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Thanks Kezo,
It’s Local Authority organised by Adult Social Services in Derbyshire.
It’s the usual battle for CHC funding between NHS and Social Care. Don’t hold out much hope for CHC given our daughter didn’t get it 11 years ago when she had a life changing brain injury and was discharged with no sitting balance, seizures and no mobility at all!!! Money has only got tighter so less of it to go round.
His Wife and two kids have Power of Attorney, but were sure he has the capacity to decide his own fate. There’s no doubt about the need for care but he’s just isolated, frightened and alone most of the time. Parkinsons is truly horrible in the later stages.
We purchased a motorhome that we had adapted for our daughter that was VAT exempt. The modifications were numerous but included a lift for access, a drop down bed and a permanent wet room.
By the time our new Motability lease ends we’re hoping to purchase the replacement outright and take advantage again of the VAT exemption. That will give us a much greater choice than the Scheme can offer. The money saved in VAT should offset the insurance, etc.
My Brother has just been admitted to care with Parkinsons and has a vehicle on the Scheme.
What happens to that entitlement now he can’t use it for himself? The PIP entitlement would presumably be better in his bank account and might pay for a better care home placement.
Finally managed to get an application approved for a VW Transporter Shuttle LWB for my daughter. 5 months after first asking for an early termination we’re nearly there!
Joshua at VW Van Centre Birmingham was great and tenacious with the complexities involving Motability and a Court of Protection Deputy.No chance of a test drive – only a handful in the country! That base covered by a drive in a Ford Torneo Custom which is basically identical.
Pencilled in for March 23 collection. Would rather not have the 7 hour roundtrip again, but thems the rules!
Will post a review when we’ve had it a few weeks.
Rene,
We’ve had the same experience ourselves. Largely impeccable service from the salesmen, whom I expect have been chosen specifically for their personal qualities.
My observation, this time around, would be that everything has changed. Sales personnel are doing the work of 2 or 3 people because staff get laid off in bare times. Everything is cut to the bone. People don’t ring back because they’re too busy and have no time. Service drops and what was an acceptable level 5 years ago is now a luxury they can’t afford.
The guy I’m ordering with has been good. Particularly, the hoops we’re all having to jump through with the lease agreement being via a Court of Protection Deputy and therefore an agent. I’m certain he could have just fobbed us off but has gone the extra because he’s invested in our situation. There are many that aren’t.
Unfortunately, it is what it is and am a guilty as anyone for generalising.
I really think this will be the last time we use the Scheme though. Three years hence it will be unrecognisable but if it isn’t that will be a bonus.
Hi RockDude,
Unfortunately, your business as a Motability customer is not a high priority to most dealers.
The actually make a ridiculously small amount of money for each order, I’ve been told as little as £50 per vehicle! That doesn’t even cover the cost of a couple of hours with the Motability specialist.
Whilst it is true the dealers offload a significant number of vehicles via the Scheme, it’s just a numbers game. Retail customers are what keep dealerships going.
It’s a simple fact of life that their efforts are proportional to the profit they see in you walking through the door. Most simply do not care about your difficulty making a visit to them.
I have had contact with just about every VW Van Centre in the UK, trying to get a vehicle order. I can only describe VW customer service levels as pathetic. The best have been just OK.
Complaints only get you to the gatekeeper. Someone skilled in the art of fobbing you off. “Sorry you feel like that” but not sorry at all.
I’d say that complaining only makes the situation worse. Same for NHS, Motability, etc.
My advice would be find a different dealers and give them your business rather than reward the one that treated you so badly.
Not so lucky Kezo,
16 weeks for DWP to register the Deputy as Appointee. A further 2 weeks for Deputy to be registered on the lease agreement and now this.
Dotting every i and crossing every t doesn’t come close!
Atleast I’ll finally get rid of the Mazda CX60, even though it’s currently looking mint but unloved until handover day lol 😆
Might I ask the definitive process for ordering a vehicle from the Scheme please?
On atleast two previous occasions, I’ve made the application at the dealership and picked it up the same day. Admittedly, I was the Appointee on those handovers.
Now, because of the complication of there being a Court of Protection Deputy as Appointee, Motability insist I attend the dealership to order and then collect the car 4 days later. Not a problem, but an inconvenience, as the VW Van Centre is in Birmingham and I’m in West Yorkshire.
At first, Motability were insisting the Deputy would need to place the order but that would have cost more than a grand in solicitors fees. Now I’ve got to jump through various hoops to process the order to Motability’s satisfaction. If nothing else, it demonstrates just how much more prescriptive the process is these days. Might just be the legal involvement but find it over the top.
Which experience is the norm? Ordering and collection in the same visit. Or the two visit scenario prescribed by Motability?
Update,
Motability not willing to provide any assistance at all with our issue. “Call centre is inbound only, so unable to help”! Might as well talk to cold porridge as get them to engage in any meaningful way. Won’t even contact me directly to inform when their systems gave been updated (3 to 5 days in this day and age – really!)
So, still no ability to cancel and reorder. And I’ll have to ring every day to just to find out when that might be. Atleast that’ll save every 6 minutes being chargeable by the Solicitors to my daughters estate!
Talk about the dark ages lol 😆
Rich, I think it was a response to a very specific set of circumstances, where the lease has effectively been in limbo between one Court of Protection Deputy being discharged and the other being registered as being appointed.
It does make you wonder though, if they can mess about with solicitors acting on my daughters behalf – anyone might be fair game!
You’re right Chris,
I’ve had dealings with Motability since 1984 when my Dad first got a little micra. Up until 2 or 3 years ago the service was beyond exceptional. Largely, couldn’t be faulted.
Now, it’s the same as every other organisation. Simply out to squeeze every last ounce of money for a significantly reduced service.
Price gouging exists in every walk of life alongside pathetic levels of customer service.
It’s almost like the great British public know they’re cash cows but shrug their shoulders and accept they can’t do anything about it.
With Motability there isn’t anything to do but if we all only give our patronage to exceptional organisations, the others have to catch up or die.
It will get worse before it gets appreciably better!
My main issue is that Motability Operations can summarily say they’ll cancel the contract arbitrarily. Simply because the paperwork hasn’t caught up yet!
And, I might add, the lease agreement was originally in our name – so they’re more than 2 years out of date themselves lol 😆
Total jobsworth madness.
Forget my uninformed ramblings – I’m talking out of my bottom after watching notaguru on YouTube lol 😆
Equivalent vehicle on leasing.com £4.5K deposit + £380 pcm not including RAC, insurance, tyres or 20K mileage allowance. So good value if you ignore that the original price is £20K less than the VW.
Sorry, you’re right – £5K AP + £77×156 weeks – £17K.
I’d got £20K in my head from a stock Shuttle I’ve been negotiating which had £2K of options!
Apologies, but the point stands – personal leasing would be significantly cheaper for that model.
£5K for the top spec? Not sure that’s value for money on the Scheme. It’s a lovely, spacious £39K vehicle, but a LWB VW Transporter Shuttle Style Diesel (basically a Ford Transit!) is nearer £60K to purchase for just £1.5K higher AP.
I’d go for the VW just on cabin space alone but I’m pretty sure the PV5 could be leased for very much less than the £20K total outlay (AP + sacrificed benefit) on the Scheme. The cargo version is £250 pcm with about £1K upfront.
Got a very similar problem with our dreaded Mazda CX60 PHEV. On paper lovely car, in reality absolute lemon without the benefits that an actual lemon would bestow!!
Don’t use it much but deliberately took it to Burnley and drove in petrol mode to ensure alternator was charging the battery for the following day. Or so I thought!
Plugged in overnight and drove to my daughters physio session in Morley. 2 and a half hours later, not a thing working. RAC man tested 12v battery and it indicated 4.7v!!!
Cannot for the life of me work out what could drain the battery so quickly?
Eventually got home and RAC coming Monday to put another battery in at the cost of £311 to Motability. Which will probably end up lasting weeks, by which time I can only hope the thing has gone back. I’m seriously considering just doing without it’s just such a pathetic excuse of a vehicle. Worst car ever. Best car ever – £150 20 year old VW Polo Bread Van. Difference in price ~£55K!!!!
At the time it was THE only vehicle on the whole Scheme capable of towing our 2t caravan. I even paid for the electric Mazda towbar but have never towed with it lol 😆 (px’d caravan for motorhome)
It’s the ultimate Kardashian Mobile – all bling and does nothing that I’d expected. It’s as unloved as Keir Starmer at a Tommy Robinson rally!
I’d rate it 4 out of 10.
We also have an Ioniq 5 which I’d rate 8.5 out of 10.
Ant,
Where to start?
For context, we got one of the first to market before they’d ironed out numerous issues. Newer versions might have significantly improved but,
Suspension set up is dire. Imagine being on a trampoline and double the bounce! Any roller in the road causes head crash and tickle your tuppence.
Reliability is poor. It’s been back for 8 recalls – some DVLA and some Mazda. All necessitating annoying days at the garage.
Transmission us about as smooth as a Turkish wrestlers jock strap. Crash bang wallop – I’ll find a gear in here somewhere? PHEV but very rough transitions.
EV range started off about 5 miles!!! Improved after second software recall and getting better since but 25 miles maximum.
For a huge car cabin is seriously cramped. Must be Japanese biology driven not brick s###house!
Boot small.
Access to Rear seats compromised by wheel arches, so much so daughter cannot use them.
12V battery number 2 on its way out.
Too much power and can’t put it down on the road without scrabbling (and I drive like Reginald MoleHusband!)
£55K car with £9K AP – NEVER BEEN AS DISAPPOINTED IN A CAR – and I had a mini metro!!
There shouldn’t be any problem terminating early for the genuine reasons described.
We’re waiting to get my daughters Professional Court of Protection Deputy registered as her Appointee after transferring from another Deputy. I rang Motability as her nominee and explained the circumstances and her change in needs and they agreed in principle to an early termination.
Luckily for us the VW Transporter Shuttle is back on the Scheme today, with a reduction in AP of £500!
Just need someone at the DWP to tick a box and we’ll be terminating the dreadful Mazda CX60 and ordering a Shuttle ASAP. Fingers crossed 🤞
Wasn’t at all impressed by the 5008. Tried to get in the back row of seats and it was a non starter! Very narrow space and boot was nowhere near wide enough for a double dog crate. It was then the salesman pointed us to the Berlingo fir something with real space in the boot compartment!
We were looking at SUV type vehicles to accommodate a double dog crate for our two dogs, one of which is my daughters assistance dog.
Exhaustive search of Kodiaq, Tayron, 5008, Santa Fe, Ioniq 9 and others led us to ditch the idea of an SUV. We looked at a Citroën Berlingo and our thought process changed instantly. Loads of room on the boot. Couldn’t bare the thought of owning a Citroën so moved our attention to VW Caddy Maxi Life or Ford equivalent. VW can be spec’d as a 5 seater if you don’t want 7. Nice to drive too – surprisingly so!!!
Would have ordered one but for thinking even bigger – Transporter Shuttle LWB – but that’s just gone off the Scheme much to our annoyance.
As an owner of both EV and PHEV I’d agree wholeheartedly with all the comments already given.
The Ioniq 5 is a wonderful car to drive – almost magical – like a very fast smooth go kart! Charging at home makes it very cheap to run locally. The huge downside is using it for trips more than say 200 miles, where you’re in the clutches of 60-80p per KWh rates. This is more expensive relative to fuel. As discussed, there’s always the lottery of finding an available charger. Add to that, I’ve never found a charger that delivers what it says on the charger. A notional 20 minute charger invariably takes an hour so time planning is a nightmare.
The PHEV is only ever charged at home and, again, is cheap to run. For a 350BHP 3 litre it also gets 40MPG. It’s just a hugely disappointing car but gets used for longer trips purely because the fear of NOT finding a charger doesn’t exist.
As a standalone, we’d never have just the EV with the infrastructure currently available in the UK.
At some point Energy suppliers are going to stop the cheap overnight rate for charging, it’s inevitable. They aren’t a charity and beholden to their shareholders. Charging at 25p per KWh, whilst still relatively cheap, would kill any desire for us to have an EV at all.
Glos Guy,
That aligns with my experience, with regards being the registered keeper of a vehicle adapted for someone else. In our case we bought a motorhome to enable our daughter to travel, since she is unable to fly after her brain injury. We paid for it from our own gratuitous care and expenses settlement after she won the 10 year battle with the Medical Defence Union.
The adaptations are quite substantial including a lift for access (the floor is nearly 4 foot off the ground!), even though she is not a wheelchair user.
In total we saved £60K so not to be sniffed at!
We’re just trying to procure a VW Transporter Shuttle on the Scheme to replace the unloved Mazda CX60.
Thanks MotabilityUser,
Great information and very clearly put!
Diesel is my preference and can’t see it disappearing any time soon. Hope not the Iveco Daily based motorhome will feature for a decade atleast!
Mazda CX60 – 2500kg tow capacity and more importantly, the car weighs that as well.
Horrible car though – well the model we got in September 2023. Told the newer version is sorted.
350BHP Petrol 4WD, 0-60 in 5 seconds and PHEV so not that costly to run. Had the Mazda tow package and there’s a towing mode. BUT NEVER TOWED WITH IT!!!
