With the increase in AP prices for the cars I’d consider I must say that buying a second hand approved bmw x4 or similar has now come onto my radar. The large APs don’t justify Motability for me at the moment and show no signs of falling
It amazes me how many people there are who seem quite comfortable paying £4k+ APs. We’re already (currently) paying £75.75 per week for these cars out of our PIP so a £4k AP over the course of a three year Motability lease equates to a further £25.64 per week. That means shelling out £15,817 over the course of the three year lease. Then you hand the car back and have nothing to show for it! This might make sense for those who do a high mileage and live in their cars but surely most on the scheme don’t do that? I don’t understand how many disabled people have so much money to throw around leasing top spec cars. I struggle to pay £1000 APs but needing an SUV for mobility issues I have to do that. I dread to think what the APs will be next time round when my lease is over.
As others have said, the qualifying benefits for Motability are (thankfully) not (yet) means tested, so there will be a vast range of customers, from those living on benefits to those with extreme wealth. That’s quite right IMHO.
Whilst I agree that APs have gone through the roof and many cars are now 2 to 3 times what they were not that many years ago, a quirk of the scheme is that the more expensive cars still represent by far the best value, if you look at total outlay (AP plus sacrificed benefits) as a percentage of the cars list price. This is because you sacrifice the same £12k in benefits whether you have a zero AP car or a car with a £6k AP.
To illustrate this point, somebody ordering a £24k car with zero AP is paying 50% of the cars value over 3 years, whereas someone ordering a £50k car paying an AP of say £6k is ‘only’ paying 36% of the cars value. So, just as you can’t understand why some folk pay high APs, I can’t understand why others sacrifice so much in benefits for a modest car that, if they were able to, they could probably run much cheaper privately, or they could use the same outlay to buy a much nicer nearly new car that they would eventually own. However, everyone’s circumstances are different and not everyone is able to do this, hence why the scheme is good in that it appeals to a wide range of people.