Don’t forget, when you input your PIN at the start of a contract, you are agreeing to all the terms & conditions of leasing a vehicle from Motability for a 3 year (or 5 years in the case of a WAV) period.
The government are still paying your allowance (be that WPMS/AFIP/PIP/DLA) and as such your payment is going to Motability who are providing you with a vehicle as per the contract.
There is no automatic right to pull out of this contract just because the vehicle is not being used.
For their part, Motability have been quite fair, by, for example, the blanket extensions of the leases for those due to change cars in coming months (imagine the outcry if they said no, your lease finishes on xxxxxx date. Just because the dealerships are closed is not our problem. You must return (or have collected) the car at the end of your normal contract periodand wait possibly months for your next one – thus, leaving people immobile)!
Also, by sending out the Good Condition Bonus at the end of the normal contract, not waiting for the extended lease date to pay it is another example of their pragmatic thinking. For those who receive it and get a contract extension at least they have a tidy sum already to go towards the AP of their next vehicle (rather than having to pay out for the AP before receiving the GCB cheque).
Not all of Motability’s customers are ‘shielding’. Some are able to get out to do shopping etc or pick up prescriptions or have an insured carer/friend/relative to do so in the Motability vehicle. Some customers are ‘key workers’ and as such rely on their Motability vehicles to get to/from essential work. Others have volunteered to help the NHS etc. For those who can or need to use their vehicles, Motability are still providing services such as the RAC and Kwikfit and to a limited degree servicing and repairs. They will even hire in vehicles to keep them mobile after an accident/breakdown etc.
Even if your vehicle is sat on your drive going nowhere, it is still insured to cover for such as theft or fire etc and also covered by the RAC etc. That still must be paid for.
Then when all this is over, if one has returned their car to Motability during the pandemic, how long are they going to be immobile whilst awaiting a new vehicle on the scheme? Don’t forget that ‘group stock’ maybe already sold so one could be without a vehicle for many months whilst awaiting a factory build. Yes, you will have saved the weekly payments, but what good is that if you cannot get out to go anywhere?
Overall, we have a lot to be thankful to Motability for. As said in a post above, which private companies could provide such a comprehensive service in exchange for the relative allowance?
We are currently in unprecedented times. To most people looking at it pragmatically from the outside, Motability have so far been pretty fair during this crisis.