Motability Demanding Backdated Payments from date DLA stopped to Date car handed back

Peasmold_01

In January of this year (2018) I lost the mobility element of my PIP award. Only by 2 points, but that was enough for Motability to cancel the hire agreement. I was informed by Motability that I could keep the car for 2 months, and return it, and receive £2000 transitional payment, or keep it for nearly 6 months and receive £500 transitional payment. I won my appeal for the extra 2 points for mobility. After a two weeks, (time to allow the overworked DWP to inform Motability that I was entitled to go back on the scheme) I contacted Motability and asked to go back on the scheme. I was suddenly, out of the blue, inform by Motability that before I could go back onto the scheme I would have to pay them £465. The reason? I kept the car for two months from when I lost the mobility component of PIP.

I queried this with the representative, and he confirmed that I would have to pay the £465 before I could return to the scheme. I queried why this was not made clear from the outset i.e. when Motability informed me that the contract was cancelled. Had I known that I would have to pay the two months when rejoining the scheme, I would have taken the car back to the dealership immediately, collected my £2000, and waited for the PIP appeal. (Fortunately my partners has her own car, so we were not carless.)

Effectively,  the £2000 transitional payment is now only worth £1500, and that was used to pay the extra costs of extra insurance, travelling costs on long journeys (My partner will only drive locally)

My question, or comment, if you wish, is why did Motability not make it clear that if one returns to the scheme once mobility element of PIP is restored that one would have to make the payments for the period of time between suspension of PIP and when the car was returned. I shudder to think how much Motability would require if I had kept the car for the permitted 6 months. Just to make matters clear. My mobility element was backdated to the day is was suspended, but as we all know, most of us in receipt of PIP are not wealthy, and a little extra lump sum is useful to pay for those elements of life that have slipped, due to the lack of the mobility element or the total withholding of the PIP allowance. 

Has anyone else had this experience? I am seriously considering contacting my MP, as this appears to be a marked lack of honesty by Motability and a lack of concise information being imparted to the effected person or persons.