Does anyone know the largest automatic 'mobility' car allowed - or one that will tow a Sprite Alpine???

[soldlisa04]

Hi, my father is disabled and currently drives an automatic Focus, but will need something larger if he is to pull a Sprite Alpine or similar (i.e. two berth end washroom outfit). Any advice from disabled caravanners would be gratefully received!!! (BTW he's never towed an outfit before bless him).

 

[Surfer]

Avoid the Ford Mondeo automatic as it has a clutchless gearbox and not a torque convertor box and it suffers from lag when changing down a low speeds. Vauxhall Insignia can tow up to 1600kg maximum braked weight which covers a lot of carvans and has a torque convertor gearbox.

 

[DeliDave_]

Hyundai i800 auto is going on the list might be too big tho,tows 2300 kg

 

[Martin24]

I assume you mean using DLA higher rate to lease a mobility car for the under 65's?? If so you should be able to take advantage of any car withing the scheme but what will vary will be the amount of deposit has to be paid at the start of the three year term.

 

[soldlisa04]

Thanks, I think they've decided to leave it for a while and see what automatic smaller motorhomes are available - will pass this onto them though. Cheers.

 

[DeliDave_]

They might want to look at wellhouse leisure who are converting i800 s for Hyundai and giving 5year guarantee on car and conversion.Saw them at Caravan show and very impressed although I'm not into motorhomes myself.

 

[soldlisa04]

Thanks - I will pass this on!

 

[RogerL]

The government has announced today that a £25,000 limit on list price will apply to all Mobility cars from now on - so a whole stack of models will be off the scheme.

 

[Surfer]

The government has announced today that a £25,000 limit on list price will apply to all Mobility cars from now on - so a whole stack of models will be off the scheme.

I think you may have the wrong end of the stick. The limit for a deposit is now £2000 otherwise even the Mondeo and Insignias will disappear off the list. See here for motability update

 

[RogerL]

The government has announced today that a £25,000 limit on list price will apply to all Mobility cars from now on - so a whole stack of models will be off the scheme.

I think you may have the wrong end of the stick. The limit for a deposit is now £2000 otherwise even the Mondeo and Insignias will disappear off the list. See here for motability update

I'm only going by reports in Auto Express
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/autoexpressnews/274441/25k_cap_for_motability.html

This quote is part of Motability's announcement :-
Although we know that 30% of our customers take cars with no Advance Payment and only 5% take cars with an Advance Payment of more than £2,000, over 50% of the models currently listed in the Price Guide have Advance Payments above this level. We have therefore decided to rationalise the range of cars available through the Scheme by offering only cars with an Advance Payment of £2,000 or less, approximating to a Recommended Retail Price limit of circa £25,000. These changes will be fully implemented in December 2011.

Full text at http://www.motability.co.uk/main.cfm?type=NIA&Objectid=2778

 

[MichaelE]

From what i understand the changes to the mobility scheme are you can only add an extra £2000 of your own money to your £25k instead of the £9k you can add at the present time.
Car like the XC90 and BMW x3 will now not be able to be purchased on the scheme.

 

[RogerL]

From what i understand the changes to the mobility scheme are you can only add an extra £2000 of your own money to your £25k instead of the £9k you can add at the present time.
Car like the XC90 and BMW x3 will now not be able to be purchased on the scheme.

Motability ACTUALLY said "only cars with an Advance Payment of £2,000 or less, approximating to a Recommended Retail Price limit of circa £25,000"

 

[Surfer]

From what i understand the changes to the mobility scheme are you can only add an extra £2000 of your own money to your £25k instead of the £9k you can add at the present time.
Car like the XC90 and BMW x3 will now not be able to be purchased on the scheme.

Motability ACTUALLY said "only cars with an Advance Payment of £2,000 or less, approximating to a Recommended Retail Price limit of circa £25,000"

That removes a lot of the decent automatic towing vehicles and with the exception of the Antara, all 4 x 4s. In effect no vehicles that will tow most of today's new twin axles or even some of the larger single axles.
I actually do not see the reasoning behind this decision as the more expensive the vehicle the higher your deposit so no knock mn effect on government coffers or the taxpayer. Luckily we have our own fully paid vfor 1996 4 x 4 which does the job as we find a single axle too small and I need an island bed configuration.

 

[RogerL]

That removes a lot of the decent automatic towing vehicles and with the exception of the Antara, all 4 x 4s. In effect no vehicles that will tow most of today's new twin axles or even some of the larger single axles.
I actually do not see the reasoning behind this decision as the more expensive the vehicle the higher your deposit so no knock mn effect on government coffers or the taxpayer. Luckily we have our own fully paid vfor 1996 4 x 4 which does the job as we find a single axle too small and I need an island bed configuration.

I think you'll find that most Hyundai Santa Fe's come under £25,000 - kerbweight is 2017kg on the 7-seat automatic version with towing limit of 2000kg - can't think of many caravans they won't pull.
If Motability are introducing new rules to stop people funding supercars on DLA I don't think £25,000 is an unreasonable limit - most people on DLA aren't caravanners and only a handful of caravanners want/need to tow a BIG twin axle.

 

[Surfer]

That removes a lot of the decent automatic towing vehicles and with the exception of the Antara, all 4 x 4s. In effect no vehicles that will tow most of today's new twin axles or even some of the larger single axles.
I actually do not see the reasoning behind this decision as the more expensive the vehicle the higher your deposit so no knock mn effect on government coffers or the taxpayer. Luckily we have our own fully paid vfor 1996 4 x 4 which does the job as we find a single axle too small and I need an island bed configuration.

I think you'll find that most Hyundai Santa Fe's come under £25,000 - kerbweight is 2017kg on the 7-seat automatic version with towing limit of 2000kg - can't think of many caravans they won't pull.
If Motability are introducing new rules to stop people funding supercars on DLA I don't think £25,000 is an unreasonable limit - most people on DLA aren't caravanners and only a handful of caravanners want/need to tow a BIG twin axle.

The only 4 x 4 automatic is the Antara. The other six are Hyundai X 35 and Sportage.

 

[RogerL]

Hyundai Santa Fe Style 5-seat auto £24,345
Kia Sorento KX1 7-seat AWD auto £24,995

 

[Jane4]

Hi
The price being £25000 or under is not the point. Only cars with a set advanced payment of £2000 or less will be allowed. This price is set by the dealer and mainly takes into account servicing costs over the 3 year hire period and the end resale price. We used to have a Kia Sorrento under this scheme (we have an adapted caravan) but because of its poor second hand value the advance payment rose steeply to over £5000.
Jane

 

[Surfer]

Hyundai Santa Fe Style 5-seat auto £24,345
Kia Sorento KX1 7-seat AWD auto £24,995

Perhaps you could time off to check the motability site to see if these are on offer before jumping in the deep end with out a life bouy!

 

[Jane4]

The only large Kia now available on Motability is the Sportage
Jane

 

[Surfer]

The only large Kia now available on Motability is the Sportage
Jane

And that is a manual!

 

[Tango]

Try Fords:-
Grand C-Max 2.0TDCi 140ps Powershift auto, Zetec AP £1995
S-Max 2.0 TDCi 140ps Powershift auto, Zetec AP £1995
Galaxy 2.0TDCi 140ps Powershift auto, Zetec AP £1995
All very able towcars .

 

[RogerL]

Try Fords:-
Grand C-Max 2.0TDCi 140ps Powershift auto, Zetec AP £1995
S-Max 2.0 TDCi 140ps Powershift auto, Zetec AP £1995
Galaxy 2.0TDCi 140ps Powershift auto, Zetec AP £1995
All very able towcars .

Not according to Surfer - he doesn't rate that transmission.

 

[Martin24]

of course there is always the opportunity to bank your higher rate mobility payments and buy your own car!!!!!!!! You know like the rest of us do!! I have spent enough years training people in diversity and many people with disabilities are still average or above earners and as such are still able to buy their own cars!!

 

[Jo-AnneFairway5402010]

As far as I know the santafe is already off the list. I have also been told that it's cars with advanced payment of 1000 and above that are off the list. A lot of disabled people use hand controls and autos the usually over £1000 so what will they do?. The other option is to do a motability 2nd hand hp agreement but it has rules like mileage, age, how long over etc.