We’ll have to agree to disagree @Mike What I am suggesting is that Motability adopt the same policy used by all other leasing companies and indeed all private buyers who take out a PCP (which, apparently, is the majority). The up front cost and/or monthly payment is determined by a mileage figure that the customer chooses. If you go over that you pay a surcharge that is a fraction of what Motability is now going to charge. What Motability is proposing, and you are preferring, will cost higher mileage customers significantly more. It wouldn’t affect us even if we were staying with Motability, but it seems deeply wrong to me. All we’ve been hearing over the last 6 months is that Motability cars are used by lazy benefit scroungers who sit at home with fancy cars paid for by hard working taxpayers. Utter nonsense as we all know, but that’s the narrative. So, what do Motability do? They devise a system that seriously penalises disabled people who still work and contribute to society, by coming up with a punitive system that screws them over. Then, of course, there’s also those who live in more remote locations who know upfront that they will need a higher mileage allowance, so far better to just pay a reasonable additional AP and then not worry about any end of contract bill that will cost far more. I’d much rather pay £1k more AP to cover me for an extra 30k miles than have a bill for £7.5k at lease end, purely so that I can say that at least I earned a few hundred quid interest whilst saving the £7.5k! I also dispute that it would be difficult to manage, given that every other leasing company does it! Finally, there’s also the issue that doesn’t seem to have been considered. What happens at lease end when Motability says to the high mileage customer “you owe us £xxxx for your excess mileage” and the customer says “I don’t have that money”. There will end up being loads of defaulters who, whilst they will be kicked off the scheme, will add to the scheme costs for those who remain. That’s why all other lease companies have a different system where you choose your mileage range and if you go over the penalty is a fraction of what Motability will be pursuing customers for.
Quite happy to agree to disagree.
However, paying your exemplified £1k upfront will only buy the same excess mileage as it would at scheme end. Motability are not offering some form of discount on the mileage charge for upfront payment!
As for getting to contract end and people finding they owe money. Whatever happened to taking personal responsibility by saving up during the lease to pay what they know will eventually be owing. It is madness to do anything else, or will people let it become someone else’s problem?
Customers take out a contract knowing they only have 30k miles and need to budget accordingly for any extra. Or realise the scheme no longer meets their needs and look elsewhere. Even if that means an older or cheaper form of transport via other means.
Sorry if I sound somewhat old fashioned. I was brought up to cut one’s cloth according to one’s means. Save up, then buy, not borrow and worry about it later as seems to be the modern way. Always save for future commitments. Also it was instilled from a very early age to take full personal responsibility for one’s actions no matter how off putting or unpalatable that maybe. Something that has served me very well, even when disability befell.
Just a further thought, if as you say, people may struggle to pay x£ at lease end, how are they going to pay the extra AP at the beginning of the lease?