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My current car has the speed limiter fitted that picks up roadside signs and will offer to set the maximum speed to that. In line with the new rules I can over -ride it, but 9 times out of 10 it’s correct, and not wishing to kill or injure someone, I accept that the rules are there for everyone’s safety, and stick to the speed limit.
The only issues I’ve had are on the same stretch of road south of Nottingham where there’s a misaligned 30mph sign on a 50mph road, and the repeaters as I enter a village which is 30mph.I’m all in favour of this new development and am sure it will save lives.
The Chinese are certainly producing a lot of interesting, cutting edge, cars. Many/most of them will never see the light of day in the UK or Europe.
I doubt Motability as an organisation cares one jot where the care is designed or built, but it needs to be able to negotiate a deal with the seller – and there lies perhaps the next big challenge to the whole Motability methodology, and the Chinese may well force some sort of change.
The Chinese do not seem keen on a traditional dealer network. From what I’ve read they prefer to cut out the dealer as middleman and sell directly to the customer.
The sales process for the emerging Chinese makes abroad appears to be purely online. I’ve seen it suggested that if you want a ‘test drive’ then you can hire the same car from an associated car-hire firm for the usual rate. The hire charge will be discounted against a purchase.
The on-line sales process has huge pros & cons for the disabled owner – no need to traipse round dealerships and delivery to your door, but no personal advice and no-one to guide you through the process.We’re starting to see this a lot with second hand cars, but major manufacturers now offer ‘configure & buy now’ options on their own websites.
How will Motability respond to this brave new world?
Well said Martin!
I very rarely post on here because I see people slapped down all the time by others with strong views and ‘loud keyboards’.
I don’t have a petrolhead mentality, but am interested in how car technology is developing and how it can help disabled people like my wife (I’m an enthusiastic cyclist – so I guess I’m a hate-magnet on many car forums).There are snippets of useful news here and reading the forum has helped my navigate the Motability scheme to find the best car for our circumstances.
This forum is part of the Social Media world (and I’m bemused as to why people think forums aren’t Social Media) and all forms of Social Media attract bullies who like to hide behind their keyboards. I won’t engage with them.
The vast majority of cyclists have third part insurance as part of their house insurance (the risks are so low that it’s covered in the small print). Cyclists pay the same VED as an electric car and many petrol car drivers. (If you’re still paying road tax, then I’d get a refund as it was abolished in the 1930s!)
We’ve had a CHR for just over 10000 miles and we’ve been very happy with it. It’s my wife’s car really and it’s the car she’s felt most happy driving for a very long time.
I do have a few niggles – the rubiks cube of the dash display takes a lot of getting used to – just when you want to see your mph, all of a sudden you’ve got a g-force display! I’d prefer tyre pressure monitor readings rather than just a warning (which seems very temperature sensitive). And, lastly, unlike many people including my wife, I find the driver’s seat uncomfortable after a long drive as it gives me thigh / hip pain.
The Leicester dealer was fabulous with us, and kept us informed at every stage. We’d certainly have another one.
My very first car was an automatic – a Daf in 1974!
I’ve been trying to persuade The Boss that she’d prefer an automatic for years. Her Motability car is a Toyota Hybrid (with an automatic box obv.) and she loves it – she says she’d never go back to stirring treacle while driving!
The Stonehenge related artefacts and sites have been proven to extend for miles beyond the existing main site.
The tunnel they are building is a ‘cut and cover’ trench that will have its entry points well within the extended site that is known to contain valuable archaeological information.
There were two main things that they could have done to minimise the irreparable damage – 1) build a longer tunnel so that it extended beyond the site & 2) bore a tunnel, not dig a trench – both solutions were more expensive than this plan, so we’ve gone for the cheap & cheerful option.
The air pollution won’t be reduced – just moved along the road. Noise pollution is a different matter – but for what?
Mrs M chose a Toyota CH-R as her Motability car and it’s the car she’s most been happiest driving in a number of years. I’m the one using the ‘toys’ though!
The ACC is excellent – although I’ve nothing to compare it with. I find the ‘closest’ setting to be just a bit too close for me, and the ‘farthest’ just a but too far! I don’t think I’ve used the normal cruise control at all other than to test it out.
I’ve only three grumbles and they are perhaps minor. Firstly, the origami like nature of the dash display, up down, sideways, just to find the display you really want; secondly, yes it’s noisy on less than perfect road surfaces; and finally there is no way I can get my android phone to connect the Bluetooth for music.
Excuse me for being dense here – I thought I had understood the PIP process, but some of the comments above have made me doubt myself!
My wife was awarded enhanced mobility PIP in January 2019 with the first review in December 2021 (effectively 3 years). She will get her State Pension in June 2022. She never had DLA.
So, will her review in Autumn 2021 be a full face-to-face review following filling in all the forms all over again, or will it be a ‘paper review’ followed up if they deem it necessary, asking us to show that her mobility (etc) hasn’t improved?
And, as a supplementary question to Oscarmax & Wigwam – how soon in advance of the planned review date did those letters appear?My wife’s first PIP assessment last year was excellent. We didn’t have any of the unpleasantness or ‘deceit’ we were led to expect. We’d agree that it wasn’t a nice experience, but no worse than a consultation with an unfamiliar hospital doctor.
Against my worst fears my wife got standard care and enhanced mobility.A relative had a very different exerience in recent weeks where the assessor spent less than 15 minutes and, while not unpleasant, did not perform – in our view – a full assessment. Needless to say, they have had their claim rejected.
I do wonder what the balance between the assessment and the appropriate completion of the claim form is on the outcome.
This question seems to come up fairly frequently.
When my wife started her lease we enquired about a Dashcam from both Motability and the Toyota dealer we were getting the car from. We wanted the hard wired, dealer fitted Toyota DashCam.
Motability’s attitude on the phone was ‘we don’t care’; the Toyota dealer checked with Motability – at our insistence – and got the same response.
It seems to be a non-issue as far as our experience goes.As for why cars aren’t fitted with Dashcams as standard – they are illegal in some European countries (and UK drivers with them should be aware of the rules if going on holiday).
For example : they’re completely outlawed in Austria, Luxembourg & Portugal; Effectively banned in Switzerland (with very complex laws); You cannot upload Dashcam video to the internet if it’s in France or Germany, plus you need to inform all the involved parties if you are using footage in an insurance claim.
So – manufacturers seem to play it safe, by leaving it up to the user to install & use at their own risk.We would definitely have gone for an electric car – but we ended up with a Toyota CH-R hybrid which we are very happy with.
At the time my wife started the lease there were no electrics on the scheme (as I recall), but the deal breaker was, and still is, that there are no electric cars that can be fitted with a towbar to carry my bicycle.
I can’t physically lift a bike onto the roof of a car’ I don’t trust those strap-on contraptions (ohh! er missus!); and I don’t want to dismantle my bike to get it in the boot, and make the boot filthy anyways.
Apparently Nissan Leafs are homologated for towbars in most mainland European countries, but not in the UK.We’ve got the Toyota C-HR hybrid – this is a ‘mild hybrid’ (I think that’s the term) – it starts on electric and will run for short distances on electric, the petrol engine recharges the battery – you can’t plug it in.
Watching the monitor it uses the battery to supplement the petrol engine when it can, and will occasionally run (even at high speeds) purely on battery. The overall petrol consumption is reported on the dash as around 65mpg on mixed driving (but very few long journeys); we’ve had as much as 99.9mpg on a 4 mile trip, and as low as 40mpg on a 30 mile trip. I have a strong suspicion that use of the air conditioning, and heated seats (not in this weather!) have a huge detrimental effect on petrol consumption – because these run off the main battery, and the petrol engine recharges it.
