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So Motability the charity have suggested strongly that I test drive the Ford Kuga again. I had rejected it due to the heated windscreen as it causes me visual problems, but they say they will have it replaced with clear glass. I understand that the charity are trying to help as many people as possible, but essentially, having reduced the grant towards medium sized SUVs due to ‘the reduction in APs this quarter and better value for money offered’ they are happy to pay hundreds to make an unsuitable car ‘suitable’, but not to allow more towards the AP on a more suitable car.
Last time with Ford we got a 5 minute test drive with the salesman. Motability contacted the dealership and were told that 30 minutes is their usual – not exactly extended, but long enough to get a better idea about how it drives.
I rang the dealership and asked for a 30 minute test drive on the basis of this and arranged it for this morning. When I got there the salesperson in question had ‘nipped out’ and some-one else offered to take me out instead. Great, but he only had a few minutes before another customer appointment. OK I can wait for the original guy who nipped out… oh, actually he’s in Worksop…
Sensing my disappointment salesperson number 2 said they had a car coming back in tomorrow that we could take out for a couple of hours. OK I said. So he wrote down the reg plate and handed it over saying ‘so if you can just get yourself insured on this car…’
I haven’t been asked to get my own insurance for any other test drive – even taking a Mini Countryman for three days. Is this normal practise?
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Absolutely not. I have never ever been asked to sort out my own insurance for a test drive, new or secondhand cars. Get away from that dealership and go to another, its not like Ford dealerships are thin on the ground & this sort of offhand and diabolical treatment is best met with a NO SALE result.
e.g. I just popped into a local (not nearest) Ford dealers, said I was interested in an S-Max, was asked if I wanted a test drive, said yes, they were closing, so arranged to pop back the next morning. Got there, it was waiting for me, didn’t even look at my licence. I came back after an hour or so to “that was quick – thought you would be longer”. Popped back unannounced the next afternoon, asked to take it out again (with wife in tow), no problem, had it for closer to two hours, came back and handed back the keys. No pressure, no problem, no paperwork.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
It just sounds like a deterrent to me and something we Motability customers have to put up with being second class folk who should be grateful we can actually talk to them for five minutes.
I’m awaiting a call back from my dealer from the end of last week but with AP going up and choice going down I’m beginning to think it might not be worth my while rejoining the scheme and just pocket the money instead.
To be fair though my Ford dealer was very helpful but I’ve decided on staying with VW but feel this ignorance that’s coming from my local dealer who is normally OK is because of the engine change to the VW range in regards to the 1.4 TSi to 1.5 TSi engine and think they may have rang back sooner had I not said what car and engine I was interested in.
They’ll all be crying end of year when their being laid off.
Where about’s are you I got a extended test drive in a kuga from evans halshaw in rotherham
We are near to Derby. The local dealership I went in is only five minutes away, the bigger one at Derby couldn’t get me an auto to test drive at all. I really can’t travel further as I find driving very physically demanding.
Hi ravenswing, sorry to hear of your treatment from this Ford dealer. I would certainly be making Motability aware of how you are being treated, especially being asked to arrange your own insurance as that just shouldn’t be happening.
Back to your options though, so you have a grant of £x amount that you can put towards a medium size suv. Have you exhausted all other models in this category then, with the only problem being with the Kuga that the windscreen isn’t right, which motability have said they will rectify?
If so, i think they are being quite fair and can think of quite a few less desirable suv’s on the scheme than a kuga. Did you have something else in mind, and if so can you not fund the additional amount required yourself, or is the one you would like classed as a large suv?
I find it difficult to distinguish between a medium, or large suv myself, do motability give you a list of models that qualify for either class as it would be useful to know.
Sorry ravenswing, i’m finding myself asking more questions than giving answers, but am intrigued by your situation and just trying to understand it more.
Abercol is absolutely right, I would be looking for another Ford dealer if that is the only option.
Hi Trev (and others), thanks for the reply.
Our next nearest dealer doesn’t have any autos to test drive and beyond that I am looking at too much driving to be able to get there and make a fair assessment of a car.
We have a grant of £695 and we are only allowed to top this up by 50%, so just under £1,000 in total – about half what we had last summer when we got our first Motability car. We currently have the Hyundai Tucson, which we love apart from it having a fault with hesitation after stopping at junctions or in traffic – it is a known problem doesn’t show up on diagnostics, but Hyundai won’t apply the software fix they have until it shows up or it happens in the dealer’s/RAC hands. As a result wee are doing an early termination with Motability operations blessing.
We are struggling to find a suitable alternative within the medium SUV category (the website does not use this category but it may be interesting to ask the charity what they class as medium/large). I think the cars we consider as suitable probably do come into the larger category – things like the Skoda karoq or kodiaq, Honda CR-v, Toyota RAV-4, BMW X-1 possibly etc. My husband travels in the back as our son is very anxious in the car. He had a stroke that left him with central post stroke pain and a lack of sensation over the whole right hand side. When getting out of a car he cannot see his foot so he does not know where it is in space – as such he needs enough clearance without intrusions from the front seat/under the rear seat/door pockets etc to be able to easily clear it. Otherwise he gets his foot caught and twisted without realising and could badly injure himself. It’s a combination of all sorts of factors that make it possible or not for him to get out rather than purely dimensions. So many cars looked great on paper and we just couldn’t believe how difficult it was for him to get out in practise. We also need a higher seating position to help him get in and out.
On advice from motability we went looking at cars before putting in the grant application and listed cars that he really struggled to get out of, but half the list that came back were cars that we had already ruled out on this basis. A lot of the suggestions are at the really compact end of the SUVs (Vauxhall mokka, Suzuki vitara, Seat arona, Honda CH-R etc) and having spoken to some-one in operations, they do not consider many of the options to be suitable replacements for a Tucson, but of course the two entities (operations and charity) are very separate. The list also included the Skoda Octavia, but the seat height on this is way too low. The Kuga is therefore the only option left. I didn’t really like it to drive on the short test drive, but was happy to try again – which got us to today…
We are disappointed that we have only been left with one car as a possible option if we accept the grant – especially when they are happy to spend extra money on the replacement windscreen, but not extra towards the AP.
We are meeting some-one from the field team tomorrow to show her the problem in person and hoping that may be more constructive. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Hi ravenswing, and thanks for the insight… wow! I really hope you can get this sorted soon the process must be so stressful on you all. Good that the field person is meeting with you tomorrow, I hope between yourselves an amicable solution can be sought.
I was looking at a car size comparison tool, and yes i understand external dimensions are not everything as you have clearly stated the problems exist on the move-ability within the space inside, but alas the tool still makes a good starting point. The reason for looking at this is just to ensure there isn’t a vehicle you may have missed. So i entered the tuscon, and looked for auto vehicles similar in size, and close to the grant value – the results were the Kuga (petrol) obviously as that is spot on the grant value @ £695 AP, but also the Vauxhall Grandland x (diesel) @ £849 AP, and Renault Kadjar (diesel) @ £695 AP or (petrol) @ £795 AP.
Here’s the link to the size comparison tool http://www.automobiledimension.com/car-comparison.php
Apologies if you have considered these models prior, but just wanted to highlight them in case you missed them.
Good luck with the field person tomorrow, and as i said, I hope a solution can be sought quickly for you all.
Hi Trev, thanks, it has been incredibly stressful.
I hadn’t seen the size comparison, we’ve just been looking at dimensions manually, but as you say the external and internal don’t always reflect accurately. We did try the Kadjar and unfortunately (like the Qashqai) despite looking perfect on paper, the exit is compromised.
We do less than 6,000 miles per year, 95% of which are journeys of less than a mile and the dealers we have spoken to said we would have problems with a diesel within six months so we are trying to avoid them. We also hope to buy the car at the end of a slightly extended lease period as I feel I got lucky with PIP this time and it may not happen again, so we don’t want to store up any problems in the car for down the line.
We are really hoping for a more positive day tomorrow.
I have a diesel kuga – do just over 6000 miles a year and have never had a problem in an auto with the dpf so i wouldnt worry about it – worst case you would need to possibly stick it in sport mode ( it hangs onto the gear a bit longer ) and drive it a couple more miles
Today’s meeting with the member of the field team was really good. She took on board everything we said, checked how difficult it was for my husband to get out of the smaller SUVs (and some fair size). As a result she will be recommended that they fund the AP on a Toyota RAV4. It was our second favourite (the Kodiaq would have been lovely but far more expensive) so a good result.
We just need to arrange lumbar support as there is none available on the scheme models. The option is to have their conversion company fit one, but she said she cannot guarantee this will work (not quite sure what that means) or wait for a referral to Driving Mobility to see what lumbar cushion/roll they could recommend. Has anyone got experience of either?
I don’t get the animosity towards heated windscreen.
my cars have had it for at least ten years, from Fords, Land Rovers and now Volvo and not once have I ever had an issue in any weather conditions has it caused me any visual issues. You look through Tge screen, nit at it.
We don’t all have the same eyesight though Alan, things can effect us differently.
Problems with eyesight and heated windscreens are not common place, but also not unheard of. From looking online a replacement clear windscreen is the solution for those that are effected by it.
Hi just to add my Ford Grand C Max heated windscreen is awful when the sun reflects off of it so I do understand why others could find this a problem.
Can I suggest the BMW 2 Series active tourer if you have not already considered it.
I was quite impressed when I looked over it ( It is currently having a small facelift resulting in a long wait for delivery)
Thanks catchacold2.
We did have a look at the BMW after some-one on here flagged it up and liked it in many respects, but unfortunately the access for my husband just wasn’t quite as good.
Thanks Trev.
I have to provide a copy of insurance every time I get a courtesy car from ford when my Kuga is serviced. (My first ever motability car)
You get sent a copy of the insurance proof when you start your lease so that should cover you for an extended test drive.
Some dealers only insure for supervised test drives so for extended ones, which are unsupervised , its similar to the courtesy car process. I’ve had lots of different manufacturers ask for my own insurance going back to the 90,s.(nothing to do with being motability as I wasn’t then) Some dealers extend their insurance to cover events where extended unsupervised test drives are offered but this is becoming rare.
I’ve recently test driven a Kodiaq and I was told a maximum of 30 mins and in reality I got 10. I never say I’m a motability customer until I actually get there.
We’ve never had any problem getting an extended test drive. Usual a few hours. One we had Friday to Monday. And never any issue over insurance, just licence details, and I think once, NI numbers.
I think maybe because these were registered as demonstrators which aren’t always the engine or trim you want to buy.
We had one salesman sent us out in an unregistered new car (had 50 miles on the clock) on trade plates, said don’t forget we shut at 6. That was at lunchtime.
Salesman at another dealer was horrified. Said customers aren’t allowed to drive on trade plates.
So I got asked the same thing by ford told them to forget it.but what you do is phone your mobility insurance they give you a nr to give to ford that’s what I was told anyway.never had this problem with honda they just three the keys at us and said see yah later.Volkswagen dealer came with us and said go and do what you want to do.
Hi ravenswing glad to hear your getting the support needed, just as an alternative to the RAV4 I would suggest having a look at the Hyundai Tucson premium. It’s of similar size and has electric drivers lumber support adjustment. We have had ours since January and it’s a great allrounder.
We currently have the Tucson and love it, but have had ongoing problems from day one and the response from Hyundai has been less than helpful. A shame, as it suited us in every other respect…
I have a Rav4 Hybrid and find it easy to get in and out. The lowest economy I have got is 40 mpg, while the highest was 51mpg. You get a good bit of kit with it.
Thanks for that? Do you like driving it? All the motoring press reviews seem really negative and although our test drive was long we spent most of it in stop-start traffic and housing estates due to a massive accident.
Oops, didn’t mean to include that first question mark – makes it sound off and wasn’t meant to.
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