Hi, my name is tomobilityornot! Motability car or not?

tomobilityornot

Hi everyone, lets talk motability scheme, to have or not have motability car. mmm being on enhanced pip for a few months, and being a car owner (12 yr old car, serviced etc) do i need a motability car, well it would look nice on my drive, but honestly at nearly £300 a month over ten grand in three years, its a bit costly, can actually get a car on credit for far less than this each month and own the car once paid for, so really dont think motabilitycar would be for me 

poppy123456

I've been with the scheme since 2016 and think it's worth its weight in gold. It includes everything apart from fuel. All servicing, tyres, any problems with the car and you just book it in with the dealer to sort out, the MOT before you return it at the end of the lease, insurance and breakdown recovery, which includes home start and any adaptions you may need. 

Is it cheaper? well that depends on what make, model and spec of car you want. 

66Mustang

I agree with Poppy, depends on a lot of things, like your mileage, the type of car you want etc.

Just for me, I used to run a 2002 Mini Cooper. I used to keep track of expenses and it cost me approx £0.32 a mile in petrol, servicing, repairs, depreciation, MOTs, tax, insurance, tyres etc.

My Motability car (2023 Mini John Cooper Works) costs me £0.20 a mile in petrol plus the obvious £300 a month from my PIP. With my mileage around 1,500 a month that works out at £0.20 a mile again ... so the car costs me £0.40 a mile in total.

So I am paying 25% more but I get a car with very minimal worries about breaking down and stuff like that. Also no inconvenience of having to leave it at the garage for a couple of days for repairs which I used to have to do maybe 3-4 times a year with my old car.

That is not to mention the obvious improvements of driving a 2023 car compared to a 2002 car. So more technology, sat nav and stuff, heated seats and most importantly more performance, my car is 228bhp compared to my old one which was 116 so more or less double the power

Albus_Alumni

Hiya @tomobilityornot and welcome to the community!  

I can see you're getting support with your motability query already, but I wanted to just pop in and say hello.  Which motability car you get can make a huge difference in costs, so I'd say it's worth looking into. 

tomobilityornot

£300 a month for three years and no ownership at the end is expensive, i dont spend that much on my own car 2012 model, let me see, £200 a year insurance fully comprehensive, £20 a year tax, £40 a year for mot test, ( last year repairs cost £200 including parts) so say £500 a year (ten pound a week) ( less than two months PIP payments, compared to twelve times £300 payments) yes ok you get a nice shiney car but to be honest i would buy a newer car for say ten grand out of my own money pocket, and put the £300 pip monthly money into bank every month for three years, (thus getting my ten grand back and owning a car0

poppy123456

tomobilityornot said:

i would buy a newer car for say ten grand out of my own money pocket, and put the £300 pip monthly money into bank every month for three years, (thus getting my ten grand back and owning a car0

Not everyone is fortunate enough to have £10k to spend like that, I know I certainly haven’t! 

Not only that there’s people that claim means tested benefits so saving that amount of money over a period of 3 years will affect their benefits, once it reaches over £6,000. 

My car is my life line and I have no issues using my mobility payment for a car every 3 years and will continue to do so in the future. 

trashpanda

its been worth its weight in gold to me. 

everything is paid for and covered nearly and when I worked it out it worked out so so much better. They cover repairs, mot, servicing, insurance, car tax etc. 

I've only had my vehicle 2 months and had 2 punctures and I haven't had to pay for either, and when the tracking was knocked out by accident by the garage it was fixed again free of charge and no monetary worry was put onto me. 

I get so much better mileage than my old vehicle which saves me so so much money. I now longer have to worry about paying insurance or car tax either as that is covered, so again saving me money. 

don't brush it off completely, go to a few dealerships and have a look and if you see something you like get them to look into it and advise you more. 

poppy123456

woodbine said:

I fail to see what the obsession is with having a car 

For me it's not an obsession, it's a need and a life line. I can't walk far so buses is not an option for me. Taxi's cost far too much and I refuse to use them. I have a driving license so choose to have a car. 

Steve_in_The_City

I manage without a car. That is my mindset.