Hmmmm. An interesting debate that always polarises opinions. Some people insist that it’s always cheaper to run a car through the scheme and I know from experience that this isn’t true. Big Dave has given an excellent response and, like him, I have experience of running cars inside and outside the scheme (even at the same time!), so will happily share my experience and views.
Before I do that, your numbers make sense but your assumed insurance premiums seem ridiculously high. I know that EVs are very expensive to insure due to high repair costs and resultant higher likelihood of write offs, but do you live in a very high risk area? Also, keep in mind that many insurers will honour no-claims history as a Motability driver, which can bring premiums down significantly. You also need to factor in servicing costs. Breakdown cover can usually be ignored, as can repairs, as these will both be covered under a 3 year warranty. As for a Motability car, you should assume a 3 year lease, not 4 years. There is a strong chance (given your high mileage) that Motability will not allow you to extend beyond 3 years due to their new policy. Finally, as Big Dave says, you have to factor in the cost of finance (if needed) and loss of interest (if capital used).
Now to my experience. Some years ago, we took out a lease (through Motability) on a VW Tiguan 2.0 TDi for my wife. APs at the time were less than half what they are now. At the same time I ordered (privately) a brand new BMW 5 Series (520d Luxury Auto – same price as an M-Sport). I had gone to look at a 12 month old M-Sport but it had sold and the dealer said that they could get me a brand new one for a similar price. I added £10k worth of options to a factory ordered new car, but managed to negotiate a 25% discount, which effectively wiped out the cost of all the options. This hefty discount was the combined result of 3 separate discounts. A BMW discount, a dealer discount and a BMW Financial Services discount by taking out a PCP. However, I didn’t need finance so used a loophole that I have used several times before (including with VW), in that I took out the finance deal to get the extra discount, but one month after taking delivery I paid off the balance in full. In return for about £30 interest, I was able to keep the entire (many thousands £) finance discount. It’s a no brainer.
Fast forward 4 years and I sold the BMW privately and I worked out my total ownership costs. The biggest cost is always depreciation (although helped by the fact that I’d got 25% off up front). I had no servicing costs as I’d negotiated a servicing plan as part of the purchase. Other than servicing, there had only been a couple of minor issues that were sorted under warranty, free of charge. Breakdown cover, whilst never needed, was provided under the warranty. Insurance (fully comp) averaged about £300 a year (I was working at the time, so it included commuting). I only replaced 2 tyres over the 4 years.
Once I had my grand total ownership costs, I compared the average annual costs against the annual cost of the Motability car and was staggered to find that the Motability Tiguan had cost us more to run than the significantly better (in every respect, other than 4WD) 5 Series. As I say, this was before Motability APs went out of control, but on the flip side, I didn’t need finance so had no finance costs (which would have given a different result). I would have happily paid a lot more per month for the far superior BMW, but in reality had paid less.
Fast forward to today and we are now retired and down to one car – a Motability supplied PHEV. I wanted to try a PHEV and they don’t make financial sense to buy privately, but 6 months in and I’m not sure that they make much sense as a lease car either 😂 . At present, we aren’t interested in an EV, as real world ranges are too low (and we do far less mileage than you!), so next time we may well leave the scheme and revert to a petrol car, but this would be a second hand car of the type that is not available through the scheme (such as a BMW X5). Whilst I can afford a new car, I’m just not prepared to pay the ludicrously high prices that decent ones are these days.
However, if we were in the market for an EV I would get one through Motability, even if the finances made a private one cheaper. The EV market, both new and (particularly) used is in turmoil as private buyers don’t want them. Many reasons but I guess the principle ones being high upfront costs, poor real world ranges, poor (and very expensive) public charging infrastructure, appalling residual values, high insurance costs and (for millions of people) the inability to charge at home.
So, in summary, my view would be that if you want a good quality petrol or diesel car, it’s probably best to go down the private route, but if you want an EV the risks swing it in favour of Motability. I appreciate that this only works if you are happy to be limited to what Motabilty allows, which doesn’t include a Jag. However, the Enyaq seems to be one of the best EVs on the market and may well be even better than the Jag!
Hope that all helps, although I doubt it does 😂
