I have a worrying niggle that in order to offset the losses Motability are facing on the used EV market when a lease ends, they will start to apply a much heftier AP to full hybrid vehicles like my Clio in order to balance the books. I cannot charge at home, so an EV is not even an option for me. Motability, via their newsletter, keep pushing & pushing an EV as my next lease but no way (for me) is that a viable option.
A full hybrid is the perfect option for me. I do approx 9,000/10,000 miles per year maximum. My top-of-the-range Clio has done exactly half of those miles on pure electric alone. The AP for my Clio last year (June 2024) was £495. That has gone up in this quarter to £1,245 already. Now I get that car prices worldwide have increased & it is the way of life now, but I hope that Motability do not target hybrid cars as a way to balance losses on used EV’s.
As I mentioned on another thread ; the AP’s for small electric cars are eye-watering at the moment. The AP for a Micra or R5 makes no sense to me whatsoever. Even with the Clio hybrid being £1,245 advance payment – as opposed to £5K/£6K for the Micra/R5, I would still be saving a lot of money by choosing the Clio hybrid because that four or five thousand pound difference is more than enough to fuel the Clio for the 3-years of running it for the 10,000 miles or so (per year) that I do.
There is a new updated (and very smart!) Clio 1.8 full hybrid coming very early next year. It will be interesting to see what AP Motability apply to it. I do fear the worse though. I can only see the likes of small hybrids like the Clio and indeed Toyota’s becoming stupidly expensive as Motability, in their wisdom, demand everyone be driving an EV – no ifs or buts. It is then that I shall be leaving the scheme after 28-years of happy motoring on it…sadly.