@RogerWilko There are plenty of us on this forum who are happy to pay big APs if it’s a car that we really want. The problem that we have now is that very high APs are being asked for very mediocre cars. I paid an AP of £2,250 for a £41k BMW. I was OK with that as, even with the sacrificed benefits added, it worked out cheaper than buying the same car new privately. Equally, I would happily pay an AP of say £15,000 for a BMW X5, as that would still be cheaper than funding a new one privately!
As @James says, with the VAT exemption and negotiating power that Motability Operations have, it would be odd if a private lease worked out cheaper (although it’s worth noting that very few Motability customers do 15k miles a year). However, taking your point that not all PIP recipients are short of cash, if you are in a position to buy, rather than lease, then it is perfectly possible to run a new car privately for less money than the total outlay through Motability. I have done it myself previously and, if the current choice (and high APs) doesn’t improve markedly over the next 12 months, I’m likely to do it again.