@DJWheels I completely follow your logic and, as you say, any of those options could be true, but some are more likely than others! Like you, I suspect that it’s more likely that something like your option C is at play.
Although we (as customers) won’t be liable for the VAT on cars ordered this quarter, if Motability have to take the VAT hit on cars ordered in Q2 but delivered in Q3, it makes sense that they will try to recover some of that hit by AP hikes in Q2. They aren’t charging us the VAT directly, but could be clawing back the hit through other means.
It’s all guesswork and we will never know for sure, but what you are suggesting would help explain the bigger than average AP hikes in Q2.