Is it time for Motability ?

MouldyOldDough

born_again said:

If you can charge at home. Dacia Spring. Base is only £60 Top is £63.20 of your £75 allowance.
More than capable of 2K a year.

Picanto or Hyundai i10 is not full allowance either.

Best bet go & look at them & see if they suit your needs. 
I know you can get some wheelchairs in picanto

The Picanto has a crude automated manual box - shame, apart from that it is ideal

AMT box on i10 too !

Mildly_Miffed

born_again said:

If you can charge at home. Dacia Spring. Base is only £60 Top is £63.20 of your £75 allowance.

Motability requires giving up higher-rate PIP, which is £75/week - but it includes *everything* bar fuel.

Those Dacia lease prices are monthly.

photome

Havent we been here before

Wonka_2

photome said:

Havent we been here before

Indeed we have - and still no clearer why a TC auto box is essential  https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6517583/motability#latest

Bigwheels1111

We were going to go down the motability route in 2016, about a week before signing up a friends mum was found fit to work and walk via telephone interview. They took the car back within 7 days.
Took 11 months to get it through to the tribunal, no car or money.
She won within 5 seconds of walking in ( well pushed in via wheel chair as only had one leg ).
Report said walked unaided.

Opted for a pre reg car with 5 miles on the clock, budgeted for extended warranty up to 10years old.
So Peugeot 5008 old shape 1.6 bluehdi auto £14,350, £2200 warranty, Service £13.46 first 5 years 6-10 year £15 a month contract for 10 years. Insurance £350 -£400 a year
£14,350 Purchase
£ 2,200 Warranty 
£    800 Service
£.   900 Service
£ 3,500 insurance
£21,750 for 10 years.
Add £500 for 2 sets of tyres.

Motability for 10 years, £33,000 plus, not sure on exact figures.
Car is worth £7.500 ish if not a little more, 26500 on the clock.
Still around £ 18,500 ahead, no risk of them taking car back.

Just depends on your budget, Brand new or pre reg. Are great value, The Citroen C3 Max auto is cheaper new than second hand.
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202502219348302?sort=price-asc&searchId=5eea7b80-aa90-41be-9a6b-9a5bc9bdf895&advertising-location=at_cars&aggregatedTrim=MAX&make=Citroen&maximum-mileage=100&model=C3&postcode=S433aq&transmission=Automatic&fromsra

Mildly_Miffed

Wonka_2 said:

photome said:

Havent we been here before

Indeed we have - and still no clearer why a TC auto box is essential  https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6517583/motability#latest

The only reason that anybody would insist on a torque converter autobox only is simple - they're afraid of modern technology.

In the meantime, the OP's Suzuki has depreciated by almost £1/mile since that thread.

MouldyOldDough

born_again said:

If you can charge at home. Dacia Spring. Base is only £60 Top is £63.20 of your £75 allowance.
More than capable of 2K a year.

Picanto or Hyundai i10 is not full allowance either.

Best bet go & look at them & see if they suit your needs. 
I know you can get some wheelchairs in picanto

Sorry but a Dacia Spring may be classed as a car to you - but how would you get on - in one on the Motorway for a twice annual trip (200 miles) to see relatives ?

MouldyOldDough

Mildly_Miffed said:

There's two or three questions getting rolled up together here, and you really need to separate them out.

1. Do you need to replace your current car?
8yo doesn't necessarily mean inherently unreliable, any more than spankin' new means inherently reliable (and, obviously, the mode of financing makes zero difference to that).  How much did you spend on your Suzuki in the last year? What maintenance, consumables, repairs did that include? How much was insurance? Depreciation is still not zero - average Autotrader asking price for a 2017 Baleno is about £5.5-6k. 2016 is below £5k, so let's say there's another £1k/year of depreciation over the next three years or so.

2a. If you do, do you replace it with a car through motability, or provided elsewhere?
That's a sums question. £4k/year for insurance, depreciation, maintenance, etc etc is a pretty unbeatable deal for a brand new car.

2b. Do you even need to own a car, or would a taxi/car club subscription be better?
...but £4k/year is £2/mile (+ fuel) if you're only doing 2k/year. Obviously, your location plays a large part in that, as does the timing/flexibility of your usage.

Annual service - £300

Insurance £150 - £200

Road tax - £0

Tyres - £400 first time replacements

Aircon gas refill £200

headlamps - causing possible future problems (clouding up between double glazed glass layers - replacements £700 each)

Need own car - live in rural town !! Weekly shopping, medical reasons too !

born_again

MouldyOldDough said:

born_again said:

https://www.motability.co.uk/find-a-vehicle/cars/

Have fun playing around with the options. 👍

Severe lack of comparison data

Not even "Type of Auto gearbox" or length/width

I know that if I go further into the manufacturers websites, the data will be there but not readily available to compare

On the 1st search page is Auto/Manual option to choose so search is refined to which you choose.
After that you choose a car & it has further details on size etc.
You can also compare 3 cars.

I'm doing this for what we are looking at. Given only you know exactly what you &  wife want, if she thinks Suzuki Baleno is a big car, then you are going to struggle 🤷‍♀️

MouldyOldDough

born_again said:

MouldyOldDough said:

born_again said:

https://www.motability.co.uk/find-a-vehicle/cars/

Have fun playing around with the options. 👍

Severe lack of comparison data

Not even "Type of Auto gearbox" or length/width

I know that if I go further into the manufacturers websites, the data will be there but not readily available to compare

On the 1st search page is Auto/Manual option to choose so search is refined to which you choose.
After that you choose a car & it has further details on size etc.
You can also compare 3 cars.

I'm doing this for what we are looking at. Given only you know exactly what you &  wife want, if she thinks Suzuki Baleno is a big car, then you are going to struggle 🤷‍♀️

We certainly are going to struggle 
It's 4 cm longer than her last car - a Suzuki Swift