Rene – Motability have a daft rule that any car that appears on the scheme must have a version that comes under their arbitrary price caps. I can’t remember exactly what they are now (and I think they’ve gone up a tiny bit since they were introduced) but they are quite low.
Let’s say that, for example, they are £29k for manual cars and £30.5k for autos (which, I think, is what they were when introduced). Because cars such as the Peugeot 3008 and Volvo XC40 have entry level cars that are under these price points, higher level (and higher cost) versions can appear on the scheme, even up to the mid £40k’s as you have spotted. If, however, the Mustang starts at £41k then it doesn’t qualify to join the scheme, as there is no entry level variant below the price cap. Daft, I know, but that’s the policy.
I fear that this policy is a legacy issue that has its roots in the Daily Mail issue, when that newspaper published an entirely false article stating that ‘Disabled customers were getting free luxury cars paid for by the tax payer’. Rather than stand up for disabled drivers and correct the rubbish that was published, Motability rolled over and applied restrictions that massively reduced choice. That’s a major factor in why we now have well under half the number of cars on the scheme that we used to have. It’s all about perception. Anyone seeing a Peugeot 3008 won’t think ‘that’s a Motability car and it costs £45k’. Unless they have an intimate knowledge of the car and detailed prices they will think it’s a circa £25k car. Whereas if a Mustang were to be on the scheme, some people might say ‘that’s a flash car for a Motability car. They start at over £40k’!