This whole thing is a mess of Motability’s making.
Up until a year ago, anybody could extend a 3 year lease for up to 2 years. The policy then changed so that anyone could extend for 3 months, but anything longer would only be allowed if the car had done under 20,000 miles over 3 years or had significant adaptations. In typical Motability fashion, this change was slipped in under the radar with zero communication.
I enquired about extending the lease on our BMW last year and Motability refused as the car had done 27,000 miles and had no adaptations. However, I challenged this on the basis that the contract stated that we could, and there had been no communication that this had changed. I pointed out that a contract cannot be varied mid term without both parties agreeing to it or, if it was being imposed, giving us the right to terminate the lease early without penalty, neither of which had happened. At this point they backed down and agreed to the extension (although, ironically, we didn’t need it in the end)!
Motability are still in a mess with this issue though, for two reasons. Firstly, some people are finding that they can extend the lease through their Motability account (we didn’t have that option – I checked) and secondly new leases that commenced after the policy change are still being used with the old wording, saying that 24 month extensions are possible (with no mileage or adaptation criteria stated).
In summary, if you want to extend then I’d suggest making the points that I made.