When choosing between different new mobility cars, it’s easy to be seduced by a sleek advertising campaign, distracted by a slinky design or waylaid by the mysteries of a dashboard laden with luminous new buttons to tweak, flick and tap. When buying a new wheelchair accessible vehicle or committing to lease a car through the Motability Car scheme, your decision will have long-standing impact on your budget and lifestyle, so an informed choice reached with these two factors in mind will be rewarding.

The Motability scheme takes care of many motoring duties such as tax, breakdown assistance and tyre and windscreen repair. However, as with buying any new car, there is still a fairly extensive list of choices to be made. At present, the scheme offers over 4000 different cars, including several hundred mobility cars. Before looking at individual brands, it can be useful to think about your personal needs. If your budget is fairly restrictive, over 300 Motability vehicles offer a choice of nil advance payment. To save money in the long term, it’s also important to consider models which will be inexpensive to insure, and the possibility of a diesel over a petrol engine, which can reward you in future months with savings on fuel costs. Financial constraints must be balanced with lifestyle requirements. Your mobility car should enable you to park easily, and with maximum visibility, accommodate equipment, pets and people, get in and out quickly and safely, and, if necessary, fit a wheelchair.

Once you have a rough idea of what to expect from your mobility car, it can be worth having a conversation with someone in an approved Motability dealership. Not only will they be able to help with answering any queries, but many dealerships offer the option of a home visit. This will give you the opportunity to get hands on with the vehicle, and experience a demonstration of its features. Getting up close also exposes any flaws or issues which need to be addressed; after all, a vehicle needs to feel right to both its driver and passenger. It will give you the opportunity to discuss the necessary adaptations needed to make your car as comfortable and practical as required.

For a great chance to try out many wheelchair accessible vehicles in one place, and discover new industry innovations and advancements, there are organised events and exhibitions. In May, such an event held in the Glasgow Exhibition and Conference centre showcased over 90 models offered on the Motability Scheme, all in one place. There really is no better way to experience the assortment of styles, shapes, and sizes on offer. Short of this, there are dealerships all over the UK, and planning a day trip will benefit any potential buyers who need help with their decision.

I was recently sent a suggestion by a long term visitor of the site who now lives alone and he is looking for a way to chat on the phone to other people who might also find themselves living on their own.

While mobility aids help in getting around both inside and outside of the home, one of the most important things in life is having others to talk to, its easy for a person to quickly feel isolated, even if a person has no disabilities, but for those who do have mobility needs it can feel like they are cut off from others  at times.

It would be interesting to know if anyone else would like a way to be able to get in touch with each other, maybe it could start with exchanging emails at first, after all it can take time to build trust between yourself and another person.

I would appreciate your thoughts and opinions on this, maybe you have an idea yourself of how this could work or you have questions that you would like to ask regarding this.

Either way, feel free to comment or to use the contact form if you prefer and i will read all responses.

Occassionally i like to get the message out there to the visitors of Mobility Right to remind you that im always open to suggestions for the site.

Last May i introduced the Questions and Answers section and its growing steadily, its really nice to see you helping each other out when you are able to offer the answer and advice regarding someone elses questions.

Although the site was started in 2008, it doesn’t seem like its been that long already, how quickly time passes.

If you think that the site needs more of something then please dont hesitate to send your thoughts by using the contact form and i will do what i can to improve it.

What do you personally think of the site? Do you find it useful? Would you recommend it to others who might also find it useful?

Let me know what you’re thinking either by commenting below or using the contact form,  and good or bad, if you are unhappy with anything and feel that the site could improve in some area then please do let me know.

Well i hope that you are enjoying the recent sunshine if you are able to, apparently its going to come to an abrupt end, no suprise there though, haha, but worth making the most of it when it is here.

Take care

John