[Confusicated]

https://www.motability.co.uk/changes?utm_medium=email&utm_source=enewsletter&utm_campaign=2026-03-Prop_RenewingCarandWAVCustomersNewOrder&26-Mar-2026

Current: Chery Tiggo 8 'Summit' ICE

Previous Motability cars:
2013 Ford Focus estate auto.
2016 Vauxhal Zafira 1.4T SE Auto.
2019 Ford Kuga Vignale 1.5 auto AWD. (Ext lease)
2024 Renault Austral Iconic FHD (Early lease term.)

Topic

[Jason23]

I have just put the numbers through Co-Pilot and it reckons that the loss to my wife’s pension makes an NHS lease the worst option –

⭐ Motability is unquestionably the financially better option.

And not by a small margin — by a huge one.

Why?

The NHS lease hits both pension schemes
The 1995 scheme final salary reduction is extremely costly
The 2015 CARE reduction compounds every year
The Enyaq 85x is a high‑value EV, and Motability is exceptionally competitive for EVs
Your AP is a one‑off cost, not a continuous drain
No BIK, no pension loss, no risk
For someone in your wife’s exact pension position, the NHS lease is almost never the better choice.

 

 

 

[kezo]

Jason23 wrote:

The same car on MB as I said has a current AP of £6499 and a PiP Benefit cost of 4x£77.08 of £308.32

Is it Knowles or Fleet solutions where you are?

From April 26 PIP will be 4 x £80 (£320), then if we assume a £3 rise in benefit for 27/28, so year 2 4x£83 (£332) and year 3  4x£86 (£344) plus £6499 AP.

I expected to see tax and NI deductions, which may suggest a similar but different scheme they have for those NHS employes who are mobile for their work.

Unfortunately my niece is on holiday till Friday, so can’t really ask till she is home.

 

 

[Jason23]

We are in South Wales and she works for Hywel Dda so I believe it is Knowles – at least that where I got the quote from.

[Pablo]

Also pip is paid 4 weekly and not monthly, from 01/04 at £80 per week, £4160 annually, so actually works out at £346.67 per month.

You then also need to factor in the pip rate rises in 2027 and 2028, was over 3.8% this year.

When you add in the £6499 AP, the salary sacrifice will be substantially cheaper over the 3 years.

Obviously would need to factor in the reduced  pension  contributions and see how that would affect things longer term.

[Jason23]

Thanks @Pablo.

I just posted what Co-Pilot said above.

[kezo]

Jason23 wrote:

We are in South Wales and she works for Hywel Dda so I believe it is Knowles – at least that where I got the quote from.

Ass said early it effect pension by around 20% but you can put savings on private scheme offset somewhat. I would tell your wife to get concrete advice from her workplace, rather than listen to AI which wlikely won’t take into account the huge AP.

Given your in hospital (Glangwili or Morriston?) with suspected heart attack, the last thing you want right now is stress over figures 🙂

 

[Jason23]

I am in Morriston.

Not stressing but trying to keep my brain active and try to not worry too much about my heart health but I do appreciate your point.

[Rich44]

I will add amd i’m done with this until my MP gets back to me and if interesting I will pass it on.  I have signed various parliament petitions too.

I have run calculations on quite a few lease websites as obviously Motability is about as transparent as some British waterways.

Full mainteance agreement, obviously no insurance or breakdown cover but it’s as close as I can get

Random EVs I chose the same EV at each place and run with 3 different cars all base trim no options
36 months, 3 month upfront as deposit, 20k annual then again exactly the same with 10k mileage

Difference over 3 years between 20k and 10k was 300 pounds

300/30,000 mile difference equals well basically 1p per mile.

The raw saving for mileage is 300 pounds over 3 years in my examples and on top of that the most expensive mileage excess I found for the cars I was looking at was 12p per mile some were single digits per mile too.

Yes none of this includes insurance but vs the depreciation of the asset over 3 years would be worth considerably more than insurance costs esp if you have a fleet deal!

Motability should be forced to show why it needs 25p per excess mile because it seems to be more of a punishment to stop as many going over (I wonder if staff can buy thje cars off lease? Conspiracy theory LOL) than covering a cost at that price, remember there’s no extra tyres etc even if you pay Motabilty’s exorbitant mileage fee.  If they can’t or won’t produce figures to prove this thjen i’ll call it right here and now they are abusing their monopoly and if anyone other than banks owned Motability as a charity and was sitting on so much cash reserves they woulkd be investigated and broken up.

Aside from anything else this shows that Motability NEEDS competition to keep them honest.  Be honest over recent years has anyone not noticed the decline in care and service from them?  I have definitely different from responses I gpot from 2020 wasn’t perfect even years ago but much better than now.

Honestly Andrew Miller what you wrote to me sounded aside from the first paragraph sounded like not one person there cares. Especially that awful comment, if you need more miles simply PAY – oh FFS!

[kezo]

Jason23 wrote:

I am in Morriston. Not stressing but trying to keep my brain active and try to not worry too much about my heart health but I do appreciate your point.

Neath.

Not knowing the sub band of your wifes grade, you can run this calculator for an idea (should beself explanatory)

https://nhssalarycalculators.co.uk/nhs-salary-sacrifice-car-calculator/

@Rich44 be interested how you get on.

 

[Jason23]

Thanks @kezo.

[BigDave]

 

Motability Scheme’s latest take on why the mileage allowance is changing (published today, 30th March 26 on their social media channels):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGxXdtqcBzg

 

[ajn]

Could’ve been a little more subtle, rather than barking you pay more…

I would’ve had a retake..

😐 .

[fwippers]

Comments are turned off, wonder why!

[kezo]

All B😀llocks imo, when they could have done the same system as leasing companies.

 

[MFillingham]

There needs to be some common sense applied here.  It’s been said several times but when commercial leases can be adjusted for extra mileage allowance, there’s no reason why Motability can’t be flexible with an addition to the AP agreed in advance.  Simply put, on a car where the new AP would be £1,000 a 15,000 annual allowance could make that AP £1,750 and if you need 20k, you pay £2,500.  I know there will be people for whom the extra payment is unaffordable but it helps the majority.

I'm Autistic, if I say something you find offensive, please let me know, I can guarantee it was unintentional.
I'll try to give my honest opinion but am always open to learning.

Mark

[Joe]

My question would be where have they taken the information that 3/4s of Motability cutomers drive less than 10k miles a year?

Have they actually looked at what the milage was when their last car was returned of every single one of the 800k or so customers, I appreciate a proportion of this number will be people who have taken out their 1st lease, or have they sent out a survey to a small proportion of customers and found that 3/4s of those who responded said they did less than 10k a year?

• This reply was modified 3 months, 2 weeks ago by Joe.

[DJWheels]

Almost certainly the mileage entered into Motability OLA (Online Application) at the hand back stage of the lease.  Or from the MOT.

They need the final mileage for when they sell it to BCA or on their dealer direct website to calculate what reserve / sale price the car needs to be offered at.

Then it’s just a case of dividing the final mileage by the number of days the lease was in-life (so for a perfect 3 year lease with no overage – 1092 days; aka 39 weeks) to get the daily.   Add up every daily on the scheme and divide by the number of cars.

[justpassing]

I wonder if people who do under 10k miles would be happy paying an extra £1100 a year to subsidise those who do over that?
Savings have to be made somewhere along the line.

[Rich44]

So cut European travel completely I don’t want to fund that yet that would upset others. This tit for tat argument is a race to the bottom I sure you’ve seen the old I don’t have kids why should I pay for schools argument. It’s a tired trope doesn’t have to be this way.

No ones saying no cuts or changes BUT this is exactly what we all went loopy at Labour over disability cuts without any impact assessments into how it will affect people. These changes without consultation as a dictate to us from a company with a complete monopoly is the problem.

Give us options 25p per mile is more than any other lease company in the UK from what I’ve seen and that was full maintenance so only thing missing was insurance.

I highly doubt I’m the only one worrying about excess mileage given we have hospital visits for

Diabetes, Coeliac disease, ENT, Neurology, Autism related stuff and more.

Most of those are quarterly and each dept does it own thing. The hospital is 30 miles each way and no we can’t move.

This doesn’t need to be people picking bits off motability they don’t use and pointing at it, it’s not how they work for one and it’s entirely unproductive.

I was done with this thread but I came to publish what my MP has said and he knows us very well as he supported us thru a lot of awful stuff inc several suicide attempts by a family member who the NHS refused to help repeatedly anyway not relevant. I’ll publish it below in its own post if anyone’s actually interested in pushing back

[Rich44]

Dear,

It’s good to hear from you, although I’m sorry it’s in the context of yet more pressure on you and your family.

I know from our previous conversations just how much you’re all juggling — the hospital travel, ongoing treatment, and the sheer logistics of day-to-day life. What you’ve set out here about the Motability changes really brings home how disconnected these proposals are from the reality families like yours are living.

The potential for very significant excess mileage charges, on top of everything else, is deeply concerning. As you say, the distances you’re travelling aren’t optional — they’re essential. A scheme designed to support independence shouldn’t leave people facing large bills simply for meeting medical needs.

I’m raising these concerns with Motability Operations and the Department for Transport, alongside similar issues raised by other constituents — particularly around mileage limits, excess charges, and whether proper impact assessments have been carried out for people with high travel needs.

If you’d like me to take up your individual circumstances directly with Motability as well, I’m very happy to do that — just let me know and I can arrange the necessary authorisation.

Please do keep in touch, and thank you, as ever, for setting this out so clearly — it really helps strengthen the case I’m making.

With best wishes,

[Ant3]

@Rich44 that’s a good reply from your MP. I had a similarly encouraging response when I contacted our MP, he’s known for being particularly keen on disability matters. If lots of us make plenty of noise about this ridiculously unfair excess mileage charge, who knows…  it might make no difference, but we at least have to try.

[markp1]

I managed to get an email through to Andrew Miller registering my anger and dismay at the mileage changes and have had a reply which I’ll put here. I know it’s not much but if those who are angered by this email Miller and their MP we might at least raise wider awareness of these changes to the scheme and the effect they’ll have.

 

I do wonder if there has been any impact assessments done, I highly doubt it and if not if Motability are forced into doing them it may show that the impact falls foul of discrimination laws but I don’t know enough about them to be sure but I thought all changes to schemes like this have to have impact assessments done?

Anyway, this was Millers reply and I’ve already has further contact from Sam Hulance a Senior Customer Solutions Account Manager!

 

Dear Mr. Miller,

 

I am writing to formally express my strong opposition to the changes announced for new Motability leases starting from 1 July 2026. Specifically, I am challenging the decision to:

 

Reduce the annual mileage allowance and increase the excess mileage charge by 500%.

 

Increasing the excess mileage charge from 5p to 25p per mile which let’s face it is extortionate and bears no comparison to mileage charged by dealers on private PCP’s. It’s almost as though someone shut their eyes and just plucked a figure out of thin air and said “this one”!

 

Increasing the excess mileage charge by 500% (from 5p to 25p) creates a significant financial barrier that penalises those whose disabilities require more frequent travel. The Motability Scheme was founded to provide “worry-free” mobility; these changes instead create financial anxiety and potentially “trap” disabled people in their homes to avoid punitive costs.

 

As a disabled person who relies on the Motability Scheme for essential independence, these changes represent a severe restriction on my freedom of movement. For many users, 10,000 miles a year is insufficient to cover regular medical appointments, social care needs, and daily life—especially for those living in rural areas (which I do) with limited public transport. In fact in my last car on the scheme I clocked up just over 50,000 miles and in my current car, which has just under 4 months to run currently has 42,614 and will probably top 47000 by the time I reach July 20th producing the ball clenching figures of £5000 for my first lease and £4250 for this one. That is totally unsustainable for me and I suspect many others. I am out of work and rely on benefits so just running a car and finding an AP is difficult enough, even more so with the Trump/Netanyahu war in Iran and the wider Middle East forcing up prices of just about everything but particularly fuel.

 

I am lucky in that I can order my next car before the cataclysmic changes are enforced on 1st July and I’m grateful for that stroke of luck. However I still have to find an AP and have been forced to sell my deceased parents jewellery, which I wanted to pass onto my kids, in order to get £1000 to at least give me the chance of finding something I might actually want to drive for 3 years assuming AP’s don’t continue to climb at alarming rates, something that’s happened on your watch. However unless these decisions are reconsidered and reduced in severity if I continue to do well over the punitive 27 miles per day I would be allowed under these new rules this will be my 3rd and final car on the scheme and I am not the only one saying this.

 

I have to say I wonder where you get your assertion that “on average scheme members only drive 7500 miles a year”. Really? Did you put out a questionnaire and only used  those who said they do low mileage as I’m on a forum where the vast majority are doing many more than that. Do you realise that your 10,000 mile a year limit equates to just 27 miles per day. For those of us living in a rural area with poor and often inaccessible public transport that’s an impossible number to keep to. To have slashed the 20,000 per year limit by 50% is reckless and far from supporting us as you claim it will force disabled people from the scheme forever. I suspect the last thing you or the motor industry needs is a mass exodus from the scheme.

 

I also note that whilst taking this wrecking ball to the scheme you yourself do not seem to have taken any of the hit. In fact the opposite as a quick google search shows you earned a 23.5% pay increase in 2025, bringing your total remuneration to £924,000. This package includes a £501,000 base salary, a £300,000 bonus, and benefits like a £21,000 car allowance. How can this be justified especially that bonus, a bonus for what exactly; royally shafting disabled people?

 

When The Mail and The Telegraph started spouting about “benefit scroungers driving free luxury cars” what did Motability do? Did you put them right, try to reclaim the narrative and put facts out there..no, you did absolutely nothing to dispel the lies being peddled. When this narrative was parroted by Reform and the Tories did you pipe up then? Nope, again silence while the public were duped into believing the lies as fact. Then when the chancellor banged on about free luxury cars, repeating those lies what did you do? You meekly removed perceived luxury brands to appease these people.

 

Then when she carried on picking on us and the scheme by the imposition of VAT on AP’s and then insurance tax what did the highly paid CEO of motability do? Did he say that’s enough, did he push back, did he rally the motor industry for whom motability customers make up 20% of all cars sold in this country to petition against it? Seemingly no, what he did was pocket his inflated, unjustified salary and meekly did as he was told and took a wrecking ball to the scheme. I wonder if Neville Chamberlain is a hero to you and if appeasement of the jealous and ill informed is what you will want to remembered for.

 

So I implore you and your board to reconvene today and review your flawed/made up data (delete as appropriate) and go for a mileage allowance of 15000 which is much more realistic and to also reduce the punitive 25p per mile excess to something more reasonable. Then you should resign and admit you have failed the very people who rely on Motability.

 

I request a formal response outlining how Motability Operations plans to support users who inherently require more than 10,000 miles per year due to their specific disability needs if you refuse to review what is clearly flawed planning.

 

Please note I have copied this in to my MP in the hope this can be raised in parliament.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Mark Pithers

Andrew Miller’s email address is andrewmiller@mo.co.uk

 

sorry everyone thats my email to him here is his reply:-

Dear Mark,

 

Thank you for getting in touch to share your concerns regarding the recent changes to the Motability Scheme, particularly the reduction in mileage allowance, increase in excess mileage charges, and the impact this may have on your ability to continue with the Scheme. I am sorry to hear of your disappointment and understand why these changes will be concerning for many customers.

 

As outlined in our recent announcement, the changes are in response to increased costs following Government tax changes. We have taken careful steps to manage these costs and reduce the impact on customers, while ensuring the Scheme remains affordable and sustainable for the long term. Our priority remains to protect what matters most to customers and to continue offering an all-inclusive package that provides confidence and peace of mind.

 

I appreciate you taking the time to contact me and your MP.  I can assure you that these changes have not been made lightly by me or my team. I will pass your email to our solutions team, who will review your comment and provide a response. They will be in touch within 24 hours and will keep me updated.

 

Andrew

Andrew Miller

Chief Executive

 

Motability Operations

6th Floor, 22 Bishopsgate

London, EC2N 4BQ

• This reply was modified 3 months, 2 weeks ago by markp1.

[Joe]

I’ve drafted a letter to send to my MP. Though I don’t hold out much hope as he hasn’t been particularly responsive so far when I’ve previously contacted him. Any feedback on what I have written will be helpful and appreciated

Dear

I am contacting you about the change in mileage allowance for the Motability scheme from 20k miles per annum to 10k miles and the increase to 25p per mile charge for exceeding the mileage limit. This change unfairly penalises drivers with disabilities on the Motability scheme who rely on their car for hospital and doctor appointments, work, and other essential activities. Many of us are unable to access public transport, for example, there is one bus each way a week where I live, and many disabled customers are unable to use public transport, walk distances, or cycle, so we have no alternative than to use our cars.

!0k miles per annum equates to approximately 192 miles per week or 27 miles per day. The nearest hospital to where I live is 32 miles there and back, and the nearest major town is roughly 28 miles there and back. Others have an even longer journey. The government claims that they want to encourage more of those with disabilities to go to work, and yet this new mileage limit measures being introduced will make it harder for those with disabilities to do so.

The 25p per mile excess mileage charge is a punitive measure which is way above what private lease companies charge.

Many of the customers with disabilities are unable to obtain private loans or leases because of poor credit rating, so have no other choice than to use Motability.

These measures have been brought in without any consultation with any disabled groups or disabled customers.

It seems that people with disabilities are being unfairly penalised for using something that is not a luxury but an essential for them to live any kind of life, to appease the press and its misinformation around the scheme and out of fear of voters turning to other more right leaning parties.

I look forward to your reply.

[markp1]

Sorry everyone, I pasted my initial email and not Andrew Miller’s reply. I have now edited my post and pasted it there but here it is also as it’s a bit easier:-

Dear Mark,

 

Thank you for getting in touch to share your concerns regarding the recent changes to the Motability Scheme, particularly the reduction in mileage allowance, increase in excess mileage charges, and the impact this may have on your ability to continue with the Scheme. I am sorry to hear of your disappointment and understand why these changes will be concerning for many customers.

 

As outlined in our recent announcement, the changes are in response to increased costs following Government tax changes. We have taken careful steps to manage these costs and reduce the impact on customers, while ensuring the Scheme remains affordable and sustainable for the long term. Our priority remains to protect what matters most to customers and to continue offering an all-inclusive package that provides confidence and peace of mind.

 

I appreciate you taking the time to contact me and your MP.  I can assure you that these changes have not been made lightly by me or my team. I will pass your email to our solutions team, who will review your comment and provide a response. They will be in touch within 24 hours and will keep me updated.

 

Andrew

Andrew Miller

Chief Executive

 

Motability Operations

6th Floor, 22 Bishopsgate

London, EC2N 4BQ

[MFillingham]

So far, that’s a standard issue fob off.  What isn’t surprising is that they’re just responding to the government’s decisions to tax the scheme whilst ignoring complaints about their abject inability to defend the same scheme.

Half a million a year plus bonus. We know where Kier can go after the next election, if Motability still exists then, that is.

I'm Autistic, if I say something you find offensive, please let me know, I can guarantee it was unintentional.
I'll try to give my honest opinion but am always open to learning.

Mark

[Author]

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