YorkMan – Fair enough if Motability gave out completely free cars, but they don’t. A car with a nil AP still costs you around £10,000 in sacrificed benefits. People seem to forget that critical point. That’s a huge chunk of money. An even bigger chunk of money if you pay an AP and need / want optional extras. After 3 years you hand it back with nothing to show for it. Surely, in that case, it is perfectly reasonable to seek to get what you ‘want’ as well as what you need?
Many Motability customers need automatics, higher driving positions and big boots for wheelchairs, hoists, scooters etc. Once you factor all of that in, choice reduces dramatically. Yes, there may still be a few lower priced options, but there’s no way I’d pay £10k to drive a budget car for 3 years, just to hand it back at the end when for a few grand more I could have a premium one.
EV’s aren’t for everyone yet. Reading this forum you would think that most people drive them now. I heard the other day that EV’s still only represent 5% of the cars on the road. That’s just 1 in 20. I’d hope to possibly get an EV next time or the time after when range, infrastructure and charging times have improved, but there isn’t one on the scheme at present that remotely appeals, or would suit our requirements.
The main point of course being that we are all different, all have different needs, likes, dislikes, preferences etc etc. That’s why we need as much choice as is possible. The scheme used to have a choice of over 4,000 cars and is now looking like it will drop below 1,000. That’s rubbish and can’t be blamed on chip shortages etc. It’s a conscious decision.