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 .

No your the one that's misinformed read the rules again and properly .

For the umpteenth time if the named driver lives with the disabled person they are assumed to be financially supporting them by going out to work to pay bills and keep a roof over their head. OP is also the appointee for her DD. There isn’t a problem here and the argument’s getting very old.

Absolute twaddle. Read the post a few above your mis-informative post which contains an extract from the motability website.

They will cover it. OP goes to work to pay for household bills and keep a roof over DD’s head. She’s financially responsible for DD in that respect so can use the car to go to work.

I confirmed with Motability when I got my car that my husband (who is a named driver on my car) could use it to get to work and come home from work. As most people have said, he is fine to do this, covered by the insurance and he couldn't use public transport to get to work if he wanted to as there's only one bus a day in my village.

The people who are arguing this - you do realise that for disabled people with families, this vehicle is supposed to be used as a family car?

They take enough money for it. We're damn well going to use it for what we need it for.

The only misinformation here is your own. I have extensive experience of motability both as a user and a disability support worker. I’ve posted extensively - do you really think with over thirty five years professional and personal experience I would post incorrect information? OP isn’t doing anything wrong. She supports her DD by going out to work - that pays the bills and keeps a roof over her head. It directly benefits her.

This. The use of motability cars as family cars is encouraged by motability as it further benefits the disabled person.

No, it has to be used for the benefit of the disabled person but can be used without them. Its not solely to be used to benefit the disabled person

They absolutely will cover it, and you don’t have to speak to them if you work in one place. You are covered from home to a normal place of work as standard.

I had to have business insurance added as I don’t have one place of work - we have a head office and then I go to other places as well so it was added

It’s not a difficult concept for me. I have been doing it for over 20 years but plenty on here seem to disagree

To all continuing to go on and on and on when you've been told you're wrong.....why not just accept that now.

You can do whatever you like as it is beneficial to your DC/you/the disabled person
My DH drives mine to work and also to the gym. We asked and that is OK as he is a carer and needs some respite from caring responsibilities.

My dad is also insured but only drives when I am either in the car or when I need something explicitly done that benefits me ie he will take me to hospital appointments or pick up my DC from school. My dad doesn't live with us.

You can't earn money whilst using the actual car, ie pizza delivery, user.

But we all need to shhhhh about this now. "Free cars" "heated seats"........how can anyone severely disabled deserve such things.

Well.exactly I think some posters would like the invacars to be reintroduced we can ,t have a disabled person having a nice car .

Ours is lovely but we didn't pay the large extra for the model with rear heated seats and a panoramic roof. It does have front heated seats though and so many parking cameras that DH actually enjoys driving it. I also like the DAB radio so I have a bigger choice of something that isn't the Dad Rock that both DH and DS1 like listening to :D

My friends has an 19 year old dd and they have a mobility car for her and she's been told she absolutely can not use it travel to work and back when it's not a journey that benefits her daughter, she was asked in what benefit to her adult child's disability is provided by a parent using a motability car instead of the method of transport they would be using if her daughter didn't have the motability car .

The groups I'm in have had people giving very mixed responses to this and sone have said they've been reported for misusing the car, I don't know if it's scaremongering but you don't have to look far on here lately to see there's a lot of people hating the disabled and think we're lazy plebs who just want the "free" car.

Personally I think you should be able to use her car, but I'd seek official advice from the motability scheme or dwp directly.

I'm entitled to one myself but for now we're keeping the crap car we already had as a new one will draw attention from neighbours and family, I haven't been able to find out for sure if my husband can use it for work, he picks up two work mates and does a lot of errands for his family, he also has nights away type of thing and if he's not be able to do that with my disability car, then he misses hour in his downtime, and it's just not worth the anxiety of worrying I'm breaking rules.

If the daughter is living with the parents they absolutely can use it and have been given wrong advice I wouldn't take advice from DLA/PIP groups on Facebook they talk absolute shite, quite often.

I have a Hyundai bayon, no upfront fee on mobility - a solid car I recommend. There are many cars where you don’t have to pay an upfront fee. Also, I would say please have a look and shop around as many mobility cars can take a year to get. I think I waiting about 10 months for mine to be ready. On the other hand, my mum needed one urgently and she contacted every dealership to see who had one available asap and got one within a month - so if possible ideally do that.

I think people are getting confused with customer and named driver. While a customer/ named driver I used the motability vehicle for getting to work and between offices with motability permissions. Being able to work was a direct benefit to me.

My husband was named driver and he would not be able to use it for work purposes. Of course, i would benefit from hubby work but indirectly.

obviously there are many differing opinions on the subject . probably you would have been more productive by phoning up Motability directly, explain you situation and see what say.. it might be a case of paying extra for additional insurance for you to use for work commuting.

motability is a great scheme but it cost around 10k over a three year period. Would second hand run around be more cost-effective?

I think it’s crazy if you cannot use it to go to work. If you drop your child off to school for example and you need to go straight to work - what are you supposed to do, go home and swap cars round to continue your journey?

Posters are saying that the OP can use it for work. The best thing to do is speak to Motability to take away any doubt/ worry.

Personally I think you should be able to use her car, but I'd seek official advice from the motability scheme or dwp directly

DWP has nothing to do with the Motability scheme. It is independent from DWP.

The rules on mobility vehicles are very clear, each journey in it has to be for the person the car is for

so you can make journeys in it for…..

-taking the person out
-picking up food, medication for the person, even if they aren’t with you.
-running any errand for them

going to work in it, or using it for your own convenience is classed as misuse of it, it’s all detailed on the motability website

What you have just stated is not "detailed on the Motability website" and going to work in a Motabilty car is not classed as misuse. The website simply says that the car must only be used for the disabled person's benefit.

This is what it actually says:

Do I need to be in my vehicle while it's being used?

Your vehicle needs to be used by the disabled customer or for their benefit.

This does not mean they need to be in the vehicle for every journey.

It means other drivers in the same home can use the vehicle for:

Shopping
Visiting family
Other routine activities

As long as the disabled customer benefits.

https://www.motability.co.uk/get-support/faqs/do-i-need-to-be-in-my-vehicle/#:~:text=Your%20vehicle%20needs%20to%20be,the%20vehicle%20for%20every%20journey.

How you cannot use your car

We take misuse of your car very seriously. This means things like:

• Not using it for the disabled person’s benefit
• You or someone else driving without insurance or while you’re banned
• Using it in a criminal act
• Lending, sub-leasing or selling it
• Using it for business reasons we haven’t agreed with you, like as a taxi or for deliveries
• Not taking good care of it

https://www.motability.co.uk/whats-available/cars/package/use/

You can use a motobility car for work as long as it doesn't make the car unavailable for the disabled persons use.
In your case it's as fine to us it for work

You serious?

No you are getting confused
Not all customers will be able to drive my 14 year old is the customer he will never be able to drive due to his severe mental impairment ,we use his car as the family car and my dh,drives the car to and from hospital work place as him working directly BENEFITS our son ,people need to stop.msking their own rules up and understand the rules properly.

Exactly @x2boys
We can also have heated seats, and a fancier model if we wish, I love mine.