Motability cars - should they be UK made?

[Pandersmum]

Motability cars are currently in the news with suggestions VAT will be added. I realise they are a lifetime to some and a perk to others. They are a huge annual cost to the tax payer.

AIBU to think that all motability car choice should be limited to those manufactured in the UK? This would support British manufacturing worker jobs and increase UK business tax revenue whilst still providing cars for those who need them?

I have sat in a number recently

all online which is absolutely ridiculous for some I have sat in

and not impressed by some of the assessors others have been understanding and empathic and professional.
I can’t give an opinion as there for support so will only interject when necessary which I have to be careful so it does not appear I am trying to influence who I am supporting

one I made a complaint about but that’s another thread

Just because the assessments you have experienced recently have been online doesn’t mean all assessments are now online. They aren’t.

In five years, we have paid (out of our own pocket) £20k in advance payments.

If you qualify for high mobility, you must demonstrate very severe mobility needs. a mobility car isn't a perk for these people.

Nissan has a plant in Sunderlqnd. I think Minis are made in Oxford.

And I have sobbed many times filling out her DLA forms, which are very long and time intrusive.

It appears to be standard now for our team since covid

but you are right I am not aware of how many are now in person

point is many should not be online how can someone be assessed correctly over a screen so often then can’t, the questions can be confusing and this more often than not goes against the applicant than for them

also having to do a higher number of reconsiderations now (I believe more are being put forward)

As I said, just because that is your experience doesn’t mean it is the case for all. Not all are online. Some are paper-based assessments, some are via telephone and a minority F2F.

November 2024 parliamentary statistics showed 18% were paper-based, 4% F2F, 77% remote (either telephone or video - more the former than the latter according to benefits and work but I haven’t looked at the breakdown of those statistics) and 1% unspecified.

4,000 were F2F in August 2025 according to the government.

People can request a change to the type of assessment if they want/need to.

The fact you aren't sure is the answer you need.

My daughter has epilepsy. She is under the care of a consultant, who she sees every year, and she sees the epilepsy nurse every quarter, plus she has an annual review with the GP.

And they write reports.

But this isn't enough for you? You want her to be under surveillance to see what she can and can't do?

How do you see that working? And who is going to pay for it?

So long as the balloon displays a Union Jack, I'm all for it. I think it would be easy to winch the wheelchair

Pip is not online. You have to physically fill in a paper form and send it back.

Assessments are often (imo) online

Some people in some areas can claim PIP online now, but not all people and not all areas.

Although the pp was talking about the assessment. Not all of them are online.

Regarding advance payments ...

For many people with disabilities, the single most useful "adaptation" is an automatic gearbox.

And yet almost all cars on Motability with £0 advance payments were manual.

After a very long correspondence, I learned that it's the motor manufacturers who set the advance payment (not Motability) and they have no interest whatsoever in helping the disabled.

However with EVs being quite the fad, manual transmissions are getting a bit 20th century, so it's less of an issue.

However advance payments can easily top £10,000 and that is money you will never see again. Even if you have to surrender the car mid lease.

Quite. My late husband was disabled, and to cater for his scooter, equipment etc we needed a large car.

We stuck to Galaxy's and Citroen Picasso’s. 🤷‍♀️

We had to surrender our second car to upgrade to a WAV and we did get a small element of our deposit back, was a drop in the ocean to what we had to pay for the next vehicle.

To be fair, you get a good condition bonus.

And none of the fuckers who want to shit on the disabled would ever pass up a Motability vehicle of 3 years and 10,000 miles in showroom condition. Which a lot of them are. Oh no. You couldn't shut them up about the bargain they snagged.

@AM130674
i feel that pain.
I calculated how much my WAV cost me (yes using the DLA mobility component),
It was £3,000 approximately (possibly more) for down payment, with some adaptations (I can’t remember the cost of the rest of the adaptations but I think around £600).
The DLA component is £4,000 a year. Over 5 years that’s £23,000.
Then Allied Mobility can sell that car for around £15,000.
The original cost was around the £20,000 - £25,000 to the market.
Motability are supposed to be a charity and therefore not like the car manufacturers I know the government intends to look into their lack of spending the alleged £4 billion profit that hasn’t been spent in its charitable arm).

Imagine if the suggestion was to stick a “free” label on every UC spend - hold on Bob let me stick “free” on your entire shopping, on your can of beer, and on your children for using free childcare or free school lunches or school shoes or shaved into your head if you had a haircut.

I thought it was bad when people saw fit to go around challenging people using blue badges but the disability hatred is really ramping up these days.

You could just put massive tariffs on non-UK cars just like president Trump. Look how well that works for him.

Ds is due to move to PIP and I am dreading it. I am hoping the fact they gave me deputyship without question means the change will be smooth but I don’t trust the system at all.

You don’t get good condition bonus when you have to surrender. We had to surrender because we had 18 months left and I couldn’t lift my daughter any more.

Apparantly Bentley have the highest proportion of "British content". We should insist Motobility cars come from them

Dear OP and the 40% agreeing with her/him/whatever.

Clearly you are not disabled nor do you care for anyone disabled so just fuck off . How dare you try and limit disabled people more than they are already limited.

Honest to god just jump off a fucking cliff then you too can have the disabled car . Not keen? No of course you aren’t,

Until you have walked on our shoes as a carer or a disabled individual keep your stupid opinions to yourself.