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?

Yes definitely. I was just thinking this today. If tax payer money is being used it should be to help our economy . Obviously as long as suitable uk made vehicles are available. Even if just parts are made in the uk or some assembly is here surely it would help ?

A cost to the tax payer?! How?! I pay £300pm for my Motability car!

Tax payer money is NOT being used on them! We pay £300pm for them! But of course the media won’t tell you that bit

Motability already does help our economy.

Motability are a huge buyer of new cars - some of them are UK made, all are sold in the UK via UK dealerships and that money goes into the economy. UK based companies insure and maintain the fleet too, those companies hire UK based employees...

How is that not putting money in our economy?

THIS!!!!!! The only difference between a Motability lease and any other lease, is that the mobility element of pip (£300pm) goes direct to Motability from PIP rather than me paying them via direct debit. That’s it.

Contrast this post, as just one of many this week, with the post about wanting a nice bathroom (no offence to the OP she was perfectly entitled to it if that’s what was booked) but got a functional horrible disabled shower room in a spa hotel.
No-one thought that room was salubrious but it’s just fine for disabled people (because why would they like colour or decorative touches).

I have to pay an awful lot more than other people to have such a hideous council dictated bathroom for DD (that doesn’t even function for her).

There’s a perfectly understood agreement by disabled users of services that they don’t get to ask for or demand more than the essentials from taxpayers.
Which is just as well because that’s exactly what they get.
£83 something for a week of coping with (my wonderful and beloved ) DD when she is in nappies and pisses her bed if I’m not fast enough to get another one on but is 3/4 of my height and 40% of my weight but I still have to carry her in and out of bed/swimming pools (literally the only activity she can do), or .. next week attend 5 separate appointments (that’s not mentioning the 46 odd calls and 16 appointments I’ve already done since term started) of the absolute terror of finding out she might now have renal problems.
I’m just waiting for the masses to start advocating wearing that symbol

@EverloreHear, hear! 👏🏻

Same here, it’s exhausting. The financial and physical costs are so much more than people realise

@OverthemhillsYeah that thread infuriated me too! I’m sorry about your DD, that must be tough

I too, despise this universal presumption that us disabled people deserve only basic & functional… My mum reminds me regularly what a “very lucky girl” I am (I’m 41 & a widowed mother!) to have a brand new vehicle 🙄 And reminds me of the green 3-wheelers that Motability cars used to be. My mum’s friend asked me once after seeing my then-new Fiesta “Is it one of those freebies? Ya know, Motability?” I swiftly pointed out that I’d paid £1695 up front and pay £300 per month for it so no, it wasn’t free. Some people just don’t get that it’s no different than us going out and spending our PIP on a leased car elsewhere! We’d just have to set up a direct debit rather than our PIP paying it directly!

I’m not sure I can take anything the OP says seriously, given that she was enraged that her bbq guests had the gall to eat the food she provided for them and not automatically leave enough for her to plate up for her teens to eat later that day (which she also had not mentioned to her guests).

Are you surprised? Seriously? I suspect hour ND may be the cause of some black and white thinking, but you’re very ableist.

They are if they can't afford them. The idea that everyone non-disabled has free choice is ludicrous.
No one forces anyone to have a motability car. If a limited, functional range isn't to the users liking they're perfectly free to decline the option and source their ideal car from elsewhere.

This. Its essentially a taxpayer subsidised car scheme, the vast purchasing power motability have. Anyone who doesn't like the choice could choose to get one elsewhere at market prices using their pip money.

It is keeping very few people in work given the low proportion of pip claimants who work.

True. I would not even have a motability car if I were able to use my HRM to lease a car elsewhere but unfortunately I cannot get the finance approved so motability is the most suitable option. I also don’t want to renew my car after 3 years I would happily keep it longer but there is no extension available now with motability unless you fit very tight criteria which I don’t. It makes no odds to anyone on this thread if I use motability or lease through a dealer so I’m not sure why you all care so much. The money I get for my HRM would fund a car either way.

Some people just don’t get that it’s no different than us going out and spending our PIP on a leased car elsewhere!

Ah but you don't, do you? Because motability works out cheaper. No one would be stopping anyone going and using their pip on a leased car elsewhere. They are saying that motability essentially have a state funded monopoly that means they can command huge discounts, so why not require that to in turn fund cars manufactured here?

I don’t because I can’t, not because motability works out cheaper.

@Peridoteage
Wby do you call it “state funded”? You know Motability isn’t government owned, right?
You know it’s a charity, right?

For those of you who don’t trust MN people commenting- here’s Wikipedia (for those who trust that) on what Motability is:

The organisational structure of the scheme can be broken into two parts: Motability, which is a registered charity,[17] and Motability Operations (formerly Motability Finance Ltd), a public limited company owned by four clearing banks which operates the car and powered wheelchair leasing scheme on behalf of Motability. Splitting the organisation is intended to provide for checks and balances and ensure accountability for the administration of public funds.

Mercedes doors actually open really wide. Which is helpful if you are someone who needs equipment to transfer into a car. Have you ever seen someone using equipment to transfer someone into a car? They also have quite big boots in their SUVs that can accommodate a lot of equipment. If you can get away with a Merc vs a WAV you are saving a lot. A lot of your own money or the Motability charity money BTW.

Not all disabled people are elderly? Retirement age people who get PIP must have qualified before Retirement age. Older people are allowed to like fast cars. If they are entitled to PIP and have the money for an AP let them spend their own money however they want.

It's rubbish anyway.

Sports cars are not available on Motability and weren't 15 years ago either when pp claims it happened.

"Ah but you don't, do you? Because motability works out cheaper"

Ds has a motability car because it means you can have any driver insurance for all the carers he now has It's either impossible or extortionate to get the insurance any other way.

Yes, and the people who countless posters on these threads always claim to know who are claiming PIP fraudulently and then apparently gleefully gloating in detail about it to all and sundry are almost certainly all figments of their fevered imagination too. The truth has never stopped these obsessive posters from building ridiculous strawmen to burn in the name of demonising all disabled people as devious, deceitful scroungers!

The whole benefit system could collapse and people would get nothing . This is why I strongly believe the system has to be reformed before it's too late.

I'm actually loving the idea of older people whizzing round in a Trans Am or something 🤣🤣

Notability cars should be from a limited range of basic UK made cars bought in bulk. Yes I can choose to have a car build anywhere but the difference is I am paying for it myself.
The tax payer ie me and others like me is paying for motability cars so let's get real and offer a limited basic model suitable for the disabled person