Girlfriend on motability insurance

Poppie68

MissNice wrote: »

Hi,
Just looking for a bit of advice, my boyfriend is disabled and has a BMW 120d on motability, I have a petrol hungry audi a1 and we were just wondering what the chances are of me getting on his insurance. He can only drive an auto due to his disability, it affects his feet and he gets tired very easily too. We dont go away very often but if we go somewhere like Alton towers or a trip to London etc, it would be really handy for me to be able to drive his car, that way we can share the driving and its cheaper on fuel. I would let him drive my car but he physically cant because its a manual.
Back in September, we went to alton towers (3hr drive from us) and called motabilty insurance on the drive up to enquire about letting me drive (I'm 22) but they said they would add me on temporarily until the end of the weekend so my boyfriend could go to the theme park and not have to stress about driving home later that day. They had no problem with this, they just said they probably couldn't put me on permanently because of my age and the power of his car. A month or two later we were off to London and tried doing the same thing (we should have called them before we set off really, but were rushing too much!) and tried to put me on the insurance temporarily so he wouldn't have to worry about doing all the driving and anything strenuous. They point blank refused to put me on the insurance, even though I had been on it a month or two before, they said that was a mistake and the person who allowed us will be disciplined! Seemed a bit harsh! So we got about 10 miles away in rush hour and filled the tank, and had to turn around and get my car because he said he would be in pain and really tired all night if he drove.
I live about 11 miles away from my boyfriend (I know they have a 5 mile rule or something similar) and I end up doing a lot of the driving because I cant drive his car and he doesn't feel well enough to drive a lot of the time. I stay at his a lot but I don't live there. We aren't the type that will say "I drove to such and such so that's £x in fuel so can you give me that money please?" we try to take turns driving but generally I am doing a lot more of the driving so its easier for him but its costing me more in fuel! We would both find things so much easier if we could split the driving, or if we ever go anywhere in his car and he feels tired, we can swap seats without the worry of being stuck somewhere where he is in pain and struggles to drive. He has also had a lot of operations on his feet, and will need more, when he does, he cant walk for 3 months at a time, I know I will be taking him to the hospital, doctors, doing all the shopping etc, doing everything for him that he cant do, but it would be so much easier for us if we could use the motability car for the person with a disability, seems a bit useless having it sat on the drive for 3 months whilst somebody else has to do the driving, purely because of their disability!
I'm not just looking at this to save a bit of money, but it would just make our lives so much easier.
I'm thinking of writing to them to appeal their decision to not let me on the insurance and I'm just looking for a bit of advice, I'm not too sure how they classify people to be added to the motability insurance.

Why would it make your lives easier??

jacques_chirac

FBaby wrote: »

I remember that post, where OP complained about not being able to claim benefits which they supposedly needed because they were struggling financially...despite the cars, regular holidays abroad etc...

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4364903

And Mulberry handbags ... All sounds a bit familiar?

Indie_Kid

Why on earth does motability do BMWs? Most non-disabled people can't afford them.

pstuart

sh1305 wrote: »

Why on earth does motability do BMWs? Most non-disabled people can't afford them.

This is a universal benefit given to all disabled people who qualify.

Not all disabled people are 'poor'.

Please don't take this thread along the lines of a Daily Mail ConDem
'us and them' situation, it would be quite divisive.

cattermole

I agree about them and us but motability have changed this and there is now a limit on the car's value.

For me it is about meeting people's needs whether they are poor or rich. In order to meet someone's needs of mobility they do not need a Bmw and the state should not subsidize it.

The motability scheme is heavily subsidised by the State and it's main purpose is to meet the needs of some very severely disabled people and up until comparatively recently wheelchair users especially those who couldn't transfer were very heavily disadvantaged in the scheme having to pull out very large deposits to get wheelchair accessible vehicles. Thankfully that is much better than it used to be with much lower deposit wheelchair accessible vehicles available.

If someone wants a BMW and can afford it then fine but not on the motability scheme IMO. They should of course still get mobility allowance which they can do with as they wish as it is a non mean's tested benefit.

cattermole

I want to add a bit more to the above post because high performance vehicles also cost more to maintain i.e service costs and the scheme should not pick up the cost of this when there are greater needs to be met as outlined above.

pstuart

The only government subsidy that this charity receives is £17m towards complex adaptations on vehicles for those who are severely disabled.

Their main advantages over other vehicle leasing companies is that as a charity they don't pay VAT and as the biggest leasing company in Europe (600,000 vehicles) they can command high discounts.

I can only assume that your disinformation comes from those newspapers that support the 'right' or that you are up to some mischief.

Twisted_Cherry

FBaby wrote: »

I remember that post, where OP complained about not being able to claim benefits which they supposedly needed because they were struggling financially...despite the cars, regular holidays abroad etc...

Don't forget the Theme Park trips...


I suspect OP is a troll!

Morglin

It should be noted that the more valuable the car, the greater the non-returnable deposit payable by the claimant.

We require a big car to cope with scooter and folded wheelchair, and our last Motability car was a hefty Ford Galaxy, and with a few extras we wanted the deposit came to nearly £5000!

However, we purchased the car at the end of the contract anyway.

Motability isn't about wealth - it's about leasing a car, for a fixed term of 3 years, and then either giving it back, or purchasing it.

Lin

singlehouseholder

What I can't understand about the scheme is why the automatic cars are more expensive? The amount of people that as a result of their condition will need to have an auto and hand controls must be pretty high, why make us pay?