Looking at the Motability price lists put up on this forum for tgat tine, apart from the Land Rovers, there is nothing in those lists I would want. much better choice today
Southamman – as I pointed out on another thread, I’m afraid that you completely misunderstood the old price lists. They merely list highlights of a few hundred cars from a selection of over 4,000 cars that were available through Motability back then, and mostly just the entry level ones. There are now less than 1,600 cars available through the scheme. That’s a reduction of over 60%, so clearly there is NOT much better choice today. The complete opposite is the case.
There is no logical or justifiable reason for that drop. It has been suggested that there are less models of cars available now, but I don’t believe that the facts support that. In fact, of all the main brands that I know reasonably well, there are more models, variants and trim levels now than there have ever been. Personally, I see no logic in all the restrictions that have gradually crept in. No harm in giving disabled drivers the choice of bigger, more expensive, higher powered cars as long as the AP reflects all the additional costs. Some people think that it’s daft to pay say £8k AP for an expensive car, but that’s a much lower % of the cars cost than say a car with a £3k AP, so in real terms is better value. Also, keep in mind that people forget the £10k sacrificed benefits that you have to add on top of the AP, which is exactly the same whether you have a zero AP car or an £8k one. The more expensive the car, the better the deal on Motability is (pro-rata)
Some of us are fortunate that we can weigh up the Motability scheme against other options and Motability isn’t always the no-brainer that many people seem to think it is. However, many disabled people can’t do that and have no other choice and I think it’s a shame that the choice has reduced to such a huge degree.