TOP TIPS FOR GETTING A MOTABILITY CAR
The Motability scheme, what the hell is it? Well, if anyone with a disability purchased a vehicle on their own it would cost a small fortune as we would have to pay for both the vehicle and any adaptations that we need to make the vehicle disabled friendly. The Motability scheme takes most of the expense out of the equation by taking a portion of your PIP/ Disability Living Allowance. This will then cover leasing your vehicle, your insurance, and your vehicle servicing, so all you have to do is add petrol.
Having said this there are a few things you need to watch out for here is a list from my experience with the Motability scheme.
1: The limits placed on drivers under the age of 25.
If you are a driver and you are under 25 there are a few rules and regulations you have to follow. The first rule is to ensure that your vehicle is under 120 brake horsepower, this is not to be confused with the actual size of the engine, horsepower is the power output of the engine so you still can get small engine cars with high power output. Like a 1.6 litre Ford Fiesta ST has 179 brake horsepower, which is way over the regulation for Under 25s.
The other thing to watch out for is the insurance group your car falls into or the car you would like to purchase. Now, this is very confusing, as I found out recently, but “Under 25 drivers on the scheme are only allowed cars in Insurance group 16 or lower”. There are many variables that affect what insurance group the car falls into so I will leave a link below explaining what insurance groups are and how they worked out:
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Insurance group explained:(Not an affiliate link)
Steering wheel ball
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2: Do your research
My next tip comes from personal experience. I needed an electric seat so I could move my chair back and forward to get my equipment in the car, so I thought just add it to the car as a normal cost option. To my surprise not all cars have it as an option, so thought I was stuffed. Then I found out that is an adaption motabilty could add to any car. So don’t think just because no one has told you about adaption, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Yes, unfortunately, it can cost extra but motablity may provide a grant for funding if the adaption is essential.
3: You can get a car for “free” (well sort of)
Some cars have an advance payment. This is an additional charge as well as your DLA or PIP. This is more common on the more luxurious cars or the higher specs of cars, for example, you might be looking at the Ford Fiesta but you might like some of the gadgets on a higher spec (ie the titanium spec for all you car geeks out there). This would have an advance payment. Another example would be you want or like a Mercedes GLA but because it’s a more expensive brand it will have an advance payment. Have said that you can get some cars with no advance payment and good specs too, these are often middle spec but 9 times out of 10 they are more than good enough. An example would be a Ford Fiesta Ztec.
So yes you can, but even if you choose a car with advance payment there are very affordable options out there!
Don't let your wheels hold you back!