Aah @BigDave, yes, more than a tad early but its part of my autism. I need to be absolutely sure I’ve looked at all possibilities and have excluded the right things for the right reasons, often including a note as to why it’s excluded. Then I can be as sure as possible I’ve done everything possible to justify the big spend. Partially due to DWP issues and partially due to the above, I started taking an interest in the cars on the scheme 2 years prior to finally putting the order in on this one, 18 months is almost last minute.
By the time I’ve watched reviews for hours on end, listed out an compared key specs on each car, had a chat with dealers to clear up questions, sat in cars to be sure the seats are suitable (which takes longer than you’d think when you’re looking at optional seats) I’ve pretty much got a short list 6 months before lease ends. Then there’s test drives and keeping a really close eye on what industry experts are predicting Motability will be doing and what may be joining the scheme before I order. That keeps things like the EV3 in the reckoning despite it not being on scheme now, as it’s perfectly priced and suited to the scheme, depending on what direction KIA chose to take.
I also have an idea of which manufacturers will add new cars and which may take some time, which ones require a dip in sales to join the scheme and which will have changes to their line up but we’ve no chance of seeing them.
Bizarrely I’ve come across people who have similar time scales as me in choosing their cars, not many but more than I expected.
I'm Autistic, if I say something you find offensive, please let me know, I can guarantee it was unintentional.
I'll try to give my honest opinion but am always open to learning.
Mark