Motability Car Without Disability??

[sonic87]

I know of somebody who has a motability car for their personal use although they have no disability. Not sure how true all of the details are but the person in question says their parent has a disability and already has a motability car for themselves, however also says their parent is getting them a motability car too. This would mean the one parent would have two motabilty cars in their name, one for themselves and one for their daughter who is in her twenties with no disability for her to use for whatever she sees fit. This doesnt seem right to me as the daughter has no disability, does not even live in the same town as the parent and does not use the car to help the disabled parent at all as the disabled parent already has a motability car of their own? How is this possible and surely in can not be legitimate? It seems to me that the daughter is just getting a very nice £25,000+ Car for a fraction of the price she should be paying and somehow fiddling the system to get it as it is definitely not used the way a motability car is intended.

[bednobs]

you/she have it wrong

[douglas9401]

I think there's been a mix-up in communication somewhere down the line.
You don't just wander into a dealership, ask for and get a car on the scheme.

[EDDIE51]

You probably have it wrong but here is the form to report suspected misuse
https://www.motability.co.uk/contact-and-support/report-misuse-form
All complaints are investigated and abuse is taken very seriously.

[bednobs]

ps, you have to sacrifice your mobility allowance to lease a car on motability, meaning it would be impossible to have 2

[ferlew]

Exactly what Bednobs said.
Plus, the disabled person HAS to be in the car as far as I recall.

[Peter Pedant]

if you think someone has a motility car and shouldnt have
dob them in

s/o did this to me -and my defence was - for chrissakes she has seen me walk into things like stationary cars and glass doors.- which bit of me does she think is functioning normally ?

[Buenchico]

Both the disabled person and the relative who is to be a nominated driver have to sign this form:
http://www.motability.co.uk/statement-of-responsibilities.pdf
So they're agreeing that:
(i) "The car will only be used for the benefit of the disabled customer" ; and
(ii) "The car will be kept at the address provided".

If they sign the document knowing one or both of the statements to be untrue they'll be both committing 'fraud by false representation', contrary to Section 2 of the Fraud Act 2006.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/35/section/2
The maximum penalty is 10 years imprisonment.

You can report misuse of the Motability scheme by phone, email or using the online form here:
https://www.motability.co.uk/contact-and-support/report-misuse-form

[EDDIE51]

The disabled person does not HAVE to be in the car. But the car must be used 'for the benefit of the disabled person' so the driver can use it to collect shopping / medication for the disabled person or collect a friend or relative to come and visit them for example.

[Buenchico]

>>> the disabled person HAS to be in the car as far as I recall

Wrong.

"We’ll ask you to make sure . . . the car is used by, or for the benefit of, the disabled person. This does not mean that the disabled person needs to be in the car for every journey. In practice, this means other named drivers in the household can use the car for shopping and other routine activities, as long as the disabled customer will benefit".

http://www.motability.co.uk/about-the-scheme/how-your-car-can-be-used/

[Buenchico]

Possibly also relevant (given that the two people don't live in the same town):
"Named drivers should live within five miles of the disabled customer’s address. We will, however, consider requests to include drivers outside of this range where this is essential to support the customer’s mobility needs."
http://www.motability.co.uk/information-for-customers/cars-and-wheelchair-accessible-vehicles-customer-area/your-agreement-named-car-drivers

[Peter Pedant]

the driver who drives me
can be in it alone
so long as he is picking me up
( and doing my shopping I think)

[sonic87]

Thanks for your help. I do suspect that the motability scheme is being misused in this instance as the woman in question is somehow having a car through her father's disability although he already has a car on motability for his disability. She uses the car for her own personal use and for her own work use too. I have always thought it a bit odd that someone would be able to get two cars through motability and wondered if maybe her father was registered at two addresses or something like that and I didn't really think much if it until I heard the word 'fiddle' in conversation, implying that something was being done along the way to trick the system

[SMP]

Also, the main or only wage earner is entitled to use the car for work purposes as long as this does not preclude the disabled person from having use of it for their needs, hospital appointments etc and is agreed with the insurance company.

[Mamyalynne]

As already stated a person needs to give up their Disability payment to get a car on this scheme, so that implies 2 lots of disability payments are being given - sounds like something is wrong in this story somewhere.

However if and only if you have all the facts use the links above to report.

[EDDIE51]

Definitely a case to report and let Motability sort it out.
I can't see a why it could happen unless the parents each are registered as disabled and each get a car, or the father is using two IDs and claiming twice, both seem unlikely. Report it and let us know what happens.