I keep hearing about this massive amounts of money Motability have in their bank account but the “surplus” as you put it is in the cars we are driving unless they really do have a balance sheet of billions.
That’s incorrect. What you’re talking about is “assets”. He’s talking about surplus, and he’s correct. In fact, there was an official investigation into Motability, because of it. https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/motability-faces-investigation-financial-operations £2.4b in reserve. That was four years ago, no idea about now, but it certainly doesn’t feel like they “wasted” £2.4b on us so far in the last four years. In regards to the idea, yes. I’d argue that the situation now is worse for many than it was when they introduced the option last time – last time, many people on the scheme weren’t furloughed (due to disability, not working), so their income didn’t drastically change. In these times, everyone’s losing money, and huge amounts to boot. So if there ever was a time to offer the option of a “prepaid GCB”, it’d be now. More so than in the pandemic. I’d argue that even using it as a form of “discount” would be better than what it is now (acting more like a cashback). That’s just my opinion though.
Hi Rene That article is from 2018 so is it still true today? Don’t get me wrong because if they do have large reserves they need to start actually helping the disabled but personally even though I’ve asked for help from them I’ve always been flogged off with excuses as to why they can’t help me so if they still have this vast amount of money after the last little slap on the wrist they need hanging. I still think the ideal of paying the GCB in advance just to help ease a personal cash crises would not be a good thing long term. Nearly everyday I see news items about folk saying they got to chose between “heat or eat” and yet the nobody should need to have their heating on this time of year and come next Winter when we really do hit the buffers the government will just say everyone is crying Wolf again. @Abercol Yes that would be a help and see no reason for that not being a standard procedure in off setting the GCB with the AP during collection.
Unless they’ve spent the 2.4b on.. something regarding the scheme, then yes, that’s still the case. Keep in mind that the scheme was profitable in those last four years, so there wasn’t a need to grab the reserves. Since Motability is a non-profit (we could argue that, but it applies here), they can’t move that money away from the scheme. Those billions have to be used towards the scheme, one way or another.
In regards to the payouts, why would using it as a “crisis fund” be a bad thing? We use it towards holidays, i feel like it’s quite.. weird to suggest that the GCB has to be used for “something” in particular. If someone has a bad stretch, it’d be one way to get out of it. Doesn’t matter what it is, and you in fact don’t need to know what it’s used for either.
That said, that’s not what i argued for. I said that the GCB should be handled like a discount towards the next lease, rather than, basically, a cashback on the AP after you paid it.
A £2000 AP car that way would require you to save up £1400 – unlike now, where you need to save £2000 but get £600 of it back. The hurdle is reaching the £2000. Reaching £1400, for obvious reasons, is much easier.
I think a lot of people rely on the GCB for their advance payment, even though it comes after your new car is collected. We usually think £1000-£1500 on AP and anticipate getting some back in the form of GCB. I think it should stay at the ends of the lease, that said; it doesn’t stop Motability giving a one off bonus to help people with the cost of fuelling they’re cars.
This isn’t correct, it’s currently not “at the end of the lease”, it’s “after the lease”. That’s a big difference, in fact it’s a £600 difference towards the AP of a new lease, since the GCB can’t be used to offset the next AP.
Your situation is assuming that you can reach the AP in the first place, which isn’t the case for many. If you think “£1500 AP” and anticipate something back, you need to reach £1500 first one way or another. Not everyone has the option to ask for a credit etc.
Now, i’d agree if we’re talking “the beginning of the lease”. The GCB does require, by its definition, the lease to come to an end. Otherwise you might get a good condition bonus, and hand in an absolute minger. Of course that’s not going to happen, no business would ever take that risk. Here’s how i’d make it work.
First, we widen the timeframe in which you can order the next lease, to 6 months instead of three. So six months before your lease ends, you order your new car (at least, for now, with waiting times north of 12 months in some cases). When you order, they do their GCB check. If the car passes, they let MB know, which prepares the GCB. On delivery day, your car gets checked again, the sales guy fumbles a bit about on his keyboard, and magically the GCB gets awarded as a discount on the AP.
My point is, as mentioned, to be able to use the GCB towards the AP of the next car. That should be the bare minimum. Whether or not it should be a cash payment, that you could argue (i won’t, i don’t care that much either way) – but fact of the matter is, at the start of the pandemic when this “scheme” existed, MB didn’t go bankrupt. It’s not like this hasn’t happened before or is impossible to implement. It was implemented at a time where it was less necessary than it would be now – and if i recall correctly, those were cash payments too.
Prior: SEAT Ateca Xcellence Lux 1.5 TSI DSG MY19, VW Golf GTE PHEV DSG MY23
Current: Hyundai Ioniq 6 Ultimate
Next: we'll see what's available in 2028.