Glos Guy, that raises a very interesting point. If Motability have taken orders for nearly 200 000 cars that have been poorly researched, this will presumably lead to a host of early terminations which is very expensive for Motability, as we know the greatest loss to the value of a new car is driving it away from the forecourt. Is this a contributing factor into the increase in AP’s, assuming that Motability will have had to factor this in to the costings?
That is indeed a very interesting question. My assumption is that a very large proportion of Motability customers simply renew the same car that they presently have, so probably don’t even worry about a test drive. There seem to be a number of people in our village who I am pretty certain are Motability customers and every 3 years like clockwork a new version of their previous car appears. I don’t think that those of us who frequent this forum are necessarily typical Motability customers, in that we are mostly quite into our cars and enjoy debating and experiencing lots of different cars. For most people a car is a means of getting from A to B and brand loyalty tends to prevail. For many of us a car is a lot more than that. However, a few members in recent months have either had to change their cars or others have received new cars and, by the questions and feedback, seem to be regretting their decision already, so you may well be on to something. Clearly early returns add to the operating costs and reduce profits, especially as (for reasons best know to Motability) they don’t allow returned cars to be recycled to other customers.