Top of our long list of a replacement cars for later in the year is the Nissan Aryia. But I have concerns about whether as a business Nissan will outlast our 3 year lease period, and what would happen to our car if they didn’t. This is not a question that any Motability customer has had to face before. But the impact of the trade tariffs that are in place currently will place many motor manufacturers in a very precarious position, not just Nissan whose recent attempt to merge with Honda failed ultimately. So what happens to a Motability lease if the car is no longer supported after its manufacturer goes under, or is taken over and the new owner no longer pushes software updates to the car, and it stops working eventually? I would hope that Motability would offer to replace the car without penalty. But there is the question of the deposit to consider. Would they: 1. Refund the whole deposit amount, 2. Refund part of the deposit prorate for the amount the the lease period that remains, or 3. Provide no refund at all, and regard the deposit as the customer’s loss There would have been a time when option 2 was most likely. But Motability have not have the best of times either recently, financially speaking. So we can’t rule out option 3. I have just called Motability Operations telephone help line, and the were unable to answer my question, unsurprisingly. I am minded to put my query in writing, which would need to be by post given that they don’t provide email support. But I’m interested in the meantime to hear what others think about the position that Motability would be likely to take? Fingers crossed that this never comes to anything. But we live in less certain times now.. John
A manufacturer going bust HAS happened before to Motability customers! When Rover went bust in the early noughties, Motability customers with Rover vehicles (and I was one of them) simply continued with their leases until the normal lease end, which is legally what customers had signed a contract to do! There were so many Rover models around (as there would be Nissan models) that although sales dealerships eventually closed or changed franchise manufacturers, a lot aftersales/servicing centres remained open for quite a few years. And, rather like when Mitsubishi pulled out of UK/Europe a few years ago, there are still Mitsubushi aftersales centres and certain other manufacturer’s service centres have agreed to service/repair Mitsubishi vehicles. As for parts, there was a huge stockpile across the UK (and Europe) and OEM and pattern manufacturers continue to this day to make parts for certain Rover vehicles. So the short term of 2-3 years post bankruptcy is negligible in parts terms.. To be honest, it is not something to worry about at all, particularly on Motability as you do not own the vehicle, thus the rapid depreciation etc. However, if you do have worries, look at obtaining a vehicle from another manufacturer. However your worries most likely are totally unfounded.
When Mitsubishi left Europe and the UK, MG Motors were appointed caretakers, they were truly appalling, despite recently extending at the time we decided to change lease and look for another vehicle. Mobility were very supportive even offering to re-service and MOT the vehicle at another dealership.
Unfortunately I have suffered a brain injury and occasionally I get confused and often say the wrong thing.