Mobility car question

[eggandcress]

Does anyone have experience of this? We have realised that our car is nearly at the end of it's life and have now discovered we could get a car through the mobility scheme as my ds receives HR mobility. Is this financially worth it?

What do you think?

We are now on our 4th Motability car for DD - the last one being wheelchair accessible but the previous 3 being people carriers - as that was the only car that would fit her type of wheelchair in the boot. Because of the type of cars we have had, we have always had to pay quite a substantial 'advance payment' but we have always treated this car as the family car, so considered this sum to be equivalent of what we would have spent/lost on a car if we had not had a disabled DD IYSWIM.
As we had our 1st car as soon as DD qualified, we have never actually had her mobility money in our pockets - so don't really miss that aspect of her DLA.
Have always found the convenience of not having to pay for servicing. repairs, tyres, insurance, etc make having a car through this scheme completely stress free.
Only thing I would watch are the changes coming in (I think in January) as a result of the bad publicity in the press recently about the scheme, as this will place greater restrictions on usage and reduce the choice of vehicle (not that you were planning on getting a Chelsea Tractor anyway, I'm sure!!!!)

So I would say, it all depends on what sort of car you need to get to meet your family's needs and what 'up front' payment you will have to make to get that car and also, whether or not you can afford to 'lose' all of your DS's mobility component of his DLA each month. All the car types and advance payment details are on the Motability website so you can decide from that what it will cost you up front(if anything). HTH

Thanks for this post bigbluebus, it sounds like you have had a good experience of motorbility - how long are the contracts for? Are they very particular about the state of the car when you return it? Our ds is a picker and tends to destroy the car interior! Luckily I don't think we will run up lots of mileage as we don't go too far from home, a Chelsea Tractor would not fit on the drive! It does work out that we will loose £2400 approx per year in income but if all the insurance etc is paid it would make life easier. We can actually get a small economical car for our needs which may possibly mean no advance payment.
I have looked at the website and there seems to be loads of choices.

Lease contracts for non adapted vehicles are for 3 yrs (5 yrs for adapted). They do expect the car to be returned in reasonable condition allowing for normal wear and tear so any damage to upholstery etc I think is your responsibility and may not be covered by the insurance - so that may be an issue for you. Might be worth ringing the Motability helpline and getting advice on that one. Mileage rates have increased on the scheme over the last few years - can't remember if its 15,000 a year or more now - but never been a problem for us.
The loss of mobility component is definitely worth it for us as we need such a big car - so couldn't afford running costs if we owned our own (tyres alone are about £140 each!) If you only need a small car it will be worth doing your sums carefully. Work out what annual running costs would be if you bought a small 2nd hand car - deduct that from £2400 and see what would be left over to put towards a loan and how much you could therefore borrow.

We have had our first mobility car since june and yes it is worth it. Not only do you save on insurance but you have no tax, MOT and you get free tyres and RAC. There are some really good deals for no up front payments, have a look here

infact the first page of car dont use all the mobility part of the DLA.

I went down the other route of buying a car out of the Mobility part of DS's DLA- It worked out as better value for us as we don't need a large vehicle. If you receive the HR mobility,tax is free anyway.

I guess it's just a question of what suits you best. I know lots of people who are happy going down the leasing route.....could you buy some inexpensive covers for the seats to stop your DS picking it to bits ?

Thank you for all your insight.

I think I will do a big calculation and try to work out which is most cost effective. I don't think we spend £2400 a year at the moment but that does not include the price of the car as that is paid off.

Also thank you intothewest I did not know we could get our tax free - does this get shaved off your payment?

No- You get a form to fill in which you use when you go to pay for your tax. I think the form originally comes with the award of HRM,but if you haven't got one I'm sure they will be able to send you one.

Thank you so much intothewest - I will sort this out, every little helps!