Some ap’s have now been increased to a high of £7999 what happened to the cap we had beforehand, it’s been removed. Over 3 years that £7799 ap is another £222.19 on top a month. combined that’s £529.91 a month and £19,076.76 over 3 years. Personally I would never spend that much to lease a car and it’s only going to get the media in a frenzy as it has before. Some are even saying they been told they cannot even apply for a grant as mb are cutting back.
We certainly don’t want more stringent price caps, as that would reduce the already poor choice even further! It’s not the AP that’s the issue, it’s what you get for it. I’d happily pay £15k AP for a BMW X5, as that would be good value, but I wouldn’t pay £8k for a Vauxhall Astra, because that certainly isn’t.
As for the media, when the scheme received bad PR years ago, there were some quite decent cars available. Now we have extortionate AP’s for mediocrity. As you rightly point out, the total outlay of AP plus sacrificed benefits is now huge. I don’t think that many people would throw up their arms in horror or be gripped with envy that disabled drivers are able to lease a Vauxhall Astra for £530 a month.