really is hypothetical as at the moment I work every day my child is in college .

aside from work there is no other time I would really use it Without her - she’s with me all the time and if , for eg , me and my husband went away or went out for a date night we would have the other car so use that .

I just don’t want to get it and then be worrying and assessing every time I get in it as to whether this particular journey benefits them. Do they expect it to be used as the main car, so in that sense not every single journey is for the disabled child but on the whole it is ?

I know of someone in the same situation who uses it as their general car - but they don’t work so day to day they use it when their 19 year old disabled child is at work but they take them to work and collect them .

The insurance use is for social, domestic and pleasure which includes commuting to and from a permanent place of work. This is absolutely for the benefit of your child and they do not have to be in the car. You can give Direct Line a call to confirm if you like!

www.stoneacre.co.uk/motability-resources/who-can-drive-motability-car

According to this, named drivers should not be using the car for work. I know for a fact many do though. Strictly speaking it should be only used to transport the claimant or for things that directly benefit the claimant (so fetching things like food is fine) how you interpret "benefit" is tricky

My friend thought that it was ok to use her husband's Motability car for work, but I see that that's not the case. (Have edited this.)

It doesn't quite say that. It says:

Furthermore, for a named driver to use the car for work in an instance that does not directly benefit the Motability claimant, this would not typically be permitted

If the OP and her daughter didn't live in the same household, the daughter would not directly benefit from OP going to work. But they do and she does.

Well, I guess that if a family worker is earning, that's benefiting the claimant?

You need to re read those rules closely ,it says the named driver can use the car for their own needs as long as it directly benefits the person with disabilities ,going to work and keeping a roof over her daughters head ,directly benefits her daughter .

Also, any questions about what is allowed should always be directed to either Motability or the insurer as the car dealers do not always give correct information

I am sure there was a thread recently with the same question.

Your friends, right as i assume her going to work benefits her husband .?

Have a look on the motability website. That will point you to what’s available and how much it costs. There are smaller/more basic models available with no deposit and for an idea, my last motability car leased in February 2023 was a Vauxhall Mokka automatic. The advance payment was £350 plus the cost of hand controls.

As long as you are living in the same household the assumption is that the registered keeper is dependent on you, so you can use the car for whatever purpose you need to - you can even use it to go to work. If the registered keeper moves to a different address you can only use it for their benefit and the car has to be back on the drive of the registered keeper overnight.

Just remember that if your DD isn’t in the car with you, you need to make sure you’re not displaying the badge, and you can’ park in blue badge spaces.

There was, and there was the same arguments .

it’s best to phone Motability and ask. My friend phoned about a car for her autistic DS and she was given permission to drive her disabled MIL around, and her and dh could drive to work.

On the other hand, I had two (6years) around 25 years ago, and said never again. Every year I had to pay to repair every slight knock or mark, or claim on insurance. They wanted it kept in the same pristine condition as new. I stopped being eligible when dc went to residential school, but even when paid privately for repairs, I couldn’t transfer a no claims discount, so had to start again paying whole amount. We are eligible again now, but just save up the pip and buy our own car.

No it isn’t 😉 We got it recently for my DD’s first ever Motability car. Everyone signing up to the Motability scheme gets it apparently, according to the guy at the showroom.

We walked into the showroom on a Tuesday morning, had a chat with the Motability guy, chose the car, and we drove it out of the showroom a week later. (This was earlier this year). There was an up-front payment on the car she chose of £199, so Motability gave her a cheque for £551 which was the difference between £149 and £750).

The whole process couldn’t have been easier.

I'm getting my 4th this year and get the £750.
I'll use it to get a fancier model of the car I want, same as the others, it's absolutely allowed.
You can just take the cash instead if you want.

Yes, I came to that conclusion after seeing yet another post. She was the sole breadwinner.

I think things have changed from 25 years ago!. Our last but one car had a few scratches when we handed it back. Still got the "good behaviour" payment.

I have been a motability customer since the late 1980’s and have had a lot of contact with them working as a disability support worker. I’ve come across many questions, this one included. Can I just assure everyone that if the registered keeper of the car (the disabled person) is resident at the same address as a named driver, then the assumption is that the named driver is using the car for the benefit of the disabled person, so it’s fine to use the car for normal purposes - shopping, going to and from work and anything else which benefits the disabled person. The only thing the named driver can’t do is use the blue badge or park in a blue badge space without the disabled person in the car, or unless they are collecting them from somewhere.

If the disabled person moves out, the car can only be used for their direct benefit and it has to be kept at the disabled persons’ address. Motability need to be informed of this kind of change of circumstance because a tracker would need to be put on the car to make sure the car is being used for its’ intended purpose.

OP if you’re in any doubt just ring Motability and they’ll tell you pretty much the same thing.

You’ve misinterpreted. Not tricky at all. As long as the named driver lives with the disabled person they can use the car for work, shopping - multiple reasons actually as they’re deemed to be benefitting the disabled person.

Furthermore, for a named driver to use the car for work in an instance that does not directly benefit the Motability claimant, this would not typically be permitted.

Interpret this how you like but according to this rule it is borderline at best, you need to be beneficial to the claimant so mum going to work you could interpret as a benefit or not. I don't make the rules I'm just highlighting that the wording is at best ambiguous. I would probably get reassurance from your motorbility provider that using the car whilst your dc is at college to get to work is ok, then you have written assurance (or you could just keep quiet and hope the rules aren't clarified by some meddling politicians, I wouldn't trust them!)

The good condition bonus was reduced to £250 for a three year lease and £350 as of 10 October 2022. If you ordered a car after this date, you would receive one of these two amounts. The £750 GCP was only during the pandemic, to compensate for the fact that people couldn’t use their cars as much. If you ordered your current car before 10 October 2022 and only received the £250, you will receive another £500 at the end of the lease.

The £750 new vehicle payment stops on 31 December 2024 unless motability extend it again.

Good grief, some people make their lives (and those of others) difficult.

Of course you can use the car for all normal family car things, including getting to work.

Also, as someone pointed out early on, nobody is checking. Because thank heavens, and despite what some of the busybodies above would love, there isn’t actually anyone whose job it is to watch the journeys taken by mothers of disabled children and pop out and yell UUUMMM THAT’S NAUGHTY if they don’t buy a item of shopping for the child on the way home from work.

My parents have a motability car. They use it for everything. To imagine they are supposed to get a second car for every activity which doesn’t involve the disabled partner’s direct wellbeing is completely absurd.

Nothing to do with politicians. Motability is a charity. And trust me on this one, if the disabled person lives with the named driver at the same address, then it’s fine for the named driver to use the car for work.

As a disability support worker, I was asked this question a LOT and the answer was always the same - it’s fine if you live together. If the disabled person is resident at a different address then the car has to be fitted with a tracker, can only be used for the direct benefit of the disabled person and has to be returned to the disabled persons’ address each day.

It's fine there's is nothing wrong with the mum going to work using the car it directly benefits her daughter nothing ambiguous about that .
If they didn't live in the same house than you would have a point but they do so it's fine.

This.

Also, people are mixing up ‘using the car for work’ and ‘using the car to get to work’. The restrictions on the first are a bit vague, but they are not a restriction on the second.