With all this despair that is going on i am glad i dont have to begin looking for a replacement for another two years,hopefully everything will have settled down by then and car production will be back to normal levels. Everyone that is waiting has my sympathy.
My sentiments exactly MickC. We took delivery of our new car at the end of July and every time we use it I have exactly those thoughts. If we were due to change today then we would be leaving the scheme. There are one or two cars left that ‘might do’ for our needs (at a push) but nothing that’s even remotely comparable to what we have now and, more importantly, nothing that we would really ‘want’.
I feel sure that things will improve (although I keep thinking that they can’t get any worse and yet they do – daily) but the question is when. I fear that it might be next year before we are back to a decent choice.
I saw an article in the motoring press the other day that the next generation BMW X1 is now scheduled to be released in October. If things run their normal (pre chip shortage) course, that would mean an appearance on the Motability scheme in Spring 2023 (but just low level models at high prices) and then over the following year the higher spec models might appear. Those timescales would suit our Spring 2024 replacement very well.
However, my optimism that the overall choice will have improved by next year sadly doesn’t extend to optimism that the premium brands will return in force. I can’t help but feel that the chip shortage is masking a re-positioning of the scheme towards the mid-market & budget manufacturers only but at prices that are way higher than the premium cars used to be. Looking at the AP prices now, it’s hard to believe that our 2.0i BMW X-Line 4WD Auto, which retails just a grand or so below £40k, cost us just £2,249 AP (with a £500 dealer discount) just 6 months ago. The scheme has changed beyond all recognition in such a short time that it’s almost hard to believe.