Motability grant awarded but still can't afford

cymrubaby

Hi, just wondering whether anyone had ever applied for a motability grant and got one that was still a bit low for the car you need?

I have four very young children in car seats. My 4 year old is registered disabled (cannot walk, crawl, talk) and we have a motability car for him. Since the birth of our new baby our motability car has become too small so we applied for a moatbility grant to get a large MPV. The reason we need a large MPV is because we need enough seats for six of us plus a large boot to accomodate pushchairs for the two youngest and a wheelchair for our 4 year old as well as room for various other equipment he has.

We found a suitable MPV (a Hyundai i800) and the advance payment was £3999 - motability granted us £2,055 for which we are very grateful. Our minimum expected contibution is £740 which means we have to choose an MPV with an advance payment worth no less that £2,795. We cannot find a suitable MPV with a down payment this low and the MPV we found on the scheme is perfect. A standard 7 seater is just not an option as we need to use the rear seats and have a generous boot.

The grant decision was based on my husband's income but he was then made redundant two weeks ago so I contacted Motability who said that the grant award won't change but our minimum contribution might go down. It wouldn't matter in any case because we still have to make up the advance payment to £3999.

My husband is ex-army so do you think SSAFA would help? We have contacted them and are awaiting an appointment with a caseworker to see if they can help us but in the meantime I'd just like to know if anyone else experienced anything like this and needed assistance from another organisation as well as motability?

If SSAFA can't help then I'm hoping something else might be able to. Is there anything else I can look towards?

Pete268

Hi,

SSAFA funds for such are very very limited to the point of almost non existance money wise. SSAFA are brilliant at other things, just not grants etc.

However the Army Benevolent Fund and/or the Royal British Legion are better bets for funding if you contact them. I am aware both have in the past assisted with Motability funding to some degree.

Also is there a regimental association for your hubbies former regiment/branch, they might be able to assist as well.

Peter

cymrubaby

Hi, thanks for your reply. I checked out the army benevolent fund's website and it says to contact the former regiment or SSAFA so that a caseworker can be sent and after that the case might be passed on to them. I could have read it wrong but I couldn't see any other way of applying for help via ABF unless it was via SSAFA or hubby's former regiment. I don't have much of a clue when it comes to all of the different Forces organisations so I just went with what seemed easier.

Will definitely look up his former regiment association again though, just in case I've missed something.

Thank you.

ETA: I didn't think of British Legion, will look into it - thank you.

Js_Other_Half

http://www.aco.uk.net/search.asp?menuid=44 details various charities - they have an online search engine.

PolishBigSpender

What do you intend to do once the contract term expires?

It might be more sensible to purchase the car through one of Motability's schemes rather than opting for the 'hire' scheme.

eckythump

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

What do you intend to do once the contract term expires?

It might be more sensible to purchase the car through one of Motability's schemes rather than opting for the 'hire' scheme.

I presume the o.p will need less space for pushchairs as kiddies will be older and therefore a different vehicle will be suitable.

arcalis

In my experience SSAFA would arrange a caseworker who would liase with the various army related charites (Benevolent fund, British Legion etc)on your behalf. Its definitely worth a go.

woody01

Forgive me if i sound harsh but the Motability is for your disabled child.......not for the other three so rightly so MB havent paid the full amount.

Before anyone comes back at me thinking i sound harsh, i am also a parent of a disabled child that receives motability.

stompin-sarah

why dont you try the family fund and see if they can help?

justlikethat_2

woody01 wrote: »

Forgive me if i sound harsh but the Motability is for your disabled child.......not for the other three so rightly so MB havent paid the full amount.

Before anyone comes back at me thinking i sound harsh, i am also a parent of a disabled child that receives motability.

Luckily you are wrong about this. When you apply for a grant for example for a wheelchair accessible vehicle the size of your family is part of the equation. If the parent was a disabled driver do you really think they would be expected to leave some of their children behind? Likewise when it is a disabled child they would not be expected to travel without the rest of their family.

Probably the grant was awarded to afford the cheapest possible solution which might well be a car where there are two fold down seats in the boot. The need for luggage space is something strangely that motability do not consider a necessity.

daska

Motability will never fully fund the advance payment - you have to come up with a proportion of the deposit yourself. But as justlikethat says, their calculations will be based on Motability's assessment of the cheapest appropriate solution. Thankfully motability recognise that a family unit is just that and don't discriminate against the able or disabled parts of that unit by making them travel separately.