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My wife and I were with a Peugeot Motability specialist yesterday.
When I asked him about discounts on Advanced Payments he declared them “illegal” !
When challenged, and I mentioned this open forum, he dug himself in deeper, saying that it’s illegal for dealers to offer incentives to Motability customers to go to one dealership rather than another for a discount.
I argued a bit longer and he finally said that offering and accepting a discount on an AP would mean the dealer would get “struck off” the scheme, and that the customer would “lose his/her Motability benefit”.
So, is there any truth in what he says, even if it’s commonly disregarded, or is he being stupidly dogmatic in trying to protect his profit and possibly his commission?
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Motabilty do not approve of or encourage the discounting of AP’s.
As far as I am aware there are no hard and fast rules about it. Many dealers advertise their discounts so I’m confident that there cannot be any truth in the drivel from your chap, he seems to have dug himself a hole and just kept going.
If I seem a little strange, that's because I am.
Skoda Karoq SEL.
I would have said bye and walked out gone to a dealer that does plenty do you only have to email the mobility salesman saves a journey if they want the sale they will do the deal
As WardyGTC says, Motability do not condone the giving of discount on AP’s. However I am not aware of any discounter losing their right to being a Motability dealership.
The rest of the salesman’s diatribe is total horse s**t.
Peugeot in Peterborough said the same thing, I didn’t believe him either.
stratsone in chesterfield regularly advertise discounts or cashbacks on motability, at the moment theres a mini countryman parked on the roundabout at the entrance to their mini dealership proclaiming their current £500 cashback. so i dont see how there can be any penalty from motability for this. ive seen other dealerships in the past do similar things. so i would say hes talking crap.
My wife and I were with a Peugeot Motability specialist yesterday.
This so called mobility specialist is an idiot. Treat them with the contempt they deserve and walk away.
I would say report the dealership but you would probably be wasting your time.
Joss
Current car: BMW X2 sDrive 20i M Sport 5dr Step Auto In metallic Portimão Blue. 04:10:2025
Previous car:Peugeot 308 GT Premium 1.2 Pure tech Petrol.Could it be that the AP is the difference in balance between what Motability are willing to pay for the car and what the supplier wants and then Motability pays the Dealer a commission for handling the sale, The dealer for goes part of this so as to maintain the sale and custom
It sounds more like the salesman was bending the truth a little bit, far from illegal but there is indeed a statement sent to All Motability Dealerships stating it is not allowed and against policy.
the key thing is it’s all in the wording. No Dealership gives you a discount on the AP (the AP is set by Motability, and Motability receive the full amount no matter what) some dealerships offer “Cash Back” .etc
As a friendly salesman who is a great source of information to me said , Motability dictate and insist on no discounts and it could jeopardise motability/dealership relationship, But he also pointed out they could argue thier are lots of incentives to customers and to withhold from individuals because they are Business or Motability could be discriminatory.
officially it’s not allowed but there are ways around it.
The discount can be applied without actually changing the AP so not technically breaking Motability’s rules, as far as a PIP recipient loosing their entitlement to benefit the salesman should be reported for harassment and pressure selling with lies and threats, whatever you choose to do with your PIP allowance is up to you and has nothing whatsoever to do with your entitlement and suggesting you would be committing some kind of fraud by not paying his full price is almost demanding money with menace!
I’m sure if it was such a serious matter with motability they wouldn’t allow the contract to go through.
we got a £600 discount plus a good px of our old car. So we walked away with a new car and money in the bank. That was the deciding factor for us.
Prior to that a Honda motability specialist told us we had to pay all the AP up front, being new to the scheme we had no reason not to believe that’s how it works, then they were unable to provide the vehicle, we rang motability for advice and were told we shouldn’t have paid anything up front. Only upon inspecting and being completely happy with the vehicle.
Dealing with a number of them now I would say just educate yourself and use the dealers to get a good deal. But take what they say with a pinch of salt.
Always give yourself a cooling off period where you go away and just check there’s not a better deal to be had elsewhere.
Obviously they don’t want to offer a discount if they can help it.
I’d have walked out and gone to another dealer
I argued a bit longer and he finally said that offering and accepting a discount on an AP would mean the dealer would get “struck off” the scheme, and that the customer would “lose his/her Motability benefit”.
This part is despicable. It basically amounts to a threat. Write a letter to the dealer and tell them what happened. That salesman should lose their Motability accreditation and sent for re-training.
100% there is No circumstances a Customer can lose his/hers Motability benefit for taking an Offer by an individual Dealership.
Any dealership offer/discount doesn’t show on Motability invoice and Motability have no way of knowing details or terms of any incentives between yourself and the dealership irrelevant of policy.
How old was the salesman ?
This is my view on this topic. It is based on what I have been told over the years. The AP is fixed. There is no discount on AP. A dealer will get a fee for taking an order of a car on the motability scheme. Latest figure I have is £400. From this fee the dealer can offer cashback offers. I have been told £400 is what is paid to all dealers but have heard of dealers giving £500 cashback etc. Maybe they earn more through car sales or servicing etc.
It would seem that dealers offering £400 plus discounts are doing so to meet targets and so waving their fee from motability.
The Vw dealer we went to had the same offer running for months, that’s also likely the main reason the scheme attracts a lot of models and specs that are less attractive to private buyers.
How old was the salesman ?
Early 30’s and been a Motability specialist for more than 3 years, so should know better.
Thanks for all your comments.
The fixed AP with a seperate deal for the customer, whether it’s called cashback or goodwill is plausible.
Got far better service from another Peugeot dealer 30 miles away, but it’s all academic now as we’ve decided on a Volvo!
I’ll start a new thread and give my opinions about 5 extended test drives of medium size SUVs we’ve had this week and the reasons why we made the choice we did.
@72 Dudes
we have our lease renewal paperwork through so will be very interested in your comments and research
Far away is near at hand in visions of elsewhere.
I’m looking forward to your medium sized SUV extended test drive review 72Dudes. It’s just the kind of input that we need on this forum.
Cheers.
Reviews will be great 72dudes, wow 5 extended testdrives in a week too, already sounds exciting, hope you had fun doing it. I’m intrigued to see your choice of 5 finalists.
We drove past our local bmw dealer and they had a 2 series active tourer out the front with vinyl adverts all over it saying discounts available on all motability models. No idea how much.
No mention of AP.
Good choice the volvo xc40 is a great car, I think I’d have chosen the Volvo over the Tiguan if its boot had been bigger.
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