So as Iain’s example shows, the dealer ‘sat’ on the paperwork for 4 months before actually placing the order with the manufacturer, no doubt waiting for their build allocations to catch up with customer orders. Although 4 months is excessive, this example is far from uncommon and not just with BMW. Receiving order paperwork from a dealer and having confirmation of the order being approved by Motability does not mean that the car has actually been ordered. Until you have a tracking number that you can independently check yourself, I think it’s always safe to assume that the order hasn’t been placed with the manufacturer. I honestly don’t think that this is unique to Motability orders. Private customers come up against the same issues. Sadly, only a very small minority of dealerships will be completely up front about where they are with build allocations because 95% of customers don’t understand the system. It’s no wonder that car dealers have such a bad reputation!