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Hey guys, great forum.
I can’t drive at the moment but I have been awarded full PIP daily living and mobility. I am aware that Motability do grants for driving lessons and I am looking forward to taking them up on that. However, I have tried to learn to drive before and I wasn’t very good at it at all!
Apparently, you need to order a car to become a customer of Motability and only then will they assess you for the grant and release the lessons (which does seem fair). My plan is to order the Hyundai Kona electric and just leave it in my parking space I suppose for the time it takes me to learn to drive. It is a TINY bit annoying because I obviously won’t get to drive it and will be “losing” £250 a month of my PIP, but I obviously won’t be “losing” anything at all because I didn’t have anything to start with ! ha. And, of course, it unlocks my 40 driving lessons which is just absolutely amazing.
So here is my worry: what if I simply don’t learn to drive within the year (like they say the aim is) ? Can I give back the car ? I know it would have been an expensive folly and a waste of everyone’s time, but I really do want to try and learn to drive.
The only person I can think of to add as a named driver is my mother but she has a brand new Jaguar and said she’d be embarrassed to drive the Hyundai electric car or even have it parked outside of her house hahahahahaa. She was half-joking, obviously, but the car really would be of no use to her at all. During the year I try and learn to drive or after I potentially accept that I can’t drive at the end of the year.
Any advice would be great
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If you have greater than 12 months remaining on an award you’re able to join the scheme. Lease would be for 3 years but any award running out before the 3 years would end the lease without penalty. Instead of taking a lease to unlock the 40 lessons could you use the money on private lessons in anyway?
I believe Motability offer cancellation for £250 should you need to terminate early.All cars are on a 3 year lease , be positive Nigel,get the test out of the way and enjoy
You also have to factor in the extra long wait times for both bits of the test right now too. If it were me, unless you have some friends/family with full licences who will accompany you in your car with L plates on, I would use the mobility allowance you’d be sacrificing to pay for lessons.
For that kinda dough you could get some really good intensive lessons to get you there quicker get them tailored to how often & how long you can do your lessons (I found an hour lesson long enough at 17 when fit & healthy, I’d be shattered at the end of it back then) so I’d stick with 1 hour lessons to start, don’t be pressured into 2 hours as I know some instructors do. Once you have more experience a 2 hour lesson might be OK if you’re able.
We have some amazing guys round this way Chilled tuition in Norfolk who do all kinds of courses have a look to get an idea of what’s possible & the cost. They’ve been teaching my 14 year old to drive on private land he’s loved it,had him ragging around at 70mph at times in an Audi RS.
Anyway I wouldn’t worry about joining the scheme just to get the “free” lessons. The only way that might be a good idea is if you regularly have a full license holder who can take you out in your Kona (if you got one).
Also don’t just go pick BSM or Red or whoever ask around on Facebook local groups for recommendations on instructors I found the best instructors have tended to be the one man band rather than huge schools or franchises.
Also decide whether you want to learn in a manual or auto. If you learn in an auto that’s all you can drive afterwards but take your test in a manual you can drive both BUT if you’re going down the route if EVs then they’re all autos effectively anyway so that might also speed up your instruction by sticking with learning exclusively in an EV or auto.
The car can’t be if use for anyone else it has to be used for your benefit anyway. Bit snobbish that given how much the Kona costs & what a sought after car, reckon she’s more worried about it showing her Mondeo, sorry Jag up ? lol just joking.
Anyway if you’re listed on the insurance as the sole driver then anyone with a full licence can legally accompany you (providing they meet the dvla rules) driving the Kona as a learner.
I’d not worry about motability & just concentrate on finding a good instructor & getting your test.
1980s dad logic, listen here son, your 17 so I am going to buy a cheap car and insure you and me on it and stick some L plates on it, ill teach you the basics, but then get your friends with licences to sit with you and drive everywhere to gain experience apart from motorway. if you get caught driving once on your own by police or anyway sees you alone ill sell the car and wont pay for your test, in 6 months ill book you a 2 hours and test if you be responsible.
needless to say I missed 1 hour and had 30 mins before test and passed oops… but one of my friends had only been passed 6 months and he drove like he just passed he helped the most.
I agree with Richard. Seems daft to me to sacrifice your benefits for a car that you can’t use, just to get driving lessons paid for. You’d be far wiser to use that money to pay for the lessons yourself and not have the time pressure. Another thing to think about is that you might have changed your mind about what car you want by the time you pass your test. My youngest daughter isn’t as confident a driver as her older sister, so when she (eventually) passed her test (on about the third attempt) she decided that she felt comfortable driving the car that she learned to drive in (Ford Focus) so that is what I bought her. I know it’s tempting to have that shiny new car sitting outside, but I fear you could live to regret it. Cart before the horse, as they say!
I agree with the others, use your new mobility payments to fast track your lessons, £250 a month is a lot of lessons. Leaving a car sitting for up to a year – even if driven infrequently, really won’t do it any favours, they need to be used.
If the lessons + test take a year then you will have paid £3000 in Mobility Payments to have Motability give you £1100 odds worth of lessons.
I’d also say that if you have had issues learning previously then go with an auto only licence, its easier when you don’t need to concentrate on the gears/clutch as well as everything else. Besides, we will all be driving autos before too long.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
For the 3 grand in sacrificed allowance you’d get a lot of lessons and by the time you pass your test there might be something better of more suitable on the scheme by then.
There is always the possibility that it could take you a few attempts to pass and you could end up running into another year easily, at this point the free lessons would have run out and you would have a car you couldn’t drive that you were still paying for and a whole new set of lessons to fork out for as well, hell for 3 grand I’ll come and give you lessons.
For the 3 grand in sacrificed allowance you’d get a lot of lessons and by the time you pass your test there might be something better or more suitable on the scheme by then.
There is always the possibility that it could take you a few attempts to pass and you could end up running into another year easily, at this point the free lessons would have run out and you would have a car you couldn’t drive that you were still paying for and a whole new set of lessons to fork out for as well, hell for 3 grand I’ll come and give you lessons.
Just do a 1 or 2 week intensive driving test if your disability allows. Driving is basically a habit which takes practice. The more you do it in a short period of time the easier it will become and it will start to feel natural. If I was you I certainly would not be paying for a car I could not drive. As others have said £250 a month is a lot of lessons!!
Wow, thank you all for the amazing advice. Two (or a few) heads really are better than one; you all made salient points I hadn’t thought of. The most obvious being the fact that if it does take a year that is 250 x 12 months — how silly of me not to think of it this way !
And I did spot the Norwich driving schools, for some reason, you have quite a few up there! Especially intensive ones. I am only in Cambridge so not too far.
Thanks for all the advice !
Good luck with whatever you decide. I don’t think they cover your way but Chilled tuition are amazing people my 14 year old has another driving experience with them on the 3rd June & if they can tach a 14 year old they can teach anyone lol.
Being landlocked I’m sure there must be lots of quality instructors there & at least you can legally get faux motorway driving skills from the A14 like I did with the Parkways in Peterborough. That helps a lot, giving you the skills to deal with motorway driving legally.
Ask around on local Facebook groups you’ll get recommendations on quality tutors there.
Good luck & you’ll be free & mobile in no time.
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