Congratulations. EV’s aside, cheaper cars have always been poor value through Motability, and if you can afford to buy rather than lease (or you don’t need finance) the savings are even greater.
I bought one of my daughters a new Hyundai i20 privately some years ago, at a time when APs through Motability were less than half what they are these days. When we sold it I worked out the total cost of ownership (depreciation, servicing, tyres, insurance etc) and to run the same car through Motability over the same time period would have cost more than double what it cost us.
What many people fail to realise when comparing costs outside the scheme is that nobody pays list price when buying a car. I’ve bought a lot of new cars over the years for myself, my wife or my daughters and the discounts have all ranged from 15 to 25%. People also worry about ‘what if something goes wrong?’. Well new cars come with a manufacturer warranty of at least 3 years and this also comes with breakdown cover at no extra cost. Deals can also be had on servicing packages.
Anyone entitled to a Motability car is also entitled to free vehicle excise duty (road tax) and this includes the very high first year rates (showroom tax) and over £40k surcharge (luxury car tax). If the disabled person is a full time wheelchair user, and the car needs a ‘permanent and substantial adaptation (such as a hoist) they (or their partner if they can’t drive) can also get the VAT off the purchase price and all subsequent servicing costs.
We are also leaving Motability, but are buying a new car privately. As a result of VAT & VED exemptions, plus the discount I have negotiated, we are getting a total discount of 40%. That’s for a petrol car. Had we wanted an EV, that discount would have been at least 50%.
I appreciate that not everyone is in a position to buy privately, and others wouldn’t have the confidence or credit rating to lease privately, but if we weren’t in the financial position that we are in we would still leave Motability and buy a used car. We are only buying new due to the fact that we can buy a new car for the price of a used one.
If we wanted an EV (we don’t), and were happy to have one from the brands available through the scheme, I think we’d stick with Motability, as buying an EV with your own money, given all the risks and costs (plus their unpopularity on the used market) is not for the faint hearted. Having a PHEV at present, we aren’t convinced about them either, so we want to go back to an ICE car and there isn’t a single car on the scheme that even remotely appeals to us.