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Well the scheme comes in for a lot of criticism, sometimes, and with our renewal coming up I was half thinking of leaving and buying something privatly.
the bmw x1 we have had for nearly 3 years has been faultless, not a single problem, however over the last month it has had a new tyre at a cost of nearly £200, and needed its rear brakes changing at a cost of £491, and the dealer said it’s going to want the front ones doing in 2000 miles, so presumably same cost again. And it’s also going to need more new tyres soon as well I expect.
its easy to forget about these costs when comparing costs of getting a private vehicle, and that’s on a newish car, hate to think how things would add up on something second hand. Especially factoring a few repairs as well as what I would call routine maintenance.
car running costs have definetly increased infinitely since we last had a private car in 2008.
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The scheme is convenient for many however, its becoming expensive, especially when you factor in high AP’s and 3 years of sacrified benifits
£491 is expensive for rear pads and disc’s but thats BMW for you (premium aftercare prices for a premium car). Of course if you bought a second hand model, it would be wise to take it to a BMW independant for half the cost or to your local garage for more cost efficient easy repairs or services.
Tyre are expensive especially if chosing premium over midrange tyres.
Ive picked up my new lease just over a month ago and will highly likely be my last on the scheme. With Motability full steam ahead to become mainly electric, unfortunately won’t suit my needs 🙂
What car have you ordered?
There is no doubt that one of the biggest advantages of being a Motability customer is not having sudden unexpected and potentially expensive bills, but we pay the same, if not more, through the scheme but in a different way.
Having had 5 Motability cars, around a dozen company cars and around 20 private cars over the years, some of the cheapest to run, once all costs are taken into account, have been the private ones.
Company cars aren’t free, as you get screwed by benefit in kind taxation and may have to pay an additional contribution over your allowance to get the car you want. As we know, with Motability you pay a now very sizeable AP to get anything remotely decent and then you sacrifice over £12,000 of benefits on top of that. Peace of mind comes at a big cost.
Our previous Motability car was a VW Tiguan 2.0TDi 190 Elegance. At about the same time as we took delivery of that car I bought a brand new BMW 520d Luxury Auto with £10k of options privately. When I sold the BMW, I worked out the total running costs (depreciation, insurance, servicing, tyres, breakdown cover etc) and, much to my surprise, the 5 Series (which was far superior than the Tiguan in every respect bar height and 4WD) had cost us slightly less to run privately than the far less desirable Volkswagen had cost us through Motability (and that was when APs were still reasonable, unlike today)
The gap is even more with cars at the cheaper end. A year or so ago I changed one of my daughter’s cars (Hyundai i20). I bought her a new one to replace the new one I’d bought her some years earlier. Again, doing the calculations of depreciation, insurance, servicing, tyres etc the car had cost one-third of what it would have cost to have run the same car through Motability.
The above two examples were on cars bought new, so comparable to getting a new car through Motability. For those happy to buy nearly new or used, the savings over having a Motabilty car can be massive. The cheapest car that I’ve ever run privately was, unbelievably, a BMW 750i Sport. I ran it for a year and sold it for more than I’d bought it for 😂
Hi acw,
cannot dispute the figures above, but worth noting the horrendous increases in insurance costs, especially BEVs. Then there is Sunak’s so called luxury road tax. One penny over £40000 rrp inc options and extra £410 for 5 years. Will apply to BEVs next year. As I have an uncertain future medically, am very happy to sign up for my third car on the scheme.
I have no experience of company cars or leasing having previously paid cash for a new car. However, prices have increased so much, that it would be galling to kiss good bye to >£6000 VAT on day one. BEV depreciation is well documented. I suspect that without support from BIK tax bribes and Motability support, the shortfall in ZEV mandates would be considerably worse. If they suit, worry free BEVs on the scheme are a bargain.
@clappedout It’s worth noting that anyone entitled to join the Motability scheme is fully exempt from road tax (including the over £40k rate) if they run a private car instead, so will pay nothing. For those who have ‘substantial and permanent’ adaptations to their new private car, they can be exempt from the VAT on the whole new car cost as well, although the rules on that are quite strict.
I do agree though that for those who are dead set on getting a BEV, the market is very unsettled, repair costs are astronomical and insurance premiums are very high as a result, so Motability is definitely the way to go. I don’t want a BEV, but if I did I wouldn’t even consider buying one privately, new or used!
Still choosing which car to go for, cannot order till mid September anyway, but keen to get an order in before the next lot of price rises, or next quarters pricing.
totally unenthusiastic about electric cars, id4 and id5 centre touch screen blacked out on both during test drives, Ionic 5 just didn’t like how it drove, just felt too heavy so crossing anything electric off the list, an electrician said we may need upgrades to our supply, and I just have not got the enthusiasm for electric cars anyway.
however I am almost certain this is likely to be our last ice car on the scheme so determined to go for something reasonably fun and posh, top of the short list at the moment are a Mercedes Cla shooting brake – test drove that and loved it, and also going to look at a mini countryman sport lev2, quite a difference between the two in terms of shape etc, but both seem to be practical enough for our needs, my wife has always said she had no interest in cars but whenever I mentioned anything else she said wasn’t posh enough, and if I mention Skoda again don’t think she will even speak to me.
Nowt wrong with Skoda, infact I’d put them above VW these days!
The facelift Ioniq 5 coming later this year is nice and the one you would have to have anyway.
Ive not long had the newley facelifted Hyundai Tucson PHEV. Hyundai are comming on leaps and bounds and have every extra you could ever want. Ask @Glos-Guy who is comming from BMW.
Oh, I certainly wouldn’t call Mini premium or posh lol.
however I am almost certain this is likely to be our last ice car on the scheme so determined to go for something reasonably fun and posh, top of the short list at the moment are a Mercedes Cla shooting brake – test drove that and loved it, .
Wait until our contributor @mickyarmy sees this! He hated his.
But to be fair he had a bad dealer which didn’t help matters.
I also like the CLA and even the A Class saloon, but the APs are currently frighteningly high
2024 - BMW i4 Grand Coupe eDrive 35 Sport
2020 - Volvo XC40 T4 Inscription
2017 - Audi Q3 TFSi Sport S-TronicYes i did not like it ,but we all like different cars, 4″ ground clearance beware any speed bump you need low speed 5mph lol , found seats umcomfortable , indicators had very quiet clicking ,often left them on , very high load at back ,my mates get wheelchair in sportage much easier , tech is clever in cla ,but driveing very low to ground , car often wo,uld not let me in ,had unlock with key not door grip handle ,then alarm sounded often,cla longer than sportage , poor radio on cla i had,BUT WE ALL LIKE DIFFERENT CARS ,enjoy cla when get it , battery ofyen said half charged .
I too like skoda but not plugin.
Mercedes app better than kia ,but i had wait over year before it functioned becaise problem between mercedes & o2 , mercedes still send me emails about this even though it worked after year waiting, the emails say dear sir please explain exactly what issue is with app, even now i get them crazy. It was mercedes issue with 02 phone tesco phone .??.
Dealership had no disabled entrance ,said it was forgotten when refurbished lol. They had collect return car for any issue . Enough enjoy cla im sure you will like it.
Contacting mercedes customer care uk. Its in holland, if i emailed for assistance because of problem advice i could not resolve with dealership, they took month to reply then every time said go to dealership, then reply month later for same issue ,again ,sorry im so negative ,this my experiance with cla. Probably unlucky.??
Wait until our contributor @mickyarmy sees this! He hated his.
Tut tut 😂
Thanks Glos guy. Unaware of the VAT concession. Will likely be my last car as MND like symptoms of Kennedy’s disease take their toll. 53 years of ICE cars, plus a couple of motorcycles, have served me well and a few more quid spent at the green pump are trivial in the big picture of life. The biggest eco savings are made by doing less mileage, imho.
Definitely agree with the original post. Even though I had issues this time with the order the scheme is great when it comes to costs! Even with the high APs it still does work out cheaper than buying privately with all the added costs including insurance etc.
Even with the high APs it still does work out cheaper than buying privately with all the added costs including insurance etc.
I don’t know if you read my post earlier (it’s not compulsory 😉) but factually that’s not correct. There are circumstances when it can be cheaper to run a car privately than through Motability, and sometimes a lot cheaper. However, as I also said in that post, my examples were petrol cars, and if I was in the market for a BEV, as you are, then I would go down the Motability route every day of the week. BEVs are a minefield for private buyers and the risks are huge (not least depreciation) and the certainty of costs with Motability are priceless (plus, of course, the free home charger).
Further to my last post, check out the depreciation of these BEVs after just 3 years and 36,000 miles. The ten worst ones (some of which are on the scheme) lose between 69% and 78% of their value in depreciation 🥵 Motability is definitely the only sensible route for those eligible who want a BEV.
@acw said:
“Well the scheme comes in for a lot of criticism, sometimes, and with our renewal coming up I was half thinking of leaving and buying something privatly.”
The biggest issue for a lot of Motability customers is that they’re not in the financial position to be able to consider a newish second hand private car. They don’t have the cash in the bank nor the ability to qualify for finance. This leaves Motability as the only real game in town, especially with no credit checks so a poor credit history or lack of income won’t mean you’re goosed.
At 66 now 67 getting an EV for the first time ( almost a year now where did that time go) has been a game changer for me
Buying private never entered my head as the motorbility all inclusive deal gives me worry free no surprises 24/7 care and assistance and being disabled that is a nice/must thing for me to have
But there again Im fortunate unlike many others as my particular circumstances are EV ideal
I have off road parking
I home charge 99% of the time due to driving less than 7000 pa mostly local Urban miles which is above the reported national avg of 5,475 (15 miles daily)
The massive saving in fuel costs is appreciated and enjoyed(which is and has only ever been my one outlay)
I was able to get an attractive top spec 200+bhp well rated and beautiful to drive EV for an AP of £1250 (was £5000+ a year earlier and now its £395 lol) AP heaven imo
Free charger and install (following some headaches with the initial install process)
Just some of the reasons I will at least for now be sticking with the scheme although if a little daily well priced pop top day van came along who knows
Never say never
Motability are good ,dont expect much from RAC ,have kept me waiting to attend ,then have not tools to fix ,blow out tyre 10.30. Am on busy road ,rac attended 1900 , could not fix , had drive home with flat ,not far ,2 more days tyre fixed at home ,when rac left their jack still under my car ,had to ring them to remove.
Maybe…..im just unlucky ?
I hadn’t had a car for years until someone encouraged me to apply for motability.
I only have my disability benefits as income and have zero savings, so the expense of owning a car again just put me off completely.
When i got my 1st car it was amazing. It changed my life! I was able to go out and do things I would never have done before getting my car.
The prices were amazing with many cars £0 AP or not much more. Fortunately I ordered my next car just before the increases. I would not be able to get the car I’m getting which is now 1449 from 549!
Unless things change before my next motability car, I won’t be getting very much! I think prices will come down again, especially with EVs getting MUCH cheaper in the next few years.
I am shocked at the price increases – but at least I will have a car. I don’t know how I’d manage without now! For me, I can’t consider buying a car, let alone a 2nd car, so I’m still very grateful for the scheme!
Current Car Ioniq 5 MY24 77KWh RWD
Previous Cars: Kona Electric 2021 UK, Seat Ateca 2.0 Diesel Turbo
I have to agree, Motability suits my circumstances very nicely.
I went full electric in January, even doing about 6,000 miles a year the savings, compared to my previous petrol car, have been massive, a big help to my monthly budget!
Without Motability there’s no way I would have even looked at buying a full EV due to the costs and massive depreciation on them, it just didn’t make financial sense.
Please excuse spelling/typos. Apart from being a clot it turns out I had one on my cerebellum that's now causing various problems!
I have to say if you generally do lots of shortish journeys and don’t want to tow if you genuinely give an EV a chance not just an hour test drive but get one for a full day or longer.
I no longer suffer from pains in my hands are arms whilst driving as very little vibration feedback on the wheel also obviously there’s no smells from hot engines, oil and fuel which is huge plus not having to deal with petrol stations.
The old ZS with 160 odd mile range we found it started to get in the way but still we regularly did North Norfolk to alton towers until they changed disability access ffs and we’d stop for breakfast and a top up and that was it.
The range with the Enyaq now being 300 miles ish and charging at 175kw too it was adding 11 miles a minute was stunning to watch. That’s the difference 3 years ago best we could get was circa 160 mile range and now 3 years later it’s essentially doubled and charging speed is up over 300%
Our housing ass put solar panels on the house so I cap the charging to the solar output on nice days and free miles. Our average price is about 14p per kwh on Agile and we get paid 15p kwh for exporting.
There’s no way we could get a new car without motability credit check plus deposit. Motability just need to sort out their level 1 support staff as they’ll happily give you the middle finger but if you go to the ceo it gets sorted.
As for rac they are useless 3 hour plus waits etc
Ultimately no one solution is good for all so it’s important to have choice. In 3 years time I will bet that EVs will have a range more than petrol and charge so quick it won’t matter
I’m with a few here, not a chance in hell we would be able to afford some of these cars new and I actually balk when I see people talking about their ridiculous price X-Trails/Mercedes/etc or paying 5k+ AP’s and all the extras they load on top, it does make you wonder how the government has got away with not making pip means tested or at least put a cap on it. We can go for months and months with no income during a particularly bad flare up/crash and the all inclusive motoring is going to take such a weight off knowing we can still get to family for support.
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