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?

Where is the stat about 1 in 4 cars being for people with ADHD?

The cars are not free. They are on lease. They are never owned.

If you remove the cars from PIP claimants then it would not save the 'tax payer' any money. Those people would still get the mobility element of PIP. They just would not be swapping it for a car.

Also, the people I know who have a car via the Motability scheme do work, and would not be able to work if they were not on PIP and have their cars (which have been adapted to suit their needs).

I wish people would educate themselves before spouting bullshit.

Because they are the latest in a line of a group of people, to pin the problems of the UK on.

You do realise that disabled people also pay tax, right? Disabled people who work? You understand that most disabled people work, surely? PIP isn’t an out of work benefit. And that the motability scheme is a vehicle lease scheme that disabled people PAY for, and they don’t just hand out free cars?
There are some proper idiots here, there really are. I wonder how they manage to get up in the morning sometimes.

The three year swap over is good thing for those of us (non-motability) drivers. It means there are plenty of three year old cars around that have been well looked after and serviced etc. as opposed to three year old ex-company cars with high mileage.
People with disabilities need reliable vehicles - not something that will break down

There's so many different needs among motability customers, which is why there is a need for a wide variety of vehicles. People need different height vehicles, some need things like electric boots or seats. I know one parent that needs room to lay there child flat for emergency life saving treatment. Wheelchairs and adaptions are sometimes vehicle specific. People that are too ill to work rarely qualify for private finance. What is actually ludicrous, is that you can't see that disabled people might have complex needs... they also pay for their vehicles!

I have just been diagnosed with a terminal illness and granted higher rate mobility payments. As it goes, I’ve decided that I don’t want a motability car. However, I am very willing to give up my £77.00 per week to any of the spiteful, resentful fuckers who are willing to also take my diagnosis. Any day of the week.

Even Morgan, made up the road from me, is Italian owned now.

This, plus the adaptations aren’t free either.

The adaptations to my car cost me £2.5k.

If the scheme was scrapped, it would save the tax payer nothing. But imagine the impact on the motor industry.

I'm so sorry to hear that.

I would also love to swap my situation of spending 25 years taking care of someone seriously disabled with the next god only knows how many years ahead of me...

But I get to drive around in a new Volvo so that makes it preferable? Fucking hell. No idea about what people are living with. Awful illnesses, severe disabilities and resenting one actually useful bit of help we get. Fucking hell, take a look at yourself OP and anyone who agrees with you.

Many people have a very limited choice on what car they can buy or lease due to cost. I don’t see why Motability cars cannot be limited to mid range cars such as Fords and Vauxhall. Why do you need to include expensive top of the range SUV’s costing £45,000 plus ? A car is something to get you from A to B, and we have to remember that it’s funded by the taxpayer to the tune of £3.4 billion pounds a year. There has been an increase in pip claims of 80% in recent years. There was someone on a phone in on LBC recently who said their partner has been awarded the higher rate pip payment which he used to lease a Motability car as his mental health wasn’t good and he struggled to use public transport. Im not sure that this is a good use of public funds.

I’ve got a Motability car. I’ve had one for quite a few years. It’s an absolute lifeline for me. I save towards my Advance Payment from the minute I take delivery of my current car because those cars with a 0AP don’t suit me. I need a comfortable, heated seat at the correct height and a heated steering wheel. I, also, need an SUV for ease of getting in and out and enough room in the boot to take my power chair and hoist. Believe me, when I go to shop for a car it’s not as easy as saying “I want that one…”

I’m so sick of people picking on disabled people. Richard Tice said Motability claimants are “bed wetting boy racers” because apparently if you wet the bed you get give a Mercedes. Kemi Badenoch started with this removing the VAT exemption from Motability cars, at their conference last week, now Rachel Reeves has jumped on board. It’s nasty politics. Leave us alone and start looking up to save money instead of punching down all the time.

The cars are not fucking free - where does this misinformation come from?

And where does the statistic that 20% of he’s car sales are Motability cars ?

I agree. The amount of people that claim PIP fraudulently is probably cancelled out by those people that legitimately qualify but get turned down. The incidents of accessors ignoring supportive evidence or even telling blatant lies is outrageous. People give up on their claims due to the stress. Millions of pounds would be saved if people weren't forced to go to tribunals which they then go on to win.

Sorry new cars

Why do you need to include expensive top of the range SUV’s costing £45,000 plus ?

You do realise that the cars are leased by Motability customers, not owned? The car's worth is immaterial. The only difference is the higher the spec, the higher the upfront payment made by the customer (from their own money).

What effect on your life does it have, what choice of car Motability offers to disabled people?

This is something that is obviously really hard for people to understand but Motability is funded by the payments from people's benefits. These would be paid out anyway, whatever they were used for, whether it's taxis or a lease on a car.

The government only pays extra to help people who need adaptations.

ive been helping a lady who comes to a programme I run, she is entitled to motorbility, she uses an electric wheelchair, but, and big but, the advisor says only 3 vehicles are suitable without extra monthly payments on top of the entire pip mobility element and will accept the grant she qualifies for for adaptations, and two of those brands aren’t interested in her business! Only ford has accepted her, so zero choice, and as it’s technically a van she will have to pay congestion charge to enter Bath despite not being used for commercial purposes.

Yes, some people seem to have a hard time getting their heads around the actual facts.

The usual sources, the papers, social media, people lapping up untruths, and passing them on verbally.

The only madness here is you thinking your comment is accurate.

You think it's ableism to say that benefit fraud exists in the UK?

'Made in the UK' a very small number of cars indeed. Niche and expensive. Assembled in the UK? Much more feasible but parts could come from all over. Don't think it's feasible.