Well OK, it’s not actually for me, but for my sister who is quite disabled and needs a wheelchair hoist in the boot. She has never like the idea of Motability but the excellent sales lady persuaded her. 1.5 tsi DSG in Petrol Blue with Beige leather upholstery. I got to choose the trim level and extras. Spending other people’s money is great! I persuaded her that the Edition was the one to go for since it was only £1k more on Motability and you get a lot of extra stuff that you probably wouldn’t be able to justify as separate extras, and the extras you do want are cheaper in some cases. So we added the assistance package, park assist and the auto light thingy. I did like the new Infotainment with virtual buttons, but in many other ways the same kit as my 280 Superb L&K. Only trouble is we have now to wait x weeks (where x is a large number) before I can get a play with it!

 

Oh it was the Skoda garage at Burntwood near Cannock. Full marks to them so far, much better with a woman sales person selling to another woman, and seems a friendly family run business.

Edited 17 March, 20188 yr by nicknorman

Very similar vehicle & spec to the Karoq I'm waiting for.

 

Also went for the rough road package too.

So she pays the payment which is not returnable, (no deposit required) so not really a deposit you pay when you collect the car, nothing returned, 

then 156 weeks of £58 to pay and any annual increase of the DLA Higher Rate / PIP,

  so 

So if £1,000 advance payment, then another £9,048 to lease the car for 3 years. Allowed 20,000 miles a year.

No Insurance, VED or Servicing to pay, hand the car back after 3 years.  Just pay for fuel. 

Cost just under £10 a day to have the Motability car then, plus fuel.

http://motability.co.uk 

 

Karoq 1.5TSI Edition, £2,995 Advance Payment & £9,048  from the 4 weekly £232 = £12,043, so  £334.52 a month..

 

Thankfully Motability Finance is being investigated now. Re-branded a while back as 'Motability Operations'.

2.4 Billion in the fund, the CEO paid 1.7 million a year,

and it is a Charity to help Disabled People stay mobile, Was a Charity, the Motability Fund to help with adaptions etc, help those that can not afford more expensive adaptions or suitable vehicles.

There was a £25,000 cost of cars implemented, well supposedly, but then for a £33,000 RRP Motability might pay only £24,000 invoice price.

 

In 2008 and the banking crash the UK Government let the 6 major UK banks handle / hold the 2.3 billion Motability the Charity held, 

meaning Motability Finance started letting things change, turn over more vehicles, bought cheaply, go to BCA after 3 years.

Nice returns and payments to Senior Management of Motability Finance and Motability the Charity.

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/399711-are-you-using-the-motability-scheme 

 

PS, 

I have had 9 vehicles from Motability since the 1970's, when Margaret Thatcher handed over the keys at the launch of the new scheme.

Back when you paid lots more to get an Automatic, even just a Metro. Also bought and sold Ex Motability lease vehicles.

12,000 miles a year allowed back then, so not enough for family cars where the disabled person might need to commute, but

great for car Dealers that opted to buy in after 3 years they opted as the car was ordered if they wanted the option, this meant many Car Dealers did Interest Free on 3 year old Ex Motability Cars they got in, or bought at auction. 

Only when Ford & Vauxhall threatened to pull out of the Motability Scheme as a supplier was the scheme improved.

Even then Leasing, Financing and Subaru, Fiat, and others giving a Discount to 'Disabled people', 

could be a better way / cheaper, as if you were on Motability 3 years you built up no NCD and had no car 

if you lost your Benefit, as thousands every year are having now as they fail to get PIP.

Motability responds to claims of cash stockpiles and executive pay packets.mhtml

Edited 17 March, 20188 yr by AwaoffSki

10 minutes ago, AwaoffSki said:

So she pays the payment which is not returnable, (no deposit required) so not really a deposit you pay when you collect the car, nothing returned, 

the 156 weeks of £58 to pay and any annual increase of the DLA Higher Rate / PIP,

  so 

another £9,048 to lease the car for 3 years. Allowed 20,000 miles a year.

No Insurance, VED or Servicing to pay, hand the car back after 3 years.  Just pay for fuel. 

Cost just under £10 a day to have the Motability car then, plus fuel.

Sounds about right, not to bad for a £30k car although she will also have to pay for the adaptations as well (though they are subsidised and you can have them back when the car goes back). She has been coping with pedals but her condition is slowly degenerative and she is getting to the stage where she needs hand controls, and electric ones at that as her hands are very weak too. Simple things like squeezing the interlock button on the DSG selector she can’t do (will need an adaptation). The demonstrator was an SE with basic ignition, very strong spring (unnecessarily so) to operate the starter which she couldn’t do, but never mind her car will have Kessy. I was a bit worried about the standard 19” wheels as she quite likes kerbing her wheels etc, but at least if a tyre is damaged that’s covered by Motability too.

 

Rinse and repeat every 3 years.

Adaptions Subsidised by Motability Charity or paid in full but means tested or was.  I was a fitter of adaptions.

 

There are Skoda Mobiilty changes that can be done for her, by the supplying dealer techs rather than a Hoist Fitter, 

or by the Adaption Fitter.

So Brake Assistance or Steering Assistance can be increased as anyone can have, and maybe other changes as well, so be sure to ask, 

they should be asking your sister.

 

Damage.

£75 of each claim to pay.  Motability do not cover things, all in the Motability Pack, the Insurance does, so that gets expensive as car inspected at each service, 

but that will be Variable. 

You get money back at end of lease £200 or £300 for handing back in very good condition.  I am out of touch with the T&C's now.

Edited 17 March, 20188 yr by AwaoffSki

Yes adaptations subsidised, but not free. She still works as a barrister so would probably fail any means testing. She was fine with the steering (much lighter than her current 10 year old Toyota Avensis) and judging by the indentations I made in the dash and windscreen when she tried them, the brakes are more than sensitive enough! But I’ll mention it to her, thanks.

 

Her problem is a nerve degeneration in her periphery (arms, legs) that gets worse the further down those limbs, and it works both ways so as well as having weak motor function, she has little feedback ie doesnt really know where her limbs are in space unless she can see them, can’t feel how much force etc. Left foot on brake, right one on throttle but she can’t tell if her feet are properly on the pedals etc which is why she’s going to end up with hand controls.

 

I have to say that Skoda garage seemed well up on the whole Motability thing and they have a tame Adapter whose brother is paraplegic and is (allegedly) very good. She’s meeting up with him next week to discuss what needs to be done, but of course it will be a long wait for the car to be built.

 

if you saw the state of her Avensis you would know that the chances of getting the “good condition” money back are slim! 

New to me as being subsidised other than free of VAT. Parts and labour.

 

Excess changed, all of £100 now. 

Stuff on at hand back may charge for damage etc.

 

The hand control fitter will be setting it up for the braking and then the adjustment can be done if needed, simple stuff.

Some like less assistance.  I am hopeless driving with a hand throttle and brake.

I bought a Transit Durashift with hand controls that the driver paid thousands to have fixed time after time, 

she gave up on it because so unreliable,

and it was just because she was often just a little on the brake, and the gearbox was going into limp mode.

RSA Motability _ Excesses are changing.mhtml

Edited 17 March, 20188 yr by AwaoffSki

6 minutes ago, AwaoffSki said:

Excess changed, all of £100 now. 

Stuff on at hand back may charge for damage etc.

 

The hand control fitter will be setting it up for the braking and then the adjustment can be done if needed, simple stuff.

Some like less assistance.  I am hopeless driving with a hand throttle and brake.

I bought a Transit Durashift with hand controls that the driver paid thousands to have fixed time after time, 

she gave up on it because so unreliable,

and it was just because she was often just a little on the brake, and the gearbox was going into limp mode.

RSA Motability _ Excesses are changing.mhtml

 

Just picking up on your edited point earlier, the potential loss of the vehicle if there was a benefits issue is the main reason why she has reached the age of 63 without yet having a Motability car. However she is now on PIP and is so disabled that she can barely walk at all and I think there is little risk of suddenly being declared fit! Ditto the insurance NCB point, although the sales lady said that if she did come off Motability, they can supply a letter showing claims history which some insurers will use to give NCD (if the claims history is good!).

 

Presumably with modern FBW throttles the accelerator ring thing is fairly simple and thus should be reliable. Not sure how the brake thing works, does it connect electronically to the braking system somehow? With a mechanical aid on the DSG selector to squeeze the interlock, that should be all she needs hopefully. Her current car is entirely un-adapted.

Luckily now she is good for being safe on the scheme. 

I used to know so many that got on the scheme soon enough then stayed on after others could not join.

 

I expect to have my car taken away anytime if i am assessed, 

i have a life award and twice lost it and had to fight to get it back, and twice did not have a 3 year award so no chance of Motability.

I know several people that have lost their cars, really disabled people that were totally lost even with the £2,000 from the Government, 

not Motability.

One gentleman & his wife were over 7 months without PIP before getting the Award back, then months until a suitable new car was available.

 

Yet daily i see the cheats, as Motability Specialists do, and have been seeing for decades.

Leased vehicles the person with the Disability & Benefit are never in apart from the Test day or Hand over, putting in the PIN to pay for the car.

 

The NCB, like the annual mileage have all improved because for decades Motability Customers campaigned to have it changed.

All was different after Motability Finance went Commercial, and Motabilty Operations since.

Lord Sterling and all those other worthies live nicely on being Trustees etc, if just on food, wine and being merry.

 

People do not get FREE CARS, well not that many, they use their money received as a benefit, 

but the corruption since 1977 is unreal. 

About time the Scheme gave UK tax payers value for money and stopped being the Golden Goose to the Vehicles Buyers & Suppliers.

 

Motability 'tit for tat' row intensifies as bosses and minister give evidence _ DisabledGo News and Blog.mhtml

Edited 17 March, 20188 yr by AwaoffSki

2 minutes ago, AwaoffSki said:

Luckily now she is good for being safe on the scheme. 

I used to know so many that got on the scheme soon enough then stayed on after others could not join.

 

I expect to have my car taken away anytime if i am assessed, 

i have a life award and twice lost it and had to fight to get it back, and twice did not have a 3 year award so no chance of Motability.

I know several people that have lost their cars, really disabled people that were totally lost even with the £2,000 from the Government, 

not Motability.

One gentleman & his wife were over 7 months without PIP before getting the Award back, then months until a suitable new car was available.

 

Yet daily i see the cheats, as Motability Specialists do, and have been seeing for decades.

Leased vehicles the person with the Disability & Benefit are never in apart from the Test day or Hand over, putting in the PIN to pay for the car.

 

It does seem a bit of a lottery. She was dreading the PIP assessment which she had a couple of months ago, but in fact the assessor was exemplary and apologised for having to do it - the fact that my sister still works is probably a factor. By contrast a friend of hers has a Downs son and she was asked if he had grown out of his condition yet!!!

 

My sister is single and doesn’t really have anybody to put down as an authorised driver except me. Hmmm, I live in Aberdeen, she lives in Birmingham so we are expecting a bit of an issue, but we have a canal boat in Tamworth so we are down that way quite often, usually at least once a month. We’ll see! I feel the need to be an authorised driver so I can train her up on ACC, Park assist and the other gadgets, by demonstration, as she is not very technically minded!

The named driver changed and how many miles they were apart from the person with the car lease because of abuse of the system, yet it still goes on, 

again i see those at it weekly.

You can put a named driver on and change ones, but unless it has changed the Insurance charges a fee.

 

I have no named drivers but those that would drive have Fully Comp for other vehicles, but last i looked Motability Operations say they can not drive 

the leased car. 

 

As to disability changes, i keep waiting for my leg re-appear one day, and various other conditions to improve as the years go on.

Doctors that were those that first assessed me have worked years in the NHS, retired, returned as locums or DWP Assesors, 

i meet some of them often enough and they ask if i have grown another leg yet now that medicine has advanced so much.

 

I have had nothing to do with Hand Controls and electrics and DSG's a friend did those, 

i fitted old style mechanical hand controls, and even then did early DSG where those needed to have no accelerator and brake used at once.

Mostly it was accelerator pedals and brake pedal adaptions i fitted for leg amputees as i could road test those.

Edited 17 March, 20188 yr by AwaoffSki

32 minutes ago, AwaoffSki said:

The named driver changed and how many miles they were apart from the person with the car lease because of abuse of the system, yet it still goes on, 

again i see those at it weekly.

You can put a named driver on and change ones, but unless it has changed the Insurance charges a fee.

 

I have no named drivers but those that would drive have Fully Comp for other vehicles, but last i looked Motability Operations say they can not drive 

the leased car. 

 

As to disability changes, i keep waiting for my leg re-appear one day, and various other conditions to improve as the years go on.

Doctors that were those that first assessed me have worked years in the NHS, retired, returned as locums or DWP Assesors, 

i meet some of them often enough and they ask if i have grown another leg yet now that medicine has advanced so much.

Wot, no new leg? You need a growbag (according to the PIP assessors!).

Anyway, one of the things my sister didn’t like (being a lawyer) was having to sign a doc saying that no-one else would drive the car. Occasionally she will pitch up somewhere and abandon the car, getting someone else to move it to a sensible parking spot. Not allowed under letter of the Motability rules, regardless of whether they are insured or not. Ditto taking the car to a dealers for servicing - they are not allowed to drive it into the workshop! Whilst one can see why they have such rules, making them so categoric is silly.

On 17/03/2018 at 13:38, nicknorman said:

Oh it was the Skoda garage at Burntwood near Cannock. Full marks to them so far, much better with a woman sales person selling to another woman, and seems a friendly family run business.

 

This is my local dealer where i will be picking my Karoq up on Friday !!

 

Always been very helpful

On 17/03/2018 at 18:40, Offski said:

Adaptions Subsidised by Motability Charity or paid in full but means tested or was.  I was a fitter of adaptions.

 

There are Skoda Mobiilty changes that can be done for her, by the supplying dealer techs rather than a Hoist Fitter, 

or by the Adaption Fitter.

So Brake Assistance or Steering Assistance can be increased as anyone can have, and maybe other changes as well, so be sure to ask, 

they should be asking your sister.

 

So yesterday we were at the adaptations place (Des Gosling, near Derby) with her new car and I must say they were in general very good, finding solutions to the issues she has with extremely weak fingers etc. But when I asked about wanting the boot 12v socket to only be live with the ignition on (so she can leave her electric scooter plugged in permantly without flattening the battery) I got somewhat blank looks. I said I though that the fuse could be moved between 2 locations to give aux. socket either permanently live or live only with ignition. More blank looks. The general thing seemed to be that they do their thing with accelerator ring, brake lever and chair hoist but they don’t fiddle with the car settings, that is for Skoda to do. Sales people at the Skoda dealership seem equally clueless! I’m sure someone (master tech) at the dealership may know, but there is a  communication barrier!

 

Anyway I am confident that I can move the fuse. The steering is pretty light already, but I am slightly concerned about the  brake sensitivity as her arms are very weak. Where you mention adjusting the brake response, is this something I can do with VCDS? Which module, the ABS? At this stage I don’t know if it will need adjusting (she hasn’t got the car yet) but if it does it might be easier for me to do it than traipse back to the dealer for more blank looks! She is desperate to get the car in time for a planned trip to wales this weekend so won’t want it in the dealers any longer than necessary!

 

As to that dealership in general, I take back some of the nice things I said earlier. The sales lady left abruptly last week, we only found this out when we rang to check on progress. Passed onto a new guy who wasn’t really interested as he’s away on holiday today. Passed on to another guy, but lots of misinformation eg the adaptors said the PDI had already been done, the dealer said it hasn’t (and the washer fluid was empty so I suspect the latter is correct. Apparently Motability need 4 days notice of the handover but the garage didn’t notify them that they received the car last week - current salesman said “Oh did we?” When she pointed this  out to him today.

 

Not holding our breaths to get the car by the weekend despite the adaptors pulling the stops out to get the car finished this morning.

 

Otherwise, it looks very nice with the petrol blue paint and pale leather trim. Can’t wait to have a play with it!

Edited 6 June, 20188 yr by nicknorman

On 3/17/2018 at 19:44, nicknorman said:

My sister is single and doesn’t really have anybody to put down as an authorised driver except me. Hmmm, I live in Aberdeen, she lives in Birmingham so we are expecting a bit of an issue, 

 

From what I've read (we have a Motability car) the limit for named driver on the policy, is 5 mile radius of the lease holder.  If you go and visit, your sister can call RSAM and ask for you to be put on the policy temporarily and I don't believe there's a cost involved in that.

 

Our car is our 2nd Motability car and the biggest worry as has been mentioned is the PIP assessment.  Luckily my wife has been given an "ongoing award" which is basically for life, but they can ask for a review any time they feel like it.

 

My main issue is that I've now effectively lost by NCB but I know that RSAM will write a good conduct letter if I don't have any claims.

20 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

As to that dealership in general, I take back some of the nice things I said earlier. The sales lady left abruptly last week, we only found this out when we rang to check on progress. Passed onto a new guy who wasn’t really interested

 

We had the same kind of thing happen to us, luckily we knew where the sales lady went to, and so she got our business at the new Skoda dealer she moved to.

Well we took delivery the new Karoq Edition yesterday. My sister was delayed in stationary traffic on the M6 so I got to play with the gadgets for an hour or so before she arrived. It does seem a very nice car and the pale leather trim looks very posh. The Petrol Blue is “interesting” but I think on balance I’d have gone for something else. Obviously a lot of it is similar to my Superb but the all-touch-screen infotainment is great with the following exceptions: The hand gestures thing seems entirely pointless, and I miss being able to grab the rotary knob to change the zoom level on the navigation screen.

 

Anyway I took her out for a drive. She was struggling a bit with the throttle ring on the steering wheel - the ergonomics didn’t seem great as with the ring behind the wheel you pull it towards you to accelerate, and that acceleration tends to make you pull it more so the car lurches forward. Then you release it a bit and the car decelerates, and that deceleration tends to make you release it further. Kangaroo central! In aviation world we’d call that a PIO. Hopefully she’ll get the hang of it. As soon as I reached over and enagaged the ACC, calmness was restored so I’m really glad I pursuaded her to get that option.

 

She thought the reversing camera was great and wondered why all cars don’t have them!

 

Anyway, she has been well briefed. Brake on. Start engine. Press Start Stop button!

 

She has also got the hang of using Autohold most of the time, but turning it off for close quarters manoeuvring such as parking. I have yet to give her the training in Park Assist but we ran out of time as she was off to Wales for the weekend, complete with her hoistable electric scooter AND rather large wheelchair both in the back (seats folded) AND piles of other junk!