Policies can change, but like other products, customers are usually informed of the changes before they happen and they are not applied retrospectively. For example, there are many things policy related that are not ‘contractual’, but that the contract is based upon. For example, if you said were were not going to comply with a ‘policy’, chances are Motability would not enter into contract with you. If you argued the policy was not ‘contractual’, therefore they should enter into contract, they will state it is policy – and therefore your disagreement to abide by their policy means they won’t enter into agreement with you. When this contract was taken out, the policy was that the car could be sold to the driver at the end of its term.
I wish you luck in your quest, even though I agree with others that prices that have been quoted at lease end in the past have never represented good value for a car sold as seen with no warranty whatsoever (just because it’s been faultless in the past is absolutely no guarantee of what might happen thereafter).
I’m afraid that I don’t follow the logic of your argument though. Whilst it might be nice if organisations communicated policy changes in advance, they are under no obligation to do so if it’s not contractual. However, a legally binding contract (which we enter into when accepting a car) cannot be varied at will by one party, without the other party having the right to terminate the contract. Unfortunately the option to buy a car at lease end was never contractual, always discretionary and therefore can be removed at any time without consultation. I would therefore argue that it is not a retrospective change, as you never had the ‘right’ to buy the car in the first place, and it was never written in to the contract.
As I say, I genuinely wish you well, but I can’t help but feel that you don’t have a strong case. Do let us know if you get a positive resolution with the Financial Ombudsman though, as I will be very interested to know how they come to that conclusion. As far as the law is concerned, every day is a school day!