With the shortage of chips looking like it’s not going away anytime soon I think its time that motability look into letting us go for new/secondhand cars to give more choice. And help with the general supply chain and waiting times issue.
The main reason why they won’t do this is because Motability gets full VAT exemption on vehicle purchases, but this only applies to brand new cars at the point of first registration. So a ‘nearly new’ used car will cost them more than a brand new one. Other less significant reasons include the fact that such cars would be worth less at resale due to having two owners. So whilst it seems like a good idea, it doesn’t work with the way Motability operates, unfortunately.