nhs power chair

[mous3]

Ok iv been rejected multiple times but having gone in to my wheelchair scrvices in person yesterday they where so shocked at how my seating needs have changed in 3 years they have asked me to put in a direct request for seating and full chair reassessment directly. So they can sort out my seating on my current chairs and put my on the power chair approval list for a fully tilt adjustable non folding chair for when I start to need it.
So hears the crunch question can the backs of these chairs be quick release and for crashing around the London tube system and farm what should I be looking for I will probable end up in a kids chair because of my size are their any big disadvantages of this?

[Burgerman]

After they have assessed you as "experts" and after careful consideration, they will advise you that:

1. they can only fund a 4mph chair... Which is bollocks.
2. that if you don't like what they offer and you likely wont, they can put you on their voucher scheme... Refuse! Because it just about covers the cost of real world maintenance only! It includes a list of chairs THEY approved, and a list of suppliers THEY approved, and that they get cash back from. As such these dealers cannot do YOU a deal, and you pay about 40 percent too much.
3. that the chair they recommend is a Invacare Spectra Plus... Since that what they always recommend! Or similar. http://www.wheelchairdriver.com/invacar ... a-plus.htm Eg TDX SP at a push, or worse.

Depending on which cheap low/medium budget 4mph weedy motored low amp chair is flavour of the month at the moment. (best price to them) that accepts rehab seating.

I refused all that. And assessed myself, and prescribed myself a chair 14 years ago... Then sent them the bill. They paid it under protest initially, refused to supply anything a year later. After I took the piss a lot, their management got a bollocking for being useless, and those in real charge sent a government minister and a local authority PERSONOLISED BUDGETS guy to see me. Net result was a pilot scheme (2.5 years ago now) of one. They gave me a cheque for almost 7k to spend on my powerchairs any how I wanted. I use it to build my own chairs. I could just buy a chair or 3 used ones or whatever I wish. I only need keep records of how it was spent. Renews every 3 years. This is called the Personalised Budget for Powerchairs. It SHOULD be available to anyone as an extension of the Personal Care budgets very soon.

[mous3]

That sounds far more sensible I am on commissioned care at the moment trying to get moved to personal allowance adding my medical equipment needs in to one budget makes so much more scenes. I have 6 months left before I play with the new Pip payments from dla at the same time my care plan ends at least I have 10 months before i have do do something about my chair I don't want another voucher it only paid for 1/2 my manual chair motability is a joke I love my Verso and plan to by it off them this time so I can get the clever roll up in to the floor ramp fitted to this one too, my last one in my first Verso got smashed when a ka driver decided to park her car under the rear of mine writing it off when the fire crews had to cut the back and roof of my car off to get me and her out. motability refused to pay for one to be fitted to the new car! And gave me a mini hoist that brakes all the time. They offend my tiger one that prevents me using my back row seats I mean I have 7 for a reason.

[Burgerman]

My van was imported, from Canada, was exactly half price, left hand drive, delivered to my door.

I waited till there was 2.05 dollars to the £ and ordered one...

Quick run down.
Motability wanted my £50 a week mobility allowance for 5 years+ a 26k down payment. At which point after 5 years it still wasn't mine and I had to do it all over again.

My way cost 30k total, and that included all shipping, UK registration, special test, and electric tie down hand controls etc. And the van is a better spec than the UK ones.

Now, its in its 8th year. Still looks and smells brand new. I look after it since its my own! And its paid for, I don't need to keep paying twice as much every 5 years... Motability and leasing cars generally makes zero sense.

[mous3]

I did not have the funds to go the route you did but It is nuts my car is good for years to come it has the adapted floor all fitted it can do all I need it to except to the farm for which it is happy to tow the quad from farm to beach or any place and I will ware out another quad before my car. So i see no reason to change it every 2 years yep 2 years is no chance to build up a deposit for the next one and with 7 year warrantys why would you want too.

[Burgerman]

You don't want to!

This is in its 8th year.

And has zero stone chips, is super clean, waxed and polished, even the tyres are coated with a protector, the ramp and carpets look new. Its really as good as brand new, and still clean underneath and polished under the bonnet (hood!)

Photo 2 weeks ago.

[mous3]

My car dos not look any thing like that it sports roof bars and lots of mud outside and in at the moment but it dose have full seat covers and floor matting my tail gate is scratched from loading - ramp and the are crumbs in the dash but 38mpg average in London not bad for a 2L Dsg auto it only attracts attention when I unload 4 adults and kayaks and wheelchair all inside, or lots when I'm sat on its roof using a handy tree to help my unload the top solo

[Burgerman]

Yep. But the point was that IF you look after it WELL and don't cover it in crap and scratch it, service it well, and wax and polish it, with care 15 years later it should look like and go like new. So buying outright makes more financial sense.

Of course if you don't look after it, and it looks used (abused) and has been treated like most people treat cars, then you are better off leasing it, or just throwing your cash down the loo...

Cars are the second biggest value item after a house. And the CORRECT expenditure on a house is money in the bank...
Money spent on cars is just wasted. Its a fight between the finance company (or lease company) and the scrap yard.

Better to treat them well, buy OUTRIIGHT, don't use expensive credit or lease, and buy RIGHT (cheap) and look after them really well!
Or you will be one of the "I cant afford to buy outright", "so I got a loan/lease/other" (poor) poor people!
You become one of those members of the community that are always poor, and cannot get anything without a loan precisely because they pay MORE for everything and are keeping half the workforce in a job... Being poor, is what makes you poor but only if you let it...

Here's the thing. The ONE thing on this sight that will REALLY help you more than any other.
It works the other way around.
If you NEVER get credit, never borrow, only buy things you save up for, you will end up with all the toys and money in the bank. And its much cheaper long term. Your lifestyle changes.

But everyone inc my ex, make as many excuses as they need to, to explain why they "cant" do that!
Usually because they don't have the money. And that's WHY they don't!

You really should make the effort. Its hard, but pays off later on in way bigger fashion than you are ever imagining. Its all about right or wrong choices.

I refuse to have a phone contract, (use the cheapest pay as you go on the planet - GIFF-GAFF all online) about £20 a YEAR!
Will not have insurance for anything, mugs game. Other than a car. Because the law makes me.
Refuse to have satellite TV, TV licence, cable, never mind film or sport channels, (all available FOC online anyway if you know how). Don't ever pay anyone to do what I can do myself, and I do everything...

NEVER use loans or credit, because that's only affordable if you have more money than you need. And only have a mortgage where it PAYS to do so. Never rent. A black hole, to throw your money in.

Always buy the best gear. EG cameras. Why buy 4 or 5 inferior ones and then buy the one you really wanted anyway later on? That way you pay twice for everything. Do it right, plan, save, invest in things that pay back later. Don't for eg waste money adapting an unsuitable house. MOVE! Before you come to that conclusion anyway later on.

Analyse every penny you spend. Normally its either not required or can be done better, or incorporated into a bigger life plan. (Pay once!). I don't mean buy cheaper but PLAN for the future! Olde page here - badly written but you get the idea. http://www.wheelchairdriver.com/rules-to-live-by.htm

[mous3]

My last car died at 15 years old it was a fiesta I had taken around the clock stating with 30k on it scraped reading 53k+ sum off road with it to. eventually the fule pump went and replacement cost more than the value of the car so I Sold it for parts and my 300 pound car gave me back 550 after costs mechanicaly I do look after them and they look after me but i can't wash my own car or hover it out and i will not use car wash services except for the scouts, kids fundraisers it gets a good coat of wax every 3 months and clean out all 7 seats hidey holes for 4 quid I just supply the wax.

But yes cars do not appreciate in value so it allways a games of minimizing loss. I save up and pay out finance is not good lesson learnt the hard way better be broke and owe no one that owe and be more broke stressed and ill. I had a lone for for paying for my education and it has yet to pay me back and now never will but It's gone now i just owe 2 quid to my care worker that i will give her to night for some bits from the bakery that she picked up for me. That level of debt I can handle the only other way I will accept money is in the form of fule or train tickets from close friends and family so i can visit them and i always make share It's the smallest amount possible though mum will take my car some times when I'm staying without asking so she can catch it with an empty tank.
Every thing ells I earn and save for I just did my forms for DWP and Hmrc in the last year I worked 18x that was it did an average of 4hrs per event and after costs made 200 not a lot but I try and I declare what I do so stay in the suport group .

[Burgerman]

All good. Did you consider buying a left hand drive US registered car? Saves you almost half the cost?

[mous3]

Mud can not be avoided hear the only clean cars are the ones that have been washed where they stand it has 3 scratches 2 on the roof and one on the bonnet they are superficial and I know exactly how the came to be when It's mine they will get fixed at the same time my bummper and parking radar is changed and ramp fitted

[mous3]

I had 2k in my pocket no car chair job or home nada I have difficulty with dads LHD Merc cos I can't do the parking brake. Or gear box on that side cos it cases my balance issues I fall over in the seat to my week left side. My car has smart box foot peddles rather than full hand controls just push to gear shift so it nearly normal, I haven't tried any thing ells LHD but need to keep it small as possible as i can't tow on my licence if all up is over 3 metric tones and not agri licensed. I have driven full hand controls but found it phiscaly and mental torture. My only other LHD experience is on 7.5t + and l plates horse boxes and buses

[mous3]

Just been car shoping with mum we took my ramp but the Mitsubishi dealer wouldn't let us try to put my chair in the boot of the show car so no sale for that dealership. Volvo where very helpful but the VW dealers just switched off when mum asked them to let me have a test drive too.. like I can't drive without adaptions er I can and do just makes me sore and tired quickly, I need to be able to drive her car in future for short trips from time to time.

I found the link for Direct payment for my wheelchair needs I will apply to see if i can go in to this
If yes I will do a MISTRAL 6mph with tilt seating from frame upward.

[ex-Gooserider]

Just been car shoping with mum we took my ramp but the Mitsubishi dealer wouldn't let us try to put my chair in the boot of the show car so no sale for that dealership. Volvo where very helpful but the VW dealers just switched off when mum asked them to let me have a test drive too.. like I can't drive without adaptions er I can and do just makes me sore and tired quickly, I need to be able to drive her car in future for short trips from time to time.

I found the link for Direct payment for my wheelchair needs I will apply to see if i can go in to this
If yes I will do a MISTRAL 6mph with tilt seating from frame upward.

I don't know how the drivers licenses work where you live - here in the US, if you need adaptive controls to drive, then you get a special code on your license. This code doesn't have a list of what's required on it, but if the cops call in your license, they will get back a list, and you will be given a major ticket if you don't have the specified gear...

That said, I haven't checked the laws in detail, but my first guess is tha if you DON'T have the endorsement requiring special adaptive gear, then you'd have grounds for a discrimination complaint against a dealership that didn't let you do a test drive... The dealership might claim that they have the right to refuse a test drive to anyone they don't feel qualified to drive, but I'd bet you could try to require them to have a reason NOT related to your handicap... (My logic is that the ADA requires "reasonable accomodations" in public spaces which a car dealership is, and that you can't be prohibited from performing actions that an able bodied person could, unless there is a distinct safety issue, which they would need to be able to prove - tough if you don't have a gear restriction, and a test drive is certainly a normal activity for one doing car shopping...)

Not letting you try to test fit your chair in the trunk is frustrating, but they can make a fairly legitimate argument about not wanting to risk damaging the show model, which they are going to be trying to sell later... Dumb dealer though, I would possibly have tried to come up with some padding for the more exposed areas, and maybe insisted on helping / supervising, but otherwise let you go for it as at least a try.... (FWIW, when the GF was shopping for a car, being able to put my manual chair in the back was a requirement. She mentioned this up front so the dealer would suggest reasonably possible vehicles, and she did a test drive first to see if the car was otherwise acceptable, but after that NONE of the dealers we asked refused to let us try... She ended up with a Nissan Cube, which for its outside size, is an amazingly roomy vehicle, even if it looks funny....)

ex-Gooserider

[mous3]

I have a full car licence with agricultural endorsement up to 45t at 35mph max, I can drive any car van under 3 metric tones with or without adaptions. I can drive commercial large vans lorrys ect on L plates not for hire or reward I can drive any tractor skid steer real lift ect with trailers.
This is clear on my licence. My chair was clean and we took a blanket to put over the tail gate under the ramp mum just loudly told the busy dealership tphat if they wanted to sell cars they should let people test that they would be sutable and left.
Toyota and Volvo and Honda couldn't have helped more they let us put my chair in all the cars we where interested in. And we have contacted a differnce dealership test drive no issues.

[ex-Gooserider]

Given that sort of license, the dealership had no really legitimate reason to not let you test drive or do the test loading...

Depending on how much trouble you feel like making, I'd consider trying to find the corporate headquarters for the different brands that gave you a hard time and complain to them - it's the kind of thing that can get the dealership beat on by their suppliers. Also consider looking up whatever your equivalent of the ADA's enforcement people are, and complaining to them... Nothing like a "helpful" visit from the gov't to get a business' attention....

My own pet peeve when we were shopping for my GF's car was that nearly all the dealerships we went to had DEALER cars parked in the HP spots - easy to spot since they either had no plates or "dealer" plates on them... I definitely let the sales droids know that this was NOT the reason for those spaces....

ex-Gooserider

[Sully]

Goose, I wonder if GB has the same regs/Laws that we do here in the US. It pizzes me off when I hear about discrimination of any sort, but he may not be able to make too much noise there.

BM as far as your personal philosophy on intelligent fiscal living I tend to agree with you. It appears I may actually spend more on my life style, but the philosophy is similar. Pay cash where ever and whenever possible, Insurance however is different, in some cases it is better in the long run to pay a higher premium and carry a better policy, that buy cheap. Just like all toys, the better ones last longer, and become far cheaper in the long run.

Cars--I have owned one "New" car in my lifetime, (75 Yrs old) all the rest have been used, but fairly new, but paid cash for those vehicles that have been proven, and have a good maintenance record plus look good. And just like the American Buffalo Nickel, (a coin) when I let them go, the Buffalo is crosseyed. In the North of this country, many folks have a winter beater car and a nice well cared for summer car. The deicers that are so necessary in winter are corrosive, and it is impossible to keep them as clean as well as one wants. So why beat a dead mule, buy a vehicle you can beat to death, I assume you have some used car sales there.

Your fiscal and living philosophy with a few adaptations for personal preferences is a good model to follow. One only has to have the patience and personal discipline to spend on those things they require and can afford and nothing more. I never look over my shoulder to see what the other guy is doing, but worry about only what I am doing. A very simple process. And really a good receipe for happiness.

[Burgerman]

Well it works for me.

I have house, car, and everything I own paid for. I make much of my own electricity. I buy in bulk anything that is not perishable. I buy the best of everything first time, instead of buying the one I really wanted again later on... Most people pay twice! That's everything. From cameras, computers, cars, furniture, hobby stuff, bathrooms/kitchens/adaptations etc. I don't do kids. Way too expensive. Selfish? Maybe but I am a control freak. I LOOK AFTER everything. My 2007 van is better than new. My 10 year old lawnmower looks new. And just got a service. Cleaned, and put away.

I do not EVER use credit, pay monthly, loans. Only the rich can afford leased cars, rented housing, or credit. And if you are not rich, that's a sure way to be sure you never will be.

And I DO NOT pay any insurance apart from my van and that's because the law gives me no choice. Insurance companies only exist for profit. I refuse to pay them. Better to have money instead and pay for your own repairs.

I have no TV, so need to cable package, TV licence or electricity or a TV set. A 5 year old 2nd hand phone and a pay as you go card that PAYS ME!

I do all my own maintenance, repairs, cleaning, etc., for EVERYTHING other than things that disability does not allow. And will only invest money wisely, in my house. I don't mind spending money there, as its my "bank". And done wisely every £ spent is worth 2.

I don't buy anything I cannot pay cash for up front. Including cars. And the reason I can pay cash is precisely BECAUSE I never buy anything on monthly loans etc. I pay less, and I can buy cheaper. After a few years you don't need loans.

How you live has almost nothing to do with your income level. But everything to do with your choices. Which reminds me, I need to order another pallet of toilet rolls...

[mous3]

How you live has almost nothing to do with your income level. But everything to do with your choices. Which reminds me, I need to order another pallet of toilet rolls...
this reminds my I don't need them this week lol very small London flat

now bac to the original topic hop this helps all in uk


Personalhealthbudgets England (NHS ENGLAND)
To Me

It is the Government's longer term aim to introduce a right to have a personal health budget for people with long term conditions who may benefit, with those receiving NHS Continuing Healthcare being the first to have a right to ask for a personal health budget from April 2014.



While the longer term aim is that many more people who could benefit should have the option of a personal health budget, we are at an early stage of rolling them out. This means that personal health budgets are not yet available everywhere, nor are they available for all NHS care. Decisions about whether an individual is eligible for a personal health budget are not made centrally, this needs to be a local decision, based on the individual’s health needs. We suggest you speak to the person responsible for your healthcare to see if a personal health budget might be an option for you.



You may be interested in a website that has been set up by people, who like you want a personal health budget ( http://www.peoplehub.org.uk/ ). This website includes peoples individual stories, experiences and discuss how they approached getting a personal health budget.



Best Regards,

[Burgerman]

Mine is a PILOT scheme, that is an extension of the Personal health budget. I am not ON a personal budget. I get direct payments for care, which is a different thing.

I bullied them into it 3 years ago. You need to be persuasive as they move like they are in molasses. Its "easier" for them to say no. Don't let them.

[Burgerman]

Here are 5 of the 10 boxes of toilet roll I just ordered cheaply. Just so you know I am serious!

This is 218 of the 436 I bought.

Do this with everything you ever buy that isn't perishable, and it PAYS for your car. Or house. Long term. You can never have too much bog roll...

[Cal]

I don't buy anything I cannot pay cash for up front. Including cars. And the reason I can pay cash is precisely BECAUSE I never buy anything on monthly loans etc. I pay less, and I can buy cheaper. After a few years you don't need loans.

That sounds great .... but .... I struggle to see how this can be done in practice when in receipt of care funding through Direct Payments, ILF etc. because they are all means tested. Savings of above around £8k means a reduction in care funding on a sliding scale, and any savings above £16k means no care funding (i.e. you have to pay the full care cost out of pocket). These are not generous limits, especially when talking about saving up for large purchases such as cars, powerchairs etc.

There can sometimes be a 'discretionary period' where you can hold funds above this level, but they often have to be for specified items, and the discretionary period is very short. I'm in full time work and face this problem .... I'm 'allowed' to work full time, but not allowed to save .... hence someone in my situation is forced to take on loans, mortgages etc. .... catch 22?!!

[Burgerman]

Yes, and its wrong.

It means that they try and make those of us that make the right choices do the opposite. And encourages those that blow everything and don't think long term to carry on.

You need to plan carefully.

For eg, a powerchair doesent cost that much and saving for this is allowed. Same for most disability related stuff.
A VAN may cost more but it is allowed, as long as specified, and for eg you only have the 30k for a few days after you sell your old one for 15K. So you are only saving 15k.


Its the complications that cause me the biggest headache.

You are allowed to have an account and save for a target. For eg a van. How does it work when you want to save for a housing repair or modification for e.g.?

And how do you know you are doing right? You can ask various people and all that happens is you get a bunch of different replies and reassessed 15 times.

I was just told for e.g. that I should take a loan for a new "disabled adapted" van. Mines as new because I look after it. Same reasoning. I may as well trash it. Because if I don't I will have enough money to be means tested and have to put much of it towards my care. I already get 400 a month deducted from my care money by the ILF as my contribution.

[mous3]

BM though funny in a way I did not think you where joking,

The savings cap is way to low in my opinion in a way I'm lucky because I don't have any but wish I did not much but enough to know that I could afford to go out for a drink/ meal at the pub and still cover my fule bill.

Personal care and health budgets for me would work grate but social services aren't happy to give me one as i have no one to help with my papper work catch 22 again if I get one I can hire the help I need, if not as now I land under mountains of post can't fill out my benefit forms tax forms on my own and that causes me to get fines not get the money I should....
It's not like I don't understand or am incapable It's that my disability means I need practical help reading them out in away I understand and writing an organised and coherent response and actually writing on the form became I am effectively black white colour blind and very few places send my letters on coloured papper colour glasses don't work for me and overlays only work if you don't need to move them to right on the form you are trying to read.
They know all this but i don't get suport with this stuff on commissioned care.

[Burgerman]

You should get someone less mousy to give them what for. Their budgets and care plans and personalised stuff is EXACTLY for people like you. To help you live in the community. The local authorities are supposed to be paying for this now that the INDEPENDENT LIVING FUND is not taking new people and are being replaced by the LA.

You should get on the phone, letter, fax, and contact your MP, physio, doctor, district nurse, wheelchair services, council care and budget departments, OTs, and bang all their heads together and threaten to write a nice long letter to the local rag with all their names in it.

I would! I have.

Out of interest, how old are you?
And I know you shouldn't ask...

And, do you realise that there are PAYROLL companies such as Pendrels Trust that manage tax, employment rules and paperwork etc that the Direct Payments or Personalised Health Budgets are expected to cover? There are all kinds of mental health people doing this and tyhey get money to PAY someone to do this paperwork, manage banks accounts etc.

[mous3]

I'm 35
I worked me butt off from age 14 as i was bought up that nothing is free and you get what you work for 120hr working weeks 3 jobs at once where just normal then 6 years ago I slipped on out running that was the beginning of my physical disability before that I was just an mildly autistic & dyslexic exercise freak who happen to have asthma.
Now I still don't know my way around the benefits system like some do my family can't help cos they don't have the knowledge, my mum is dyslexic too but she helps when she can but i live hrs away and I want to stay living in my own flat
It like road blocks and revolving doors of confusing bull very little help i was in care for 2 years and no one helped me sort any paperwork out at all .... Eventually I was given a suport worker who actually helped me but he did what i needed and not what the council wanted so they replaced him after 4 months but he got my DLA buy helping me appeal. That was 4 years ago. I have had others since they filed out their forms made me go to places with bad access then not turn up see me again 4 months later and tell me i didn't meat their criteria and sing this form that you can't read because we are not going to help you.
We have a suport group called DASH in Hillingdon they are good but the council fund them so have to get permission from them to help you so they can only help with what the council want them to.

[Burgerman]

Well you should be getting:

FREE powerchair.
FREE wheelchair.
FREE care hours if you need them, and should be assessed by an OT/physio, doctor etc.
FREE housing adaptations or help, such as easy access, wet rooms, kitchens, ramps, bathroom, ramps, etc.
FREE help with payroll.
FREE help with forms, and advice from a social worker that should be appointed to you.
FREE medical care, prescriptions (inc powerchair) eye, teeth, all other health related...
FREE personal care or Independent Living, or Direct Payment money.

And all the usual care and mobility benefits that you may be entitled to.
And any other housing, working, child, benefits.
And council tax benefit if eligible.

And you shouldn't be made to go anywhere. These people all visit YOU. And send forms directly to you.

If you are not, get on the phone today!

[Es*]

Were you not eligable for a grant for the downpayment, Burgerman, on the Motability option? For me, that's the thing that makes Motability the only option, although I've avoided it so far. They give a grant towards the downpayment and the adaptations, and although their lease is a total rip off, because the adaptations and downpayment are a grant (no pay back) it seems the only way. Your car looks like right hand drive?

[mous3]

After huge battle I now get housing benefit and a little one bed council flat in a safe area, with a bnp nut next door and an aggressive alcoholic above me council tax benefit, DLA high rate mobility but it all gone on motability car like you say expensive, and low rate care though I have 3 care visits a day. I had one OT who helped me with apply for adapting my bathroom in to a wet room and part fund a ramp to a new wide door a different OT blocked it as I can walk most days inside.
16 months on and it has final approved buy council but only after I fell and dislocated me knee In the bath and had to have surgery on my shoulder based in part by the way i have to haul me and my chair over the door step. Right now i wating in for my friend and her partner to come around and help get my power chair out the flat so I can go to an appointment.
I have to pay for my new path to contact to the ramp, leveling off my lawn and fencing it in so It's safe for me to use, I have to pay for part of my prescription fund my own chair, nubulizer, 60% of the phyisio I need to stay well ( actually I don't cos I can't afford it) I can't go to the dentist because i need a suport worker to take me as I need to take powerful sedative so I can handle the visit I always have not coped with dentists from being tiny and top it off my gp will not prescribe it I can have talking therapy like that's going to fix my autisum
I had to travel to support meetings because my flat is small and messy unless I have had help to clean up that week and i had a large dog Walt was training to be my scervice dog ( I lost him to epilepsy last august) he would do deep pressure therapy for me when people I don't know like OT's and council representatives come to keep me at a level I can communicate properly so I couldn't lock him in his crate as they wanted

[Burgerman]

Were you not eligable for a grant for the downpayment, Burgerman, on the Motability option? For me, that's the thing that makes Motability the only option, although I've avoided it so far. They give a grant towards the downpayment and the adaptations, and although their lease is a total rip off, because the adaptations and downpayment are a grant (no pay back) it seems the only way. Your car looks like right hand drive?

The grant is discretionary, from a charity, can be refused, has a long wait, you have to apply, be assessed, wait, and be very lucky, and even they you usually only get that once. 5 years later (no time at all and you are back to owning nothing again... And unlikely to get another grant as its someone elses turn.) And after all that they don't pay all of this, and they tell YOU what vehicle you require. No thanks!
And its:

a) too slow, removes choice, and makes you jump through hoops. And ends up in a short term expensive lease.
b) means you STILL end up paying all over again for everything, on your leased (rented) vehicle just 5 years down the line, and that's about a week when you are 53!
c) you still end up paying almost as much anyway as your Mobility allowance and some up front costs.

Lets look at this sensibly. Only the rich can afford to LEASE (RENT) a car even with the carefully begged for grant!

OR you can do it my way. I have done this twice now.

A lowered floor minivan with electronic tie down, decent spec, and hand controls etc. Is about 60k in the UK from steering developments. Same for a decent VW Caravelle etc.

You can get a brand new US spec one, delivered to your door, from the US (or Canada in my case), for HALF of this amount, complete with better trim, better conversion build quality, more toys, bigger motor (in my case) and all shipping insurance, shipping, UK registration costs and special test etc included. Mine was 30k delivered all in to my door. That's HALF PRICE. Yes its LHD if that matters. I cant say I ever noticed after about 2 miles. So really it doesn't.

So after 8 years, MY own van (not leased or "rented") that was paid for up front (and cost long forgotten), still looks and smells brand new. Seriously. I look after it. And I got to KEEP the £21,792 (8 years@54.75 mobility component) I would have lost so far. And its value is still higher than the 8k that brings it up the the 30k purchase price. So who needs Motability? Or any grant.

Since its only got 12k miles on the clock, and still smells and looks brand new, even the engine bay or underneath, I will likely keep it another 8 years. So I will by then have kept my £21,792 mobility payments TWICE over. And I STILL own a clean shiny van, that I can sell for about the same as it cost me even though its long ago paid for itself...

If I add this value in another 8 years, (lets guess, at 6k to the 43,584 I saved on my Mobility allowance) I can order another brand new one for free! And have enough change to insure and run it for many years to come as well, And STILL keep my mobility allowance for the next 10 or 15 years.