If the dealers only make £90, it makes you wonder, why do they bother with mobility cars?
Because they don’t only make £90! In the example 72dudes gave I suspect that’s what the sales person would make personally. The dealer would make a lot more. Dealers often spout this hard luck story that they don’t make much money out of Motability, but it’s to deter customers from asking for any discount on the AP or options. As ChrisK rightly says, dealers have sales targets set by both their owners (e.g. Marshall’s) and the brand. Motability sales still count towards these and, as ChrisK says, if you time it right, your ‘lowly’ Motability sale could tip them over the line for a big bonus. Also, if dealers didn’t have big margins to play with, how come some can offer £250 or £500 off AP’s? Rest assured that they still make money on those sales.
So, to answer Martinods original question, there are some dealers that offer deals that their competitors don’t, but as dealerships generally control the brand in an area there is often little incentive to do so, especially as the vast majority of Motability customers won’t even consider asking for a discount as they won’t realise that deals can be done (or wouldn’t have the nerve to ask). We fell into that trap with our first Motability car, but have haggled a deal every time since, even when not advertised. The bigger issue, IMO, is the fact that Motability Operations seem to be pretty hopeless at driving good deals. Savvy private buyers can easily get 10-20% off a new car, yet the AP’s that Motability sometimes quote for mainstream cars makes me wonder how hard they actually try. I suppose when it’s not your own money the incentive isn’t as strong. Then again, given the profit that Motability Operations makes on each car leased through Motability, perhaps they do get better deals than we think, but just don’t pass them on through AP’s.