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SN children

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Original poster

Motability cars - are they good value for money?

39 replies

ChopsTheDuck · 28/04/2009 10:57

My car has broken down again. In the past month I've paid out for 2 tyres, and need a third replaced. The spare wheel mecanism is broken, the windscreen has a chip in it, the rear lights array has a hole in it. Now the automatic transmission won't go into 3rd gear and I've jsut driven 5 miles home at 20mph.

Using ds1's dla for a car is looking more and more tempting. If the transmission on my car has failed I'm probably goign to have to, because looking at least £1k for the work.

He currently has jsut over 3 years to run on his current award, but I'm wondering if it does work out good value for money to use it for a car. Also what happens at the end of the three years. Can we keep the current car, or do we have to find another deposit for another car?

My biggest worry is if he doesnt get higher rate upon renewal and we are left totaly carless.

OP posts:

AMumInScotland · 28/04/2009 12:03

Hi, we used to have a motability car (DH gets the DLA) but stopped as we found there were downsides as well as the good stuff.

The main scheme is contract hire - you usually have to pay a deposit, and sign over the DLA to them for 3 years. They do the servicing etc. It's good because you have a car in good nick, but at the end of the 3 years you have to give it back. We looked at buying our last car off them at the end of the contract, but they wanted a silly amount for it. So you then need to find the deposit for the next one.

It can also be a hassle because they make you sort out even quite minor damage under the insurance - you have to pay the insurance excess each time which can add up. It seemed like every time they saw our car they spotted some chip or other and made us do that, and it added up. And we're not careless people, it was stuff you'd just ignore on a car you owned!

You might be better off going for a hire purchase on a car, using the dla as the payments. You could either do that through Motability or just directly with a garage. That way, you can keep the car at the end of the hp period, and either carry on driving it or use it as a trade-in on something else. Obviously, you don't start off with a brand new car then, but you could hopefully get something in good condition and you have the advantage that it's still yours if he doesn't get the award when it's up for renewal.

glitteryb6 · 28/04/2009 12:46

motability have changed the way the insurance works, you no longer have to fix scrapes and bumps, the only things that effect the running of the car etc now need to be fixed thru the insurance.

the gates at the front of my house are ridiculously narrow and ive got a few deep scrapes down the rear wheel arch right down to the bare metal, scrapes on the other rear arch, scrapes on the front bumper and a dent in the door as well as the usual scuffs on the rear bumper.

i reported them all but was told under the new rules i could leave it the way it was.
i would however lose the £200 good condition bonus but you loose that if you make a claim anyway.
you can of course choose to pay the excess and get the car fixed if you want but it is now optional.

the only thing i have ever claimed and paid the excess on is when i ripped my wing mirror off on the front gates when it was snowy....god i sound like the worlds worst driver!

sarah293 · 28/04/2009 12:56

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Message withdrawn

glitteryb6 · 28/04/2009 12:58

you heard anything yet Riven?
im still waiting, thats about 8 weeks now since i applied!

Original poster

ChopsTheDuck · 28/04/2009 13:25

I msut admit mine is full of scrapes and scratches, all lgith stuff that I wouldnt bother repairing cos it is my own car. Actually I also have a wing mirror that someone smashed so only has a temporary mirror over it...

We HAVE to have a car. ds1's school is a mile away, the dts school is 4 miles away and the nearest proper supermarket is 4 miles too. Public transprt here consists of one bus an hour. £2k a year is a lot of money to spend on it though.

we did look into the finance opetion, but since we only currently have the award for three years,t aht would really limit what we could get, and we need an MPV as I have four kids.

really hope my car is fixible for now!

OP posts:

sarah293 · 28/04/2009 13:46

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

meltedmarsbars · 28/04/2009 14:42

Deffo agree its probably only worth it for WAVs - no-one else can take my dd anywhere - not even dh, because she can't get in another car. We have to have a car - very rural - and WAVs are for 5 years now not 3.

glitteryb6 · 28/04/2009 14:46

wouldnt hold your breath then Riven its been about 6/7 weeks since i posted my stuff in, they just keep saying that they still have to catch up on their mail!

i made a point of ordering our first motability car before we started getting the payment so i have never missed the money, altho to be honest i could be doing with it sometimes!

HairyMaclary · 28/04/2009 17:02

Now you see we think that the motability is definately worth it! Yes you can get a cheap banger but by the time you pay all the repairs etc that an old banger needs you are spending way more than the mobility part of the DLA. We worked out that it saved us money over the course of the year, and it is so nice to drive a car that you are not worried about bits falling off! We need our car and use it more than once a day, DS's school will be over 40 mins away so I would say go for it!

sarah293 · 28/04/2009 17:21

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Original poster

ChopsTheDuck · 28/04/2009 19:08

I think that's why I didn't do it to start with, my car doesn't usually cost me anywhere near £2k a year.

Add up the cost of repayments though, and it does start to look a bit more value for money. We've spent £20k maybe on our last two cars (int he past 4 years), and we may be left with a car that is worth about £3k and a £1k repair bill! I guess it is jsut bad luck, the suspension went on the last one.

OP posts:

lou33 · 28/04/2009 19:15

i thik its worth it

you get a new car, its taxed , insured, serviced, you get top rac membership and 4 tyres a year if needed plus a 15k mileage

sarah293 · 28/04/2009 19:35

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Mitchell81 · 28/04/2009 19:49

I also think its worth it. We pick up our 2nd motability car on the 12th May. First advance payment was £500 this time it is more. But we are getting a 7 seater. With our first car we got a £3500 grant for adaptations and are putting them into our new car again.

saintlydamemrsturnip · 28/04/2009 20:00

I think it's worth it.

When I handed my last car back I had it valeted before hand and received £250 back because it was in good condition.

Davros · 28/04/2009 21:09

For us its the bargain of the century. We had quite an expensive car on a leasing scheme which goes back after 3 years anyway and we were paying tax, insurance, services, repairs etc and a relatively hefty monthly payment. In the past I thought it was better to keep the DLA payments as we would have a car anyway but our car was costing quite a lot and Motability now has some great bargains plus no worry.

lou33 · 28/04/2009 21:10

blimey davros, how are you?!

Saint2shoes · 28/04/2009 21:11

worth it, no way could I aford the WAV we have

anonandlikeit · 28/04/2009 22:50

Worth it, we have very little public transport, although ds2 can walk we still need a large boot for his wheelchair & a reliable car to get to appointments etc

haanah29 · 29/04/2009 21:20

how old do they have to be before they get motability is there a age for it

Sidge · 29/04/2009 21:30

Worth it for us - there is no way we could otherwise afford the sort of car we have now. And having a bigger car means we can actually all go out as a family! (we couldn't fit 3 car seats across the back in our old car.)

To me it's not the most economical option but it's worth forking out a bit for peace of mind - with DH away a lot, needing a car for school runs/work/hospital appointments etc that is reliable and maintained is invaluable.

When I got pranged from behind it was in the garage for body work repairs but I had an equivalent vehicle dropped off to my house, collected, my car collected and brought back and not a penny to pay. I think we have enough to worry about in life without worrying about our car as well!

Davros · 29/04/2009 23:17

Highjack alert - Hi lou, I'm fine. I thought it might be you but you never know with these newbies (3 years MN or less, ho ho) stealing names and taking over

Phoenix4725 · 30/04/2009 04:33

Am thinking of doing ,this for ds anyone know
how long you need to have left on your award before can aply for one and has someone got link to the grant for deposit place as i would need mpv 4 kids plus wheelchair to go in boot to

thank you

glitteryb6 · 30/04/2009 07:40

you need at least a year left on your award and the motability grants number is 0844 80000900

Original poster

ChopsTheDuck · 30/04/2009 19:30

well, I got the quote back from the service centre today - £3500 + VAT for a new gearbox on my car. So motability it is! Prob going to get about £900 for mine in scrap value.

I'm very tempted to get a citroen grand picasso. Mainly though, I will be relieved to not have the stress and have a reliable car. God knows wt I am going to do for the next few weeks or so with no car.

OP posts:

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