Our current Motability car was the first that we had where we had a ‘permanent and substantial adaptation’ and we didn’t add any factory options to it, but a couple of you (@MFillingham @kezo) are now saying that, had we done so, we would have been exempt from paying the VAT on them. Not wishing to doubt those of you saying this, but is this 100% fact and does anyone have personal experience of this, as it’s not my understanding?
Whilst it is indeed true that if you qualify for VAT exemption on a private purchase, you also get the VAT off all the factory options as well, I have never seen Motability mention that people in our situation don’t have to pay VAT on the cost of factory optional extras on a Motability car. As I say, does anyone have first hand experience of this? To be clear , we are talking about things like sunroofs, upgraded alloys etc, not disability aids. If we were ordering another Motability car, even though we meet the criteria for VAT exemption on a private purchase, I would expect to have to pay the full price of any factory options on a Motability car.
As always, I’m happy to be proved wrong. Any links to this on the Motability website?