Its down to mileage. If you do a lot of miles Motability is unbeatable, if you do few miles the advantage diminishes. It also depends on the value of peace of mind. And only you can put a price on that.
Very true, although it amuses me that some people get very exercised about, say, a 10k mileage allowance on a PCP, feeling that it completely undermines the case for going private, yet return their Motability cars with less annual mileage than that! My gut feel is that if you do around 20k a year and are very happy with the (limited) choice, then Motability is the best bet. If you do low mileage (say 8k or less) and especially if you opt for an inexpensive car (but are still surrendering the same £10k in benefits), then I’m sure that many could get better value going private. If you do around 10-12k miles a year then I think it’s more borderline than many people think. If happy with the choice offered by Motability then, as you say, the peace of mind that Motability offer is well worth considering. If you want greater choice then there are great deals to be had privately. Looking at quoted PCP rates is misleading as that’s before you negotiate. As I said previously, I got 25% off a brand new factory order BMW, which made a huge difference to the total costs.