We Need Your Help! What's Your Experience With Motability?🚗

Insurance is likely to be more expensive for people who aren't employed as they have more time to spend driving.

I had two Motability cars, I got the first in 1991 and the second in '94.

I was a teenaged student who'd recently crashed a motorbike in '91 so the ease/affordability of insurance was useful. Both times however, at the end of the agreements, the companies from whom I had leased them were able and entitled to charge me lots of money turning them back into virtually new cars so they could sell them.

The second time I purchased the car after the lease expired and that worked out well for me.

The fact we don't build a no claims bonus while leasing, the very considerable cost, the lack of flexibility (<12,000 miles... etc.) and that they at least were allowed to make me pay for a full cosmetic refresh of the car at the end of the agreement is why I haven't done it again and won't in the future.

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without my mobility car I would be house bound. I can only walk a very short distance and some days not even as far the car.

I struggle every 3 years to find the money for the deposit just to get a suitable car. It’s money you never see again but it’s that or give up my freedom to at least have a semi normal life.

If the government go ahead with their plans and it raises the up front money for a car, I won’t have a choice. I’ll be housebound and reliant on taxis for medical appointments. I don’t do a great deal of miles, my last car was returned after 3 and a half years with 17,000 on the clock but the loss of a reliable car will be a major setback for me.

I'm a little cautious on this one, and haven't used motability for over 20 years. But at the same time I may need a to drive again possibly soon, and may or may not go via motabilty and I'm gonna go off topic a bit here!

I do see ignorance, or MORE ignorance from the government given that the majority cars driven by the non disabled are far too large for their needs.. We've been sold the Sports Utility Vehicle dream under 'safety by the car industry' when there's a need for smaller cars in cities etc. Also massive underinvestment in public transport.

Sort these things out and the 'purple pound' will flourish. And those of us that need the bigger vehicles, we are a 2 chair & bike household, will be able to make use of the roads as it should be!

We, the disabled are still an 'easy vote winning target' for the right, and now we have popular political as opposed to policy Labour are dropping in the polls.

In my opinion the mobility part of PIP should be a separate benefit. My wife had a disabling stroke a month after her 65th birthday so she couldn't claim PIP and hence access the Motability scheme, had she had her stroke six weeks earlier she would have qualified for full PIP, including the higher mobility rate. Yet people with seemingly lesser mobility issues can access the scheme providing they are under pension age

I have been a motability user for 20 years and I need it to be able to access the food bank and my health appointments . I have no savings and will not be able to pay extra for a car . The proposed changes will price me out of the scheme and this will mean if I can’t get to the food bank I can’t eat and if I can’t get to medical appointments such as blood tests I won’t be able to have my life threatening conditions and the biological medications I will be stopped . I really feel like taking away my motability car will be the Neil in the coffin for me . I have no family to feed me or help me to travel . I am petrified .

A Personal Perspective on the Motability Scheme

I currently lease a Motability vehicle and have previously received a grant to help fund my driving lessons and test — a vital step toward independence. For now, my partner still has to take time away from her paid work to get me from place to place, so passing that test remains my main goal.

My car spends more time parked than I’d like, but that’s simply down to circumstance rather than lack of need. I previously had one of the more “upmarket” Motability vehicles, which I returned in pristine condition and received a fair return payment for. The vehicle I have now is far from luxurious, but it’s extremely practical — exactly what suits my situation. Looking back, I’d say a previous companion saw the car as a status symbol rather than the mobility lifeline it really is. Thankfully, that attitude has gone the same way they have.

Like many others, I find it hard to see how Motability could alter the scheme without increasing costs — and with PIP being a fixed amount, that simply isn’t realistic. Even though PIP rises with the Retail Price Index, when the full allowance is already committed to the lease, there’s no room for higher prices without cutting people off from the service entirely.

Electric vehicles highlight this challenge even more. The cost disparity between EVs and traditional vehicles is huge, and yet, in many areas, the infrastructure just isn’t there. Around here, public charging points are few and far between, and the ones that do exist are constantly occupied. For those of us living in flats or shared housing, home charging isn’t even an option — my building owners, for instance, have ruled it out completely as “too difficult to manage.”

If I had one personal frustration, it would be the dealership experience. Too often, staff treat Motability customers as though we’re being given a “free car.” In reality, it’s a personal lease agreement — we pay for it through our entitlement, just like anyone else paying finance. That misunderstanding can lead to dismissive service and a lack of respect.

Perhaps one solution could be simplifying the process: standardising vehicle ranges and reducing the dealership’s role. Because as things stand, when you’re treated poorly by a dealer, you don’t really have the option to go elsewhere. For a scheme that does so much good, it’s frustrating to see its reputation let down by the weakest part of the chain.

Hi there this is only my 2nd car on the seam. The 1st car I had I didn't get to drive it cos I was fisting to get my lanced back over Covid. I didn't drive for four years. Got it back but only for three yes now has run out again due to my GP taking so long. Without a car I can't get around to endless GP, Hospital and Nurse APP. I have a lot wrong with me always in pain out of work dew to my health and I don.t have the money to get a car. I did have a good job in fact I had two jobs. I am still a mother bring up my family. Life is very heard. This DAM WORMAN her tax. God help us all. I have been driving from the age of 16 got a full lance at the age of 19 but was told back on the 6th June 2016 I have Glaucoma now a a 3 yes lance. I know it is bad to wish bad on other people but I do wish she would brake a leg then see how funny it is to get around. It is always the old, out of work and the disable people that are blamed for why the county is in a mess OMG.

without the Motability scheme I would be stuck in my home, it’s a lifeline to give some form of normality, allows me to attend hospital appointments, gp appointments, meet friends which people take for granted.
motabilty is a huge part the advanced payments have already been increasing to take things away or make things difficult would deprive the most vulnerable.
being disabled finds you needing an automatic which straight away pushes the cost, larger higher up vehicles do tend to be more expensive.
this government has no idea and the media is not helping either as people think we get them for free ! Which we give our benefit up.

Motabilty is a charity and the car industry supports not the treasury !
vat is a relief for disabled yet it appears this government wishes to punish the most vulnerable ! Motabilty scheme is a valuable asset and one which should be left untouched !

I have a mobility car as use a wheelchair. I would not be able to afford the car if this happens. I even do my bit and work which means i would not be able to get to work and be stuck at home losing my independance. We are under encough pressure with extra cost with our disabilitys. We get our pip taken to have the car anyway. I have PA that drive the car for me so they wont be able to take me to work, hospital appointments or do shopping ect. The car is my lifeline

I feel the govement have no idea what it like to live with a disability myself daily. I feel they are send disable people into poverty instead of helping them.

The company i got the car through i cant fault. Mobility i cant fault as was really helpful aswell.