At one time, Fleet Sales were a way of car manufacturers shifting volume, at the expense of profit, but for many years now, this has been turned on its head, in that Fleet Sales have become ( for some ) a lucrative source of income / profit!
So Fleet Sales, albeit that there may be less profit per unit than retail sales, are important in that volume sales even with lower profits will keep a business and supporting businesses going far better than lower volume sales with higher profits per unit, and there is a guarantee (almost ) of shifting higher volumes, keeping factories, suppliers, distributors going etc.
Take the example of a hyper market selling volume at low profit compared to the competition selling lower volumes at sky high prices – which is the most successful ?
At the’right’ AP / price, volume can be achieved via Motability and is almost guaranteed and is better advertised ( just look at thy huge volume of free advertising and word of mouth recommendations just on this Forum ) compared to hoping for a retail sale?
Of course, I am biased, in that I am disabled, and a retired banker dealing with fleet sales from both a leasing / lending point of view, and as a customer ( my guys had company cars and I had the budget to pay for them ), but the fact that some disabled get a better deal with Motability than they would via a normal leasing co, is not the business of the Manufacturer, nor the distributor.
If Motability is being penalised compared to other leasing companies, this is discrimination , for whatever reason, then surely Motability customers ie the Disabled are also being discriminated against?