Motability?

[mikeaudley67]

Hey herbie, did you know you can be prosicuted for discrimination towards a disabled persons. Now ive arthritis and waiting for leg ops i find ds3 easy to get in out of and its such an all round motor. My thoughts are that for all of us disabled ds3 owners we should take ur advice order up some ds4`s and you can right your wrong error and pay all the advanced payments, it might make you think before you open ur motormouth..

[chiefnerd]

The fact is that ds3's are actually almost ideal for anyone with a physical disability. It's a hatchback so the doors a very big, both driver and passneger seats are height adjustable so they can be pumped up before getting out and there's alot of leg room upfront and because of the door size it's easy to swing legs in and out.

Whoever the muppet was who tried to pass comment has obviously never met any disabled drivers or even understand the sort of needs someone might have- Jesus wept, the C4 Coupe was a nightmare to get in and out of!!!!!

[Bigfeet]

There is lots of choice on the MFL scheme and I tend to find it comes down to personal choice more than anything else, we all go to look at cars wearing our 'sensible trousers' but we all tend to opt for cars that win our heart.

[scottsgazza]

quite true bigfoot and we all drive with our heart

[jimbob800]

my d sport + is a motability car.
ill end up in a wheel chair in the next 3 yrs so before i have to get somthing to fit my wheel chair in i wanted somthing fun to drive and comfy hence getting the ds3.
plus i dont like people where i live knowing my buisness (mainly the inlaws) would you think that its a motability car?

[scottsgazza]

my d sport + is a motability car.
ill end up in a wheel chair in the next 3 yrs so before i have to get somthing to fit my wheel chair in i wanted somthing fun to drive and comfy hence getting the ds3.
plus i dont like people where i live knowing my buisness (mainly the inlaws) would you think that its a motability car?

yea know what you mean , driving is the one thing we can do that is normality and no one knows that we a any kind of disability

[DaveR]

some questions for people who have motability cars - i have views on them that im sure the majority wont agree with but to be honest i dont know the full ins and outs so i may be wide of the mark

How much does a motability car cost the end user ?

How do you choose one ( are you given a list of suitable cars or can you hve anything(

What running costs do you have to pay

what entitles you to use the motability scheme

Who pays for the motability scheme ( is it100% benefit or do manafacturers contribute etc )

My Views .... I honestly dont understand how anybody who has a car paid for by public money gets the choice to choose what car they want and what spec they want - i dont want to see us go back to the days of the those freaky lttle 3 wheeler disability cars you used to see around but surely it would be better use of money to limt people to the cheapest / base spec model ?

I only knwo of two people who have motability cars and both seem completely wrong cars for their circumstances - Person 1 is classed as a single person with a new picasso so they have plenty of room for their fshing gear and so they can pull ther caravan for weekends away and person 2 has a new focus but more people in the family that would fit n the focus - seems an odd way of doing thngs. If im honest i do resent people getting flash new cars that the majority have to pay for ...... I DO REALISE that many disabled people need a car due to where they live, hospital appointments etc but many others dont - one of my examples above had a perfectly good second hand car and also has access to another car so do they really need a motablity car ?.

I posted this with a lot of trepadation and my intention is honestly not to cause offence - im just uneducated on the subject so quite happy to be put right so too speak

Dave

[Buzz61]

How much does a motability car cost the end user ? It costs anything up to the full monthly amount of the mobility component of DLA. Something like a DS3 will be the full amount, which is currently £216.20 according to Directgov.

How do you choose one? Motability have a website with a list of available cars and special offers. You then trawl your local dealers and test drive as many as you can until you find a suitable car. Or some people needs so many adaptations, they have to order through a specialist.

What running costs do you have to pay? You pay for the fuel and a very hefty excess if you damage the car. Pretty much the same as any contract hire vehicle, which is exactly what Motability cars are.

what entitles you to use the motability scheme? You need to be in reciept of the full rate mobility component of DLA. This usually means that you can't walk any further than 50 yards without severe discomfort.

Who pays for the motability scheme? The benefits obviously pay most of it, but Motability Operations are a registered charity and as well as donations from the more fortunate, also actively look for donations from the disabled and through fund raising ventures.

The mobility component of DLA is to help disabled people get about in any way they see fit, like paying for taxi's, carers or in this case, a Motability car.
A lot of people get pissed about the disabled getting nice cars through the scheme and it got to the stage where Motability has had to cap what type of car you can now have, although exceptions are still available in special cases.
Motability used to just provide base cars but the trouble they had was resale value at the end of contract. The cars were seldom looked after and being base spec, were not very desirable once they hit the second hand market. Now they want you to have specced up, popular cars and even swallow the extra cost of the optional metallic paint as the car will have stronger residuals. It's all about business at the end of the day and my personal view is that the current situation makes everybody happy. The cars certainly seem to come back in better condition than Astra Merits did back in the 90's..

As for your examples, I always advise anyone looking for Motability to drive everything they can. What suits one person may not suit another due the the complex nature of disabilities. Now, your guy with a pile of kids and a Focus. This May be due to the car offers provided by Motability. Every quarter, they do certain cars with no or low initial payment. These payments are now capped at £2000 which takes in lower end Audi, BMW and things like the Ford Galaxy. If when your guy went for his Motability car he had no savings and there was no 7 seaters on offer, he may have been able to get in a Focus for no down payment. Anything is better than nothing and it may have been the best compromise at the time.
Your other example of the guy with the Picasso, well that just sounds like he could afford an higher down payment and looked for a car to more suit his needs. Bear in mind that some people need a MPV or 4x4 type vehicle just for the height so they can slide on and off the seat. It may be too big for them as a vehicle, but it's the one that most suits their personal needs and disability.
Having a second car is a bit of a no-no, but again it goes more on their personal circumstances. It may have sentimental value for example, or it may be a classic car that they cherish but is not suitable for daily use. They may enjoy having something to tinker with when they feel well enough to do so, just to give themselves a sense of purpose which in most disabled people, is sadly lacking.

Does any of this help it make more sense why some disabled people have "flash" cars?

[Jimbob]

my d sport + is a motability car.
ill end up in a wheel chair in the next 3 yrs so before i have to get somthing to fit my wheel chair in i wanted somthing fun to drive and comfy hence getting the ds3.
plus i dont like people where i live knowing my buisness (mainly the inlaws) would you think that its a motability car?

I know it ruins the lines of the car and the handling but have you considered the roof box option. Girl at work has one - presses a button and the roof box opens, extracts the wheelchair and lowers the chair down for her. Guess one benefit is that it keeps the car clear.

Jimbob (the original one )

[Jimbob]

My Views .... I honestly dont understand how anybody who has a car paid for by public money gets the choice to choose what car they want and what spec they want

Dave

I guess to some extent this comes down ultimately to the question of what sort of society do we want. Should people with Council Houses have any say on where they live? Same sort of question really. Some might say the best way to judge a society is the way it treats the less fortunate. Others might say should we only get what we work for. Not stating an opinion - hopefully just opening up an interesting debate. I am disabled but not to the extent that I need a motobility car. In my life I have been called the following:

Handicapped
Disabled
A person with a disability
A "differently abled" person

For gods sake what next!!!

Jimbob

[chiefnerd]

some people are so bloody ignorant it beggars belief.

So if someone has a disability- you must drive THIS!! People get an allowance, they choose what to do with it. And they choose as they damn well please!

[Bigfeet]

Buzz covered the scheme very well, I have be doing Motabilty for over 10 years now (from the dark ages of the scheme) and have seen all sorts. The cars are offered on a Contract hire basis with a fixed mileage that falls in line with national fleet guidelines. I'll just add my comments;

How much does a motability car cost the end user? - Most cars are what is called 'Total Amount' which means that customer will be handing over the full proption of their 'Help for moving around' allowance. Some cars do require the customer to pay an advance towards to vehicle.

How do you choose one ( are you given a list of suitable cars or can you have anything) - There is a published list every quarter from MFL and the choice is decided by the manufactures, there are guidelines in place which do dictate what types of cars are listed but from time to time MFL do make a custom profile. Couple of years ago there where a few supercars on the books.

What running costs do you have to pay? - As above the only real costs are the fuel and from time to time you may have to pay for wipers and bulbs. The insurance is set depending on age, but normally it is an excess of £75. That the end of the contract the customer may have to pay if there is excessive damage to the car.

what entitles you to use the motability scheme? There is only one requirement, you must be in receipt of Higher Rate DLA

Who pays for the motability scheme ( is it100% benefit or do manafacturers contribute etc ) The allowance is paid from the government so in reality the money does come from the public purse. The manufacturers do not contribute in any way to the scheme. Motability is really two arms, the first being the charity side which raises money to help those who cannot afford aids such as wheelchairs or adaptations to vehicles as well as grants to help them into certain cars, the second is Motability Operations who run the car scheme. Their are a business but what they do with any profit is sink it back into the charity side.

Hope that helps, a lot of people do have mis-consecptions about the scheme and the people who use it and granted there have been many a time where I have thought that someone might be 'playing' the system as I know the rules for DLA. But at the end of the day I am not here to judge as you cannot know why someone receives the allowance.

[DaveR]

only one stupid comment so im quite impressed by that !

Cheers, buzz, bigfeet and jimbob for sensible replies - thinking about it yes it does make more sense to have a car that is sellable at the end of the term so i can understand where that comes from now.

ill post more later but thought i better pop on before work to see how villified i was lol

[Jimbob]

I read this pearl of wisdom on the back of a matchbox once!

"People judge me by my actions but I judge myself by my intentions."

So easy to confuse the two. No villification from me DaveR

Jimbob

[Bigfeet]

...I posted this with a lot of trepadation and my intention is honestly not to cause offence - im just uneducated on the subject so quite happy to be put right so too speak

Dave

Don't have any fear of asking questions and I hope it helps to clear your picture, as I said it's not always easy to see what disability people have past the walking sticks. I myself am partly blind in one eye but never bothered to register.

...No villification from me DaveR

Jimbob

*Puts away Pitchfork and puts out torch*