Equally i’d wager most of us are happy with our current car and changing every 3 years is a faff (so i would agree with John Mann MP) however Motability have to make the maths work resale values etc I’m no fan of the Daily Mail but when it ran its campaign re Range Rovers on Motabilty they were quite correct. None of us needs a Range Rover
Personally, I find having to wait 3 years is a faff sometimes, so I think the current term is about right! As I mentioned before, the longer the lease, the less financially viable it becomes to use Motability, so they’d be shooting themselves in the foot by enforcing longer leases (which, of course, wouldn’t be any cheaper). We joined Motability after the first major cull, so missed the Range Rover era, but having seen an old price list a base model Range Rover Sport (with a fraction of the kit that the modern version has) had an AP of £15k, so with inflation that would be about £20k today which, added to the sacrificed benefits, would be a cost of £32k over a 3 year lease or £40k over 5 years. Of course, when the Daily Mail highlighted this, Motability failed to point out just how expensive it was to lease cars like that, leaving the impression that they were ‘free’ (as is happening again now sadly). If people were only allowed what they ‘need’ then even the current limited choice would be culled and it would cause even more people to leave the scheme. If people can afford to pay more for a better car that they would ‘like’, and are paying all the additional costs of the lease (which they do through higher APs) then there is no problem with that IMO. Where it causes a problem is when incorrect media articles are allowed to go unchallenged and when some of those who can’t afford the more expensive cars allow their jealousy to suggest that others shouldn’t be allowed them.
All about optics isn’t it! the Range Rover was/is known as the footballers posh car so its only natural people go what the heck (a 50 60 70k) car for 15 grand. so it was the right/easiest choice to cull (they don’t see the maths you do and nor should they have to) heck even the Audi R8 was available at one point (according to a dealer source)
Probably why we don’t see the likes of Tesla (as that will add fuel to the flames)
I’d like to hear from those who can’t find a car to fit their “needs” with a sprinkle of nice to have on the Scheme at time of writing
