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 would stop while your ahead here @Pandersmum because the hole that your digging for yourself is just getting bigger and bigger and with each new post your finding more ways to offend people. You don’t know how the scheme works, the cars for some people are just “perks” and you want to limit disabled peoples choices even further by giving them a very limited number of choices on cars that they need.

Well, if you don't know how it is all funded or how the scheme works then you really ought not to be making assumptions and stupid suggestions about it.

And there are no "perks" to being disabled. But you might find that out one day.

@Pandersmum so why did you start a thread on something you know nothing about?
you didn’t ask for people to tell you how it works - and if you read the replies you CAN learn - so why?

Hateful and ignorant. Nice.

I’ll leave this thread now. As stated I am ND and not fabulous with words. I am clearly not able to communicate effectively what I am trying to say.

The use of the ‘perk’ was meant to refer to my relatives who genuinely don’t need those cars - they could fund them independently without support. They themselves consider them to be a ‘perk’. This is their word, not mine.

As I said earlier, support to those who need it should be given and motability cars are very much a necessity to some, especially those who need expensive vehicle modifications. I actually believe these recipients should have greater funding than current. The problem is too many current recipients like my family members who don’t need it, mean there is less support for recipients with greater need.

How on earth can you make useful suggestions on how to fund something when you don't actually know how it is currently funded?

I have never heard something so ridiculous in my fucking life.

How would it benefit the tax payer to reduce the selection of cars available on the Motability scheme - a lease hire scheme subsidised by a charity when:

• the mobility payment from PIP/DLA remains the same regardless of what vehicle you choose (the advanced fee varies).
• the mobility payment from PIP/DLA is only given to those who who have disabilities that affect their mobility or ability to plan/execute a journey
• where do you think the tax is paid on importing a car manufactured elsewhere (clue. if you import a car here, you pay the VAT and import duty... here.)

As there is no way to ensure that only manufacturers based in Britain will provide sufficient variety and options to meet everyones needs, you would simply be cutting the number of Motability cars sold.

Last I checked, reducing the quantity of a product sold in a country, harms the economy rather than benefits it.

With fewer cars suited to various adaptations, you would also be harming all those adaptation companies whose sole business is adapting cars from a variety of manufacturers. British companies, hiring british people.

It's really not sounding good from any perspective whatsoever.

Here’s some advice. If you’re not good with words, maybe don’t start threads about things you don’t know about and where you’re likely to upset and offend those people who you are talking about.

Not one of is on here wants to be eligible for a Motability car, however we’re not the cause of all the ills in this country. Me driving a Skoda EV instead of a Toyota Yaris is not why this country is broke. Maybe ask Michelle Mone to pay back her £122m? And then go after the rest of the fuckers who robbed the country during the PPE scandal and claimed dodgy bounce back loans.

I have never been so sickened by an OP in my life.. what a waste of time and energy ..ad then to bow out hilariously by saying she doesn’t know what she’s talking about when it’s a subject so fucking important to so many people’s lives.
This site has become a festering hate-filled sounding board for Reformwannabees

for the 100th time. it's not a bloody free car. People exchange part of their PIP/DLA award for the car or a perk. People pay for it!!! Their monetary award is significantly reduced if that opt into the mobility scheme

I can also tell you that having a learning disabled child is very much a mobility need. Imagine having someone in your household who cannot leave the house at all on their own and needs accompanying for every drip, even just the supermarket around the corner. Often, these children or adults are runners without any understanding of the dangers (traffic and otherwise around them). How not being able to get from A to B without a person with capacity taking you is not a mobility problem???. For a self proclaimed problem solver you are pretty dim if you do not even have a remotely understand the root problem for many.

As stated I am ND and not fabulous with words.

So how about pause before start an inflammatory thread like this @Pandersmum ? Just a thought

Maybe someone could arrange for you to have the perk of havinf epilepsy and learning difficulties.

"I’ll leave this thread now. As stated I am ND and not fabulous with words."

Being ND doesn't stop someone being a twat.

You cannot get a motability car via DLA for learning difficulties alone. The child must either fit the virtually unable to walk criteria or the severe mental impairment criteria. The SMI criteria includes having to be severe enough to get high rate care, never being able to be left alone safely and have challenging behaviour that requires regular physical restraint.

Exactly this my son qualified under SMI he has extremely complex disabilities and will never be independent, I'm sick of some posters thinking it's easy to qualify it really isn't.

Why start a thread about something you know nothing about🤔
We have a mobility car for my son he has severe autism and learning disabilities, he's 15 ,but cognitively around 2 or 3 ,he can speak at all ,in a special school for children with severe to profound learning disabilities and working at pre school levels ,cannot be left alone at all has extremely challenging behaviour, etc etc ,would you like to exchange lives and benefit from our " perk" ?
No I didn't think so.

You not claiming PIP doesn't make you a martyr, and being ND doesn't necessarily mean you would qualify for PIP ,you would have to meet the criteria.

DS qualifies for a motability car but we’ve chosen not to have one. I lease my car myself and it costs me £200 per month. I could lease that exact same car through motability, in DS’s name and for his use, but it would cost £300 per month of his PIP. I’m really not sure how that’s a free car or a perk.

It's not her having epilepsy that matters its how it affects her life.
If it has a severe affect then ofcourse she should get help.
Too many people claiming who don't actually need too is the problem and people treating mobility cars like the family vehicle

But it's not the government's job to keep you in yours.
If changes to the scheme mean you lose your job it's down to the company you work for

in vast majority of cases where the award is for a child they are deemed to be the family vehicle though, so perhaps you need to check this with motability before suggesting people are doing something wrong.

What is so difficult for posters like you to understand, the fact that if a person is not eligible to claim, they can try until the cows come home, and they will not be given an award. The rest of your post just highlights your ignorance about the Motability scheme.

Erm you are allowed to treat the car as the family vehicle in fact motability expect you too ,when my sons previous car was off the road for repairs motability arranged for a taxi account so my dh,could get to and from work obviously he doesn't take our son to work with him ,maybe educate yourself about how people can treat the mobility car, s before writing ignorant posts ?

What does that even mean? Why would someone lease a car that they didn't need? Spend £300 a month on it?! What?

So you think people should have a Motability car for the disabled family member PLUS another vehicle? Does that not seem ridiculous and wasteful to you?

Just think a bit longer and harder about things, will you?

Yes. And that's covered in the application and in the assessment. The point i was making is that the evidence to back it all up is in the medical supervision. So there is no need for surveillance on top, which is what the post i was redponding to suggested.

She also has learning disabilities. Those are evidenced in her school reports, her qualifications, her learning disability assessment. She has autism and adhd. That's evidenced by the diagnostic letters from CAMS.

People seem to think you can say what you like on the forms and the gov gives you a car.

So to someone who is a paraplegic driver who needs to lift themselves from chair to car seat etc.. the ideal car is one that has

• a driver's door that opens wide enough that a wheelchair can get close enough to the seat so that the driver can transfer.
• sills that aren't huge so that the gap between where the chair stands to the seat is not a giant crevasse (most are)
• seat that can be the right level for transferring. It's no good if you need crampons to get back up to your chair.
• a boot that is large enough to hold a wheelchair

And/or an engine that is large enough to cope with an extra ton of roof lift.

You'd be amazed how few cars will fit this criteria and how futile sourcing a suitable car can feel.

The roof lift is not covered by motability. A chair lift is several thousand pounds and the installation will be an additional thousand.
Motability will not cover the total cost of a car that is suitable for needs of someone with such a disability and additional deposits will be required.

If the person has to hand the car back after 3 years, they will have to fund the cost of transferring the lift to a new vehicle.