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Hi Oscarmax
When you say “with changes at the DVLA” is this something new and if so when did these changes come in to effect?
I too had a bleed on the brain in 2008 but never had any ops and the DVLA medical department back in 08 after getting in touch with my doctor and the consultants at the stroke hospital I was under change my licence from a full licence to automatic’s only with adaption to controls and that was that.
October just gone I renewed my licence now for the second time having reach the age of 73 and just used the on line renewal form for reaching 70 years old on both occasions.
If nothing has changed other than age since you we’re driving the past 19 years I would think it was a simple case of filling the regular form as I have done or have they change something the last couple of months.
It’s not the first time I’ve seen this discrimination and having little use of my left hand and leg I’m able to use a mobility scooter with no problems but unable to use a wheelchair unless its a motorised one.
I think if I remember right that even HMG does not recognise scooter users as disabled as they too always refer to wheelchair user and indeed all the parking spaces we use with our blue badges have an icon of a wheelchair in them so its kind of suggests that if your disabled your a wheelchair user.
Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever seen such damning reviews as bad as that on TrustPilot.
Even scammers get better reviews than that.
Hi Brydo
They say as you get older time appears to go by faster, at the grand age of 73 I think there’s some truth in that but of course its not as a minute is the same as the minute I was born with, in this case, no inflation, that said I’m sure Burton’s Wagon Wheels were bigger then, or, is it because I was much smaller.
I share your worry about AP’s and of course suitable cars and having just pasts my halfway 3 year mark it seems like I only picked the car up a few months ago and in the new year will be looking with despair at what available on MB in the new year of 26. My current car AP was £3,700 with adaptions and convinced her in doors it was well worth it, and to some degree it is as its a great car I have, but convincing her to go £4k plus adaption its would be easier selling refrigerators to the Eskimos.
As it is I’m hoping on a 2 year extension but until that time comes in November next year I’m shivering in my boots that the Ayatollah at MB actually lets me extend.
You’re photo here is a Lodgeson’s R207 with the “7” referring to it being 7 ways and is manufactured by the said company and not Jeff Gosling though they may or may not do something similar.
I’ve been using one of these since I became disabled back in 2008 and on my 5th one at a cost to myself in today’s prices of £2,400 and although the prices have been around about the £400 price the last 4 I’ve had, the first one was £750 after being told by the dealer it was £250 at the time of ordering.
I often thought about missing out the middle man with these adaptions but its not really worth your while because, one, there’s a hefty subsidy from MB and, two, MB insurers will not insure the MB car if it had adaptions fitted outside of the MB systems even if the adaption are fitted by the same recommended installer. It’s been a big negative for me and MY £2,400 (not to mention the cost of automatic gearboxes over the years) more so because they will not let you transfer these devices to the next car, again, because of insurance, so they tell me.
I might start putting a few feelers out over the next couple of years to have the Lodgeson device I have now removed from my current car and put in to a car of my own but this is only if AP’s keep going in the unsustainable directions.
Apart from that I have no qualms about the use of this adaptions as it has always worked without any problems for me using the steering ball. I drive with one hand so most of the time its on the steering ball where the button come easily to hand but if your driving with two hands I would think taking one hand off the wheel to press a button should be easy enough. The bit you see in the photo is as shown but there’s another part that has a receiver and electronics in a black box hidden behind the dash out of sight.
Only negatives I have is for some reasons the back light has never worked on any of my R207’s with the exception of the first one but its not a problem as I use the control without the need to look at what button I’m pressing. One other tiny niggle is the “horn” button is very small, I assume so not giving an accidental blast but when I do need to I often have to keep stabbing at it to get it to go by which time the hazard has passed.
4 of 5 of my MB cars have been VAG cars (Golf, Seat Leon, Golf, KIA Carens and Tiguan) and think these devices fit almost any car.
My last MB car, KAI Caren’s was exchanged for my current car at a Bristol VW dealer and was on sale for about £18k in Newport south Wales a month later and my grandson tells me he often see it on the streets of Bristol registered as a taxi.
I haven’t seen the video but I can guess at the effect using black and white infra-red cameras after dark as I often see them on my cameras.
It’s down to the colour of the cloths there wearing and the back ground behind them and often I’ve seen just a head walking down the street or just someone with no legs or with legs but no torso according to the cloths there wearing that become invisible under IR lights.
Yes its a strange world when it comes to VAT exceptions?
A few years ago I ordered two new 12V 12A batteries for my mobility scooter from a Motability recognised adaption installer and the list price was without VAT if you sign the usual disclaimer. When the batteries had not turned up a few days later I rang the guy asking where the batteries were and he said he could not sell them to me unless I pay the VAT, he said because they can be used in golf buggies and because of that I had to get a refund and buy elsewhere VAT free.
Had the same buying a fold away table with a grab handle to help you get out of your seat and is also handy for putting your dinner plate on while sitting in your reclining seat but because the advertising guff for the table showed abled bodied folk using the table for their PC’s it required VAT to be paid even though they were only on sale at disability aids shops. After many, many searches I found a shop that allowed the VAT exemption but yes, its a funny old world when it comes to VAT.
If only I did not bother going to work all my life and became an MP instead I could of got everything free on expenses never mind the VAT. 😁😢😒
Brilliant! It seems like ages until it locks, but it does – the door buttons no longer work. Very happy I checked in here tonight!
The VW Tiguan has a similar system except you press the lock button on the key and while the mirrors are folding, or within five seconds, you touch the door handle and all comms to the car are shut off so no response to touching the door handle with or without the key present. I lock my car at the end of each day using that method as a habit but just use the normal keyless method while out and about during the day.
The keys also goes to sleep after a set time too.
The recent thing I’ve read in the news as far as car thieves go and there tactics is there finding where locksmiths live, in particular ones that deal with car locks, and breaking into their homes or works vans and stealing the very expensive gear they have for programming a car key. Having just paid for a new car key for my grandson who had lost his one and only key I know how this equipment works and took him seconds to actually unlock the door, with no damage, but did take 30 minutes to program a new key and also delete the old key.
That’s more likely Jo as my GP questioned DVLA decision not to reassess my driving ability and they said that nothing had changed in my case and what I made of it it was because my mental state and reaction times had not been affected by my new disability so it was just a case of putting on my license the need for adaption to the cars I drive.
I’m on a 3 year license now but just because of my age, just renewed last month.
What puzzles me is what triggered the need for an assessment as I assume you have already been driving as a disabled person.
All I know of assessment centres is back when I became disabled holding a full license for manual cars I was asked to pay £75 upfront for the assessment unless I’d been referred to them by DVLA. DVLA just changed my license from manual cars to automatic only with adaptions and that was that with no assessment needed.
Had as much info about driving in my condition from my local car dealer as I did from the assessment centre but sounds a bit frightening to have something come out of the blue demanding you need an assessment without no cause for concern in ones driving habit.
My Hyundai dealer told me he thinks vehicle prices and APs will rise again next quarter. I don’t get why there has to be this secrecy about it – people just want to make good buying decisions…..
That’s only if Sun rises tomorrow.
I assume the RAC would get you home with your power chair but lucky not to have had a breakdown myself its the problems of getting a suitable adapted car while yours is off the road being repaired or as in my case being repaired after an accident.
In my two cases of no fault accidents since 2008 and joining MB both times have been a nightmare getting an adapted car to stand-in for a couple of weeks, not a problem for carers who drive on behalf of a disabled person but like I’ve said “a nightmare” for disabled drivers of adapted cars who’s carer does not drive but such is life in the disabled world we find ourselves in.
Most of the time being able to drive and get about in my disabled condition over the past 16 years has been a joy and 99% of that time a carefree breeze so I wouldn’t worry to much about getting home after a breakdown should you be unlucky enough to have one.
What I can gather from Mr A case is he maybe here asking question about suitable cars for delivery next month as his ban finishes October 24. 😊
I can only speak of my experiences but I’ve often used my credit card if the dealer asks for an upfront deposit for “extras” with no problems but always paid the actual Lions share of the AP with a debit cards so can’t be sure about big payments.
Not sure if this is confirmed yet but Sky News is reporting that Labour have scrapped the Winter Fuel Allowance unless your on pension credit benefits.
I have a VW Tiguan and know this is true of the Golf and, assume the same for all VAG cars.
In the Tiguan the 12V sockets turn off with the car by default but its a simple fuse configuration to change this so there live all the time. Just means removing the fuse from one slot to another and an Internet search will find what fuse holder and slot it is.
I think its just a clerical error with staff working from home with their minds more on Netflix than the job in hand. 😁
I use TomTom via Apple CarPlay and first and current year expires next month and had an email from Apple last week to remind me to cancel now if I don’t want the subscription to continue but at £19-99 I’m finding it well worth it. Unlike my VW inbuilt car satnav it announces safety and red light cameras even when its not navigating, that for me is 90% of the time and can make these announcements even while using other car systems within the infotainment unit. The real big like for myself is seeing traffic hold ups clearly on the map, at a glance, miles ahead of me giving loads of time to avoid. One and I think only bugbear is it does not allow you to go to a point on the map and touch that point and make that your destinations, something that my inbuilt VW satnav does without using names or postcodes, but again, I can use the VW map in those instances and navigation while TomTom gives me the warning over the car audio of any safety cameras ahead without using the TomTom navigation. I could be wrong but I don’t think there would be an option for a free year via CarPlay.
Do you know if their is a way to get rid of the blue triangle and have a car on the screen?
Hi Belfast4
Oh yes, I forgot about that annoying arrow and unfortunate I too are looking for a way to make it smaller.
As I noted about using TT for traffic miles ahead of my current location so don’t often use it for navigating but that arrow really is a pain because if your in an unknown city/town the arrow is so big you can’t be sure of the actual road your on unless you zoom right in.
I use TomTom via Apple CarPlay and first and current year expires next month and had an email from Apple last week to remind me to cancel now if I don’t want the subscription to continue but at £19-99 I’m finding it well worth it.
Unlike my VW inbuilt car satnav it announces safety and red light cameras even when its not navigating, that for me is 90% of the time and can make these announcements even while using other car systems within the infotainment unit. The real big like for myself is seeing traffic hold ups clearly on the map, at a glance, miles ahead of me giving loads of time to avoid.
One and I think only bugbear is it does not allow you to go to a point on the map and touch that point and make that your destinations, something that my inbuilt VW satnav does without using names or postcodes, but again, I can use the VW map in those instances and navigation while TomTom gives me the warning over the car audio of any safety cameras ahead without using the TomTom navigation.
I could be wrong but I don’t think there would be an option for a free year via CarPlay.
IMO Things will soon change What exactly? is as yet unknown Just my thoughts,what are yours? Why are we at this point?, eat out to help out?,Poor PPE? Boris at the helm?
Well as far as Starmer goes its a case of, as the Who once said “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss” only thing that’s different is, we will get fooled again.
😁🤔😒
I’ve been fortunate not to having a breakdown, says he as I hold my Rabbits foot while touching the wooden sideboard, but just wondering are you using the Motability contact number for the RAC 0800 73 111 73 as I’ve heard of problems occurring if you use the general number.
This is a trend I’m seeing in the VAG brands too and for myself being a right-hand only driver is its not the shifter in itself as that’s a select and go control but where it causes me problems is in the fact the wipers controls are moved over to the left-hand side of the steering wheel.
Don’t know if that’s the case with Hyundai / KIA’s but for me it means more buttons on my remote control plus of course more expensive remote control to controls that that previously fell to my usable right-hand finger tips.
Although I’m a few years away from ordering a new car and the Tucson was a car I have interest in to replace my current VW having read this today looks like in the years to come I will be doing a lot more research into gear selectors.
Things have moved on, this is from the Motability website:
I’ve never even gave it a thought when I paid my last AP last year but it was with my debit card and the debit was £3,569-00 so its odd that MB state that “some dealers” will accept payments up to £1.000 when mine accepted £3.5k with no questioned asked, this was on hand over day.
Mind you this was after waiting for the car to be delivered after 15 months wait so maybe they thought not to get on my bad side any more than necessary. 😊
