A couple of weeks ago I contacted Motability about my next car. At the time one of my local VW dealers had the exact car I decided to order, in stock, available immediately. I asked Motability if that was ok and was told that it was not – I could not have the new car before the exact date of my lease ending. The only reason I can think of for this is the 9 weeks of payments they wouldn’t get, totalling what, £550? Since then the car has had it’s MOT, new pads in the front, and a full service, not to mention that I guess, technically it has dropped further in value as it’ll now be over 3 years old when it goes back instead of less than 3 years old (yeah I know that won’t make a huge difference) but I’m pretty sure they’re already in the red on that decision… I’m a reasonable man but I’m having a little internal giggle at the situation – tried so hard to get that last £500, it’s probably going to cost them at least that or more at this point… Rules may well be there for a reason but they should always be applied with a little common sense (although I’m the first to admit that’s a bit of a misnomer nowadays and common sense is anything but common)
Colin,
It has always been the case that you have to keep your vehicle for 3 full year term before taking delivery of your next vehicle (early terminations aside). That is as per your contract with Motability.
If they ‘bent the rules’ for you simply because your next vehicle was already at the dealers, where would it end when the next customer’s car is ready at the dealer’s 10 weeks before the end of their contract and so on.
The cost of any repairs and the MOT would be factored into the price anyway, and also having the 12 month MOT means Motability would receive more when selling vehicle either through their dealer network or auction etc. Hence any feeling of ‘karma’ or ‘giggles’ that you have cost Motability extra expense would be negligible in the overall picture.
I am sure you would not have been happy if Motability had said go-ahead and get your new vehicle early, only to then sting you with an early termination fee and also loss of your Good Condition Bonus – as you were infact wanting to terminate your contract early.
You may believe that Motability have been inflexible in your case, but in reality all they have done is stick to the contract which you agreed to by entering your PIN when collecting the vehicle in the first place.
Dave