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Hi all!
Newbie here. Currently coming to the end of my first motability lease, and not being all to clever, I didn’t keep an eye on the APs coming up to my renewal, then when the time came I was a bit gobsmacked at the insane hikes and now in somewhat a panic. (I have till end of October to order)
I love my current lease, even considered keeping it/getting the same car again, however we needed something bigger. Not to mention, after only paying £500 upfront for this car when I ordered back in June 2021, I wasn’t too impressed to see the same car is now a whopping £2,649 upfront.
I was informed of the grants team, who approved me for a grant of £749 (Roughly £1123 max if i top up myself) – they also sent me a list of cars they deemed suitable (All EV). I went and looked at all these cars anyway, despite knowing EV is not something that will be at all suitable to me. Depsite agreeing I need a Large SUV/Family estate, I pointed out there are no cars on the scheme that fit that price bracket (Auto license), and none of the ones they had sent me in the list even fit into either of those catagories anyway. (I’m aware the Enyaq 50 has just been added with £0/£699 AP)
After shopping around several dealerships I found the car most suited to me, however it has an AP of £2,699 (I’ve been looking for the AP history of this car but yet to find it). I’ve been speaking to the dealership specialist back and forth via email, asking if there is anything they are able to do their end to help out with the AP in anyway (Aside from the £750 toward from motability themselves – which I was also told today by the grants team that that will no longer be applicable to renewals from Oct 1st this year). The only response I had was that the full amount didn’t need to be paid till collection (Which I knew) as well as they can bring the price down if the AP changes in October.
What would people reccomend I do? Do I take the plunge and order the car, risking that the price may not change/go up, and I’m left trying to source the money elsewhere within the 3 months it’ll take for the car to be delivered? (If anyone is aware of any Skoda dealerships in the East Mids with offers – please let me know!) Or do I wait for the grants team to get back with a final (Final) decision? (Currently told to wait 48 hrs for a manager – but decision will probably stay the same)
I’ve been car shopping for weeks now, and it’s not something I’m enjoying at all, and is causing me no end of stress. EV for me personally just isn’t an option, and motability have made it very clear the push to EV and increase of price for petrol is purposely done to try and get more people on them.
Lastly apologies this post isn’t the best constructed. Heads really in a scramble with all this and I’m just trying to get all my questions etc out there!
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Who knows what will happen however, if you order now and the AP drops you can ask the dealer to lower it (worth asking when you place you order). If the AP goes up, your protected from the hike!
Have you looked at the MG ZS (Kamiq size) or the bigger HS, as both will be with your grant allowance.
Yip the HS should get a look. I’ve had some nice cars on the scheme and considered it a while back. Branding doesn’t annoy me, what I seen was a big reasonably equipped car with a good AP. I’ve heard of reliability problems a few years ago, mostly the auto box, but I believe it’s been sorted.
Thanks both. I did look at the MGs – personally wasn’t a great fit for me. I may go back and check again though.
I had read breifly about the issues with them, which for me is pretty concerning since Auto is all I can drive!
…. (Aside from the £750 toward from motability themselves – which I was also told today by the grants team that that will no longer be applicable to renewals from Oct 1st this year).
Have they got that right? I thought Motability were extending it to 3rd January?
Have they got that right? I thought Motability were extending it to 3rd January?
Motability will end their ‘Golden Hello’ £750 New Vehicle payment to new customers on 3rd January 2025.
There is no end date for existing customers, only that the New Vehicle Payment can only be recieved once.
Only risk it if you think you will be able to source the additional money if the price doesnt go down. It would be soul destroying to have to cancel because you cant get the money together.
I am surprised “grants team” did’nt tell you to go and re take your driving test in a manual car.
What is your current car ?
No point looking for the previous AP of any cars as that’s of no use to you now.
You don’t mention what you’re driving at the moment, which cars you’ve tried and why all the EVs are of no good for you. What type of car are you looking for?
I’d say if you find a car that is suitable then order it now before Q4 so the price is locked in. Then if anything better appears in Q4 you can cancel and switch over 🤞
Currently have a VW T-Roc.
I did enquire about 6 months ago about renewing my lease early as we could do with a bigger car. EV is of no use to me as my running costs would be too much. I don’t have a driveway, and the nearest one I could leave it on is 6/7 miles away, meaning I’d be without my vehicle, not to mention costs of getting back home and back to collect my car. I know I can use public charging, but I don’t hang around shops etc long at all. Not to mention the overall running costs (Especially since I’d likely use fast chargers). The range on EVs just simply isn’t enough for me. Even the cars advertised as 350 miles, that will drop by almost half in winter months meaning I’m charging twice as much. I’d be far better off with a hybrid car.
Found several cars suitable – Just out of my budget. Currently ringing dealerships as far as 2 hrs from me to find any that have offers etc on current stock to get a better price.
At this point I’m torn between placing an order now, seeing if APs do come down in a few weeks, or renewing my current lease. Although when I asked, Motability said I won’t be able to as my car has over 20,000 on it (Currently at 27)
Currently have a VW T-Roc. I did enquire about 6 months ago about renewing my lease early as we could do with a bigger car. EV is of no use to me as my running costs would be too much. I don’t have a driveway, and the nearest one I could leave it on is 6/7 miles away, meaning I’d be without my vehicle, not to mention costs of getting back home and back to collect my car. I know I can use public charging, but I don’t hang around shops etc long at all. Not to mention the overall running costs (Especially since I’d likely use fast chargers). The range on EVs just simply isn’t enough for me. Even the cars advertised as 350 miles, that will drop by almost half in winter months meaning I’m charging twice as much. I’d be far better off with a hybrid car. Found several cars suitable – Just out of my budget. Currently ringing dealerships as far as 2 hrs from me to find any that have offers etc on current stock to get a better price. At this point I’m torn between placing an order now, seeing if APs do come down in a few weeks, or renewing my current lease. Although when I asked, Motability said I won’t be able to as my car has over 20,000 on it (Currently at 27)
?
https://www.motaclarity.co.uk/motability-cars/omoda/omoda-5/comfort/16-tdgi-comfort-auto/0000200580
So after something as simple as logging into my Motability account (I don’t really check it) – I had the option to extend my lease for 2 years with 3 simple clicks. (Despite Motability telling me I couldn’t)
Definately will be upgrading in the next few months as we do need something bigger, but the pressure of having to order the car /find the AP in a relatively short space of time has well and truly been lifted.
@MickC That looks interesting. I’ll go and take a look at that (Just as soon as I find a local-ish dealer with one to view!)@kellayb a few good reasons there why an EV isn’t practical for yourself but please don’t continue to spread the misinformation that range will half in winter… it doesn’t. Range will certainly be less but that’s the same with all vehicles.
I’d say keep phoning dealers, you can only ask and if that doesn’t work then hope the prices drop in October 🤞
My information came from dealerships directly etc. As well as Skoda having a good calculator on their website (https://rangecalculator.skoda-auto.com/210/en-gb?actioncode=MSNRS18%2FGWAFWAF%2FGYONYON&drivingEnvironment=Highway&drivingStyle=Normal&mbv=5AZJK2&occupancy=FullCar&salesgroup=64079&season=Winter&temperature=19) Which does show a significant drop in range.
If I had the means to charge from home, I honestly wouldn’t mind EV so much. The cost of charging from home on a tarrif and so on would work out so much cheaper than fuel, and I’d be able to charge and go. I simply don’t have that option, so for me having an EV car would be a huge inconvenience at the moment.
You are incorrect. EV,s range do NOT halve in Winter.
Given you have never driven or used one, do you listen to what you are saying at all?
@kellayb you don’t have a driveway at home and think public charging wouldn’t be practical so therefore an EV may not be suitable for you, we agree on that. No need to double down on why.
All I’m saying is please don’t spread misinformation or be fear mongering.
The OP is not spreading misinformation as the Skoda calculator shows that I would only achieve 169 miles in winter and that doesn’t appear to take in wipers, radio, lights etc, so probably less again. My last charge in the e3008 got 210 miles so about 65% which is a hell of a lit closer to half.
Enyaq sport line range 324, motorway driving, internal temp 21, family. Predicted range 169. This is very common driving for me. Hardly doubling down when she put up a manufacturers figures.
Tbh I thought you were both a bit harsh on the OP, considering you didn’t even try to explain how EV driving works and just accused them of telling lies.
Kellayb there are just to many different outcomes for people driving EVs from living in the south of England to the north of Scotland, family always in car to just a driver and maybe passenger. Like a hot car in winter a cold car in summer, heavy footed light footed, what type of roads your most used journeys take you. Even ev driving style as I found that coasting improved range greatly and better than re-gen braking.
But like others have said. If you can’t charge at home or work, then I don’t think an EV would be the best choice.
Now that you’ve a bit of breathing space just try and save as much as you can and hope that what you would like will be within reach, or drop in price, or something better/new comes on in the next quarter. GL
My Enyaq 85x has had a max range of about 310 miles when it was warmer, in reality that gave me about 270/280 mainly running about on short journeys upto 9 miles each way at most. In Winter that dropped to 220 with a real range of around 170/180.
Yesterday I did my monthly long trip, A68 from Durham to Otterburn ranges, mainly a 60mph A road. The temperature was around 5c at 06:30 going up to about 12c when I arrived at 08:00. I started with 100% charge showing a predicted range of 285 miles
I arrived with 73% charge and 194 miles of range, a drop of 89 miles having ony drove 54 miles.
Economy was reading 2.8mi/kWhComing back I went a different route, A696/A1, again mainly 60mph A roads with a few villages in between and about 15 miles of A1M at 50mph, consumption got back up to 3.2mi/kWh and I arrived home with 47% battery and a range of 132 miles. So, for a total trip of 126 miles in the real world the car had used 53% of the battery.
I did the same trip a month ago when it was a lot warmer and the usage wasn’t that much different to what it was yesterday so I can’t blame the figures on the colder weather. Charged back to 100% last night at a cost of £3.21, previous car would have cost me £18 – £20 in petrol.
Please excuse spelling/typos. Apart from being a clot it turns out I had one on my cerebellum that's now causing various problems!
There are too many variables, such as battery chemistry, how a person drives, where they drive etc to say it won’t do this or it’ll do that or your outright fibbing!
And then there’s ‘other’ lol. Whatever that is. Talking about the e3008 and what energy is being used by what. Recently I had e-motor 71%. Climate 11%. Other 18%. On the day there was no wipers being used and just the radio on. 18% is a hell of a lot of energy being used especially when I don’t even know what for.
No need to turn this into a post about ‘my GoM said ### but I only got…’ anybody who drives an EV should know about the GoM and treat it accordingly.
However range does not halve in the winter and even the Skoda calculator shows this so therefore saying it does is misinformation.
All of the other comments aren’t relevant or helping the OP who I hope manages to find something suitable 🤞
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