can't understand those 3-year old (motability) cars

vansboy

Motability is THE largest fleet operator, in the UK, so will have more than their fair share of abused vehicles.

They do also offer your best choice of one owner, reasonably well maintained, smaller cars & family vehicles.

& if you want a small automatic, then this is the fleet to buy from.

Plus, for some amazing 'bargains', on hardly used, sometimes just a few weeks/months old, they are unbeatable - far better option, than a dealers pre-registerd stock. Unfortunatly, this will probably be due to the ENTITLED (not benefits) person, becoming too unwell (or worse) to drive.

There is no need to buy from dealers, as http://www.british-car-auctions.co.uk
have Motability sales across the country, weekly.

Yes there will be wheelchair /access damge, as well as interior destruction, from people with bladder problems - I'm not being sarcastic/funny, as this is something which so many of us could easily be inflicted with, at some time in our lives.

Just inspect the vehicle, before you buy it!!

& you might just be getting the tax subsidy you have contributed, towards its purchase, back, in a lower priced car!!

VB

hewhoisnotintheknow

at the end of the day if you dont like it dont buy it

photome

I bought a 1 year old ex motability toyota carina in 95 sold it 6 years later,never spent anything on it, it was the best car i have ever owned.

mikey72

I have noticed that the ex-motability cars that I looked at at a car warehouse were tatty. One had been parked with the window open, and was full of water, one had the filthy spare tyre on the back seat, all had muddy footprints everywhere, all had the parcel shelf thrown in the back, they just seemed poorly transported and stored. Maybe it's a fault in the supply chain somewhere, as the ex lease and ex-hire seemed clean and tidy.
Admittedly, after three kids and a small building business, even the motability cars look good compared to mine.

tomstickland

pays for it with their benefit

That's not the same as paying for it with your own money.

Scuttsy

Wow what a fantastic can of worms this thread is. The fact is ex-motability cars are owned by people. Some people look after their cars others don't. Whether or not they are disabled owners has no bearing at all on how well they look after their car. I deal with a lot of cars on motability and the majority of inspections (about 90%) I do on cars are in good or excellent condition.

I would not hesitate in purchasing an ex motability car. You know it has had a full dealer service history. I would just take the normal precautions which I would take looking at any 3 year old car. If it was in poor condition I would expect that to be reflected in the price.

Also the higher rate component of the disability living allowance is around £50 per week which is used to pay for the car. That is £50 per week out of the receipients own money. It does not matter whether they are entitled to the money through a benefit or earn it through a wage. They are paying for it with their money.

tomstickland

So if a rich uncle gave me £50 per week that'd be the same as me earning £50 a week?

Scuttsy

It would still be your money, so yes....

RichyRich

The Motability Scheme enables disabled people to use their government-funded mobility allowances to obtain a new car, powered wheelchair or scooter.

So this is self funding how? The self is me (through the contributions I make to society through the tax I pay), not the beneficiary of the car.

Another point that has to be taken into account is that Motability cars tend to attract jealous vandalism. I am starting the third year of use of an automatic Nissan Micra Initia (I cannot use a clutch pedal) and have had the following problems in the past two years:

Long scratch on bonnet caused by keying.

Sprayed with something like silly string that has turned solid on the bodywork.

Dented by another car in a car park (and no note or indication of liability left).

Rear ended by young joker in a convertible BMW talking to his companion, rather than watching the road.

As soon as I got the car back from the repair shop it was then smacked in exactly the same place by a reversing bus, which had gone down the wrong road! It was parked at the roadside.

Alright, the rear endings were genuine accidents, in that no malice was intended, but the top three are pure vandalism.

As for the car being free, that's complete nonsense. It isn't free - all or part of it is paid for out of my sorely tight benefits. But without it I would be completely housebound and not even able to go shopping. Just because I'm partially incapacitated doesn't mean I should be excluded from society, or locked away in the 4 walls of my flat.

I'd willing take a job if one was offered that would enable me to work at my own pace at home for a fixed salary. Such jobs do exist, but they require a time and attention commitment I cannot offer.

I have an 11 year old corsa. It's been pranged in car parks, squirted with silly string, had a c0ck drawn on the snow on its windscreen, had its wheel trims nicked, had the side window smashed, and various other things done to it. It's not a motability car. I fail to see how this is any different to the acts of vandalism done to your car, so how is it "discrimination" if it's a motability car, if the same thing happens to a fully paid-for private car?

RichyRich

bigturnip wrote: »

The Motability scheme is not subsidised in any way by government or charity contributions, it is a purely self financing scheme, in fact Motability Operations and MFL make a decent profit out of it, so to say the money paid (currently around £7,500 over 3 years for a very basic car) won't cover the full cost of the car plus all running and maintenance costs is just factually wrong and demonstrates your obvious ignorance.

The scheme is run by the big banks in collaboration with car manufacturers and a few other interested parties and if you think that the banks and manufacturers are going to run the scheme at a loss out of the goodness of their hearts you are sadly mistaken.

The only charitable/government involvement in the scheme is help towards the cost of adaptations, which is run entirely separately from the car scheme.

If it's run as a self financing scheme at no subsidy whatsoever, why can't anyone join it? There must be some benefit or subsidy attached or it would be open to all.