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As much as I can appreciate the major millage changes from July, enraging members, there seems to be less concern about the major AP changes which will impact on many of our more severely disabled wheelchair drivers and non drivers, who’s needs are being penalized for needing larger, often estate cars, which are not WAV’s but do come with large boots, suitable for holding wheelchairs, have electric adjustable, heated, leather seats, which make a world of difference for transferring from and too a wheelchair, which an SUV may be too high to manage. Also a 360 camera may be more of an essential aid than a luxury.
To get all these things to meet your needs as a fulltime wheelchair user or a paraplegic caliper and crutches user, who already has to cope with an added very high AP, paid by you from your very own highly responsibly saved, life savings. That is if you are even lucky enough to find a suitable (considered non luxury) car on the ever shrinking, but equally increasingly costly Motability list.
Now on top of this the Government and Motability have got together and decided to penalize the very people that Motability was set up to help with their mobility and integration into society, by adding VAT which they may not be able to afford but equally do not qualify for a grant. If that is the case, then they have to fund the extra cost of their privately funded AP to meet their severe needs due to Government underfunding and Motability’s desire for high reserve funds, high wages and above standard conditions.
Someone like myself who had to pay £4,000 AP would have to pay an extra £800VAT unless they, like me needed a hoist (which I had to pay Motability £600 for) or hand controls, which I used before my stroke. But there are many MB non WAV/Sling customers, who will be hit hard by the VAT changes due to their severe disability.
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VAT will not apply if the vehicle has been substantially and permanently adapted to enable a qualifying person to travel in it.
Hi Kezo, I know that, but as I say there will be a lot of disabled customers in wheelchairs who do not want to be stuck in the back of a WAV and don’t need a personal hoist with a sling, which I didn’t need before my stroke and if I didn’t drive, I wouldn’t have needed hand controls, but like a lot of paraplegics I could use my arms to transfer into a non SUV , but still needed a car with a large boot (preferably an estate with electric leather, adjustable seats, non of which qualifies the disabled person for vat exemption, but costs the person up to thousands extra to meet their non vat exemption needs and now 20% added to their AP.
The problem is most of if not all of the people who call themselves experts and make these rules, do not suffer from the relevant disabilities, as you know people with disabilities vary extensively
In the same boat here John where having my licence to drive a manual car taken away so forced by disability to drive more expensive automatics.
I also have a remote control plus steering ball that currently cost £480 and my current car is the 6th car to have that control so since being disable that has cost me £2,700 at today’s prices not to mention, considering a grand extra for automatics over manual, so another £6,000 plus also not forgetting the £1.4k for hoist so despite what the media and dumb asses in Westminster think this disable malarkey has cost me near on £9k just for being disable.
That of course does not account for the countless pavement scooters I’ve had to buy to accommodate ever smaller cars I’ve been forced into because of high AP’s on larger cars.
A word media and lowlifes from Westminster like to throw around is “Affordable housing” and it gets me because what is affordable housing? That brings me to another get out of jail free card for lowlifes and that is what is “substantially and permanently adapted vehicle”. The manufacturers of the steering ball plus remote control I have to have by law proudly put in their literature that the device is easily removed to make the car easy to sell on to abled bodied buyers in future. So like affordable housing it means nothing when it comes to tax laws that has more holes in it than a Swiss cheese.
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