Also, not everyone needs a new car, plenty of people are happy with nearly new or 1 to 3 year old. Some people are happy to spend £1000 on a car. I once spent £2500 on a car and drove it for 7 years. Only ever did brakes, oil change, tyres and 1 catalytic converter. If you’re doing less than 4000 miles a year I don’t think Motability makes sense, particularly at the moment with high AP’s.
Joejoe – I also agree wholeheartedly with your post. People often forget that in addition to the AP and cost of any options, the absolute minimum cost to run even a zero AP Motability car is around £10k (if on PIP). If we were struggling to make ends meet, there is no way we would be spending £10k on a car. Like you, I have had many second hand cars that have cost very little to run and I know a lot of family and friends who still do so. Whenever this is mentioned, it’s often dismissed as ‘bangernomics’ but that is nonsense. Modern cars don’t rust and fall apart like they used to and it may come as a surprise to those who only ever consider a brand new car that the average age of cars on U.K. roads is actually 8.4 years years old! That’s an average, so just as many are older than that than are newer!