So I finally got a call from my grant case manager today (12 weeks 4 days from my initial call). He basically went through everything I said when I rang them, things like health condition, vehicle requirements etc. He asked what type of car I was looking for and had I looked at any yet. When I told him I had been looking at cars since January and had looked at and sat in almost every car in the “small SUV” section (then I named most of them) and told him that of the 4 that I test drove, the Puma was the most suitable. He looked up the price for the base spec auto (Titanium trim, currently £1845, up from £1645 in Q3 when I originally rang them) and said “yeah that’s fine, I have no problem authorising that for you”.
I asked if I could add £400 myself so I can move up to a better trim level and he said that was fine, I can add up to 50% of £1895 for a different trim or accessories.
2 hours later I got an email through with the grant award letter and a letter for the dealer for when I go to order the car.
So although it took a long time, I’m very pleased with how it was handled and the chap couldn’t have been nicer.
Good luck with your application Laura.