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Hi,
so I was given some incorrect information by a representative at Motability about when I order a new vehicle and the how and when the swap would occur. They told me that if the new vehicle arrives sooner than my current lease ended that it’s fine and it would just mean I swap a bit earlier … great! My needs have changed and so off I go to order a new vehicle … cue the dealership telling me my new lease would be delivered only few days after my renewal/application date, good news! Or so I thought … the dealership said they were sure I’d have to wait till the end of my renewal and to double check whilst with them. Well they were right, I was given the wrong information!
So given the new information I then ask Motability to consider early termination due to my needs changing. I agree I’d pay the early termination fee and waive any good condition bonus, but first I need to explain to the customer service representative why/how my needs have changed … So I did … 3 different ways in plain English. They didn’t understand any which way I explained it. Probing more personal side of things and frankly making me feel uncomfortable. All to no avail and they refused my request which came across as ‘because you’re so close to the end of your lease, I believe it’s not in your best interest to allow the early termination’
So what now? The new car will be sitting at the dealership for nearly 3 months whilst I struggle on? All because they didn’t understand my needs sufficiently enough. Never mind I’m now only in this position because I was given incorrect advice by one of their very own!
anybody else had similar issues? thank you.
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Hi
All phone jockeys just like us can be prone to making mistakes or possibly simply being misunderstood
As you have had a lease for a few yrs you should at least have been given a motorbility walk through pack that explained everything
Checking into your online motorbility account would also have told you everthing you needed to know
You say I’m now only in this position because I was given incorrect advice by one of their very own!
Unless Im missing something your position now imo remains the same as it was
Hi, so I was given some incorrect information by a representative at Motability about when I order a new vehicle and the how and when the swap would occur. They told me that if the new vehicle arrives sooner than my current lease ended that it’s fine and it would just mean I swap a bit earlier … great! My needs have changed and so off I go to order a new vehicle … cue the dealership telling me my new lease would be delivered only few days after my renewal/application date, good news! Or so I thought … the dealership said they were sure I’d have to wait till the end of my renewal and to double check whilst with them. Well they were right, I was given the wrong information! So given the new information I then ask Motability to consider early termination due to my needs changing. I agree I’d pay the early termination fee and waive any good condition bonus, but first I need to explain to the customer service representative why/how my needs have changed … So I did … 3 different ways in plain English. They didn’t understand any which way I explained it. Probing more personal side of things and frankly making me feel uncomfortable. All to no avail and they refused my request which came across as ‘because you’re so close to the end of your lease, I believe it’s not in your best interest to allow the early termination’ So what now? The new car will be sitting at the dealership for nearly 3 months whilst I struggle on? All because they didn’t understand my needs sufficiently enough. Never mind I’m now only in this position because I was given incorrect advice by one of their very own! anybody else had similar issues? thank you.
Welcome to the forum @fos85 ,
Whilst I think we can all understand and empathise with your current predicament, it really has to be taken in the context that you did sign by entering a PIN, a three year (39 x 4-weekly payments) contract for your current vehicle.
Any variation to this contract, i.e. an early termination is and has always been at Motability Operation’s sole discretion, i.e. there is not right for the customer to terminate early.
I believe by your stated timings that the future VAT changes to the scheme from 1st July 26 would not apply to you, but you can bet your bottom dollar that Motability will be on the alert for customers attempting to early terminate vehicles in order to circumvent the future VAT position. You may have inadvertantly got rolled up into that, hence their refusal.
However, you say you contacted Motability and were ‘given their blessing’ to early terminate initially. Was this by live chat and did you retain a copy (screenshot) of the conversation?
If it was by telephone, can you ask Motability if there is a record of your call, either ‘on screen’ or a recording?
Without either of those, it is really your word against theirs and Motability do have the right to hold you to your contract. An early termination, even including the £250 termination fee usually results in a net financial loss for Motability, so I can also see it from their point of view.
Have you also get it in writing from your dealership that they will hold your chosen vehicle for three months? Many dealers will not want to do this, as it ties up much needed space on their premises and the vehicle could be sold to another customer.
Also it may be contractual on the dealership to sell the vehicle during the current quarter (else they have to buy it and register it then sell it as ‘pre-registered’ which negates it then being sold as a Motability vehicle). More so as we are approaching both the end of a quarter and also the end of the Financial year.
If they do sell ‘your’ vehicle and reorder a factory build for you, as @jojo22 above says, you are really only back to the position you should have been in had this incident not occurred i.e. a factory order with a circa 3 month wait time, which brings you to your contractual change date.
Hi guys, thank you both for your replies.
I get that people are only human and do makes mistakes, but when you as a customer are calling an entity such as Motability for clarification (after reading all the paperwork) asking if there are any options with your current lease due to changes of circumstance, you’d expect the person on the other end of the phone to double check the info they were giving out would be correct.
I’m just left frustrated that I have spoken to them several times and was given a different answer twice and then the third time. when I thought we’d got to the bottom of the misunderstandings and come to and solution, to then have the door closed because the person in question didn’t understand my needs etc.
I think more training of their staff is the very minimum they need to do when working with such a complex web of different needs and circumstance as they obviously were clueless about how my disabilities affect me.
If it is the case that they are tarring everybody with the same brush with regards to the VAT changes … Then shame on them. I was not fully aware of this until you told me. The only thing I was aware of was that the dealership told me that If I was to order my vehicle before the next quarter they would guarantee any upward price change would not affect me.
They also spoke to their manager about holding said vehicle until my lease was up and they were fine with that too. Hopefully they do honour that, I have it in writing that the car is question is mine. It’ll just now sit for 10 weeks rather being used for the very reason I ordered it as soon as they said I could.
Fortunately I can manage as I am now, it’s not ideal, but there are probably others out there that this would be a bigger problem for.
I’ll take this as lesson learned and move on. Overall the Motability scheme and staff have been excellent and I can’t praise them enough normally.
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