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Hi everyone.
I hope I am posting in the correct area but I would like your opinions and advice regarding my current situation.
Before that however allow me to introduce myself, my name is Dave, I suffer from neurodiverstity, anxiety and blood pressure issues. After a recent re-assesment I have been upgraded to the enhanced rate of the mobility component of PIP. I have been driving for over 20 years but my own vehicle has been off the road since November 2025 so I was delighted to become eligible for Motability.
Now onto the issue. After some research I was interested in the new Honda Civic e:Hev Sport. I contacted my local Honda dealership via their online enquiries form, this led to me recieving a reply the following day via email, I responded to their email within 8 minutes but failed to get any further replies. Due to not having access to transport of my own I made use of a support worker visit by asking them to take me to the dealership where I met the Motability rep. I questioned why I hadn’t had any replies to my emails, her response was, “Oh, I saw the email but I thought it was someone else.”. I made no further issue of it and was shown the new Civic which I sat in to check if I could fit (I’m 6 foot 5) and found that I could. I asked about test drives and was told that test drives are a maximum of 10 – 15 minutes accomanied by a member of the dealership staff, but if I wanted longer I could arrange to take the car out on my own, how long do I get if I take the car out on myy own I asked, 20 minutes was the reply (this doesn’t seem long enough to get a feeling for a car), again, I made no issue of it, asked to book a test drive as I was told they couldn’t do one there and then, I explained my situation, that I had to rely on support worker visits to get to the dealership and asked was it possible for them (the dealership) to bring the car to me, they agreed and a date and time was arranged (Wednesday 11th March 2026, and they would arrive at my house between 5pm and 5:15pm – This was booked on Monday 2nd March so 9 days to wait). Today (as I’m writing this) is the 11th March and I’m sad to say that the dealership never showed up to give me the test drive and didn’t make any attempt to contact me either. I’m absolutely gutted, time is rapidly running out until the end of the quarter and theres probably a maximum of 3 more support visits I can arrange before the start of April.
Is this normal behaviour for dealerships on the Motability scheme (it’s a major dealership, not a small back street place)?
I appreciate any help and advice on this.
Thanks in advance.
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Well, that sucks.
I tend to treat dealerships according to one rule. They will be at their most attentive when they’re getting the sale, even if it’s only a Motability one. If they are presenting with a sub par response, I’d move on as their response should the car have any problems in the next 3 years would be even worse.
I’m afraid I can’t offer alternatives as petrol cars aren’t my strength, I drive EVs and have done for the last 3 cars. Have a look on the Motability search site and see what appeals, see what dealerships are local and contact them. See who is most helpful and which car you’d like most.
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
Thanks Mark, I appreciate the reply.
I’ve spent the last couple of hours having a pleasant chat with a Google Gemini Ai Bot which has helped me obtain all the relevent contact details for the dealerships General manager and their head office director of Motability, it also helped create emails to send to the dealership, the dealerships head office and Motability opperations along with providing various other bits of useful information which I wasn’t aware of but will definitley be of use. These Ai’s may well be out to ‘take over the world from us worthless humans’, but if it’s information helps they can do whatever they want.
Hi RockDude,
Unfortunately, your business as a Motability customer is not a high priority to most dealers.
The actually make a ridiculously small amount of money for each order, I’ve been told as little as £50 per vehicle! That doesn’t even cover the cost of a couple of hours with the Motability specialist.
Whilst it is true the dealers offload a significant number of vehicles via the Scheme, it’s just a numbers game. Retail customers are what keep dealerships going.
It’s a simple fact of life that their efforts are proportional to the profit they see in you walking through the door. Most simply do not care about your difficulty making a visit to them.
I have had contact with just about every VW Van Centre in the UK, trying to get a vehicle order. I can only describe VW customer service levels as pathetic. The best have been just OK.
Complaints only get you to the gatekeeper. Someone skilled in the art of fobbing you off. “Sorry you feel like that” but not sorry at all.
I’d say that complaining only makes the situation worse. Same for NHS, Motability, etc.
My advice would be find a different dealers and give them your business rather than reward the one that treated you so badly.
Are there any other Honda dealerships your support worker would be prepared to take you. Perhaps phone and enquire first but from what I have found is dealers are less interested unless you turn up. I’d also recommend not being in a rush to tell them you are Motability untill your prepared to order.
The actually make a ridiculously small amount of money for each order, I’ve been told as little as £50 per vehicle! That doesn’t even cover the cost of a couple of hours with the Motability specialist.
Motability Dealer Partnership (MDP) programme provides financial rewards to dealer partners who deliver great customer service get between £155 to £255 ontop
The actually make a ridiculously small amount of money for each order, I’ve been told as little as £50 per vehicle! That doesn’t even cover the cost of a couple of hours with the Motability specialist.
Bit of a non-sequitur. The vast majority of salesmen don’t care for the dealership numbers, why would they. A McDonalds burgerflipper isn’t interested in the target sales either, that’s a management issue, not for the guy who tries to sell you a car.
Before it’s brought up, the vast majority of salesmen in the UK just get paid an hourly rate. There’s no performance based rates (anymore). We talked about this with our current contact at Hyundai, when we originally ordered the car we were talking about why we didn’t immediately mention that we’re MB customers.
His reply was that it doesn’t matter at all. He gets a car out of the door, doesn’t matter who it goes to – it makes no impact on his salary. Of course, the branch manager may have a different idea (because for him, there is a difference between a MB and private customer, money wise) – but the average salesguy has no stakes.
We had one bad experience (and i went through quite a few dealerships for SEAT, Ford, VW, Skoda, Renault, Hyundai etc), with a VW dealership in Bridgend. We opted to bite the bullet and drove 40ish miles to the next one, where we then met a lovely lady (Denise in Port Talbot), who was as friendly as could be, made us feel welcome and even rolled out the red carpet when we picked up the car (complete with red bow on the bonnet etc in the “special pick up hall”).
Point being: if you’re getting awful service, it generally has more to do with the fact that you met a prick. Be it political views (“hurr free cars”), being a general muppet or simply a bad day, from our experience, there’s no systemic discrimination against a MB customer. Been with the scheme for 10 years now, and to roughly 15 dealerships of all kinds of marques (even a Mercedes one, we were looking at the GLA a long time ago) including countless test drives – and apart from that one guy at VW Bridgend (which, as we’ve been told in Port Talbot, isn’t popular with other employees either), we haven’t had a single bad experience.
Quite the opposite, indeed. We almost always got an in-situ test drive, usually for 60 minutes and unaccompanied, coffee etc. We had extended test drives (Golf GTE, 5 hours), we had offers for 24 and 48 hour test drives (Ford Explorer) without asking, in that case from the sales manager directly etc – at least here in south wales, there’s no noticeable difference. I don’t know how the vast majority of dealerships could’ve made us feel more welcome.
Prior: SEAT Ateca Xcellence Lux 1.5 TSI DSG MY19, VW Golf GTE PHEV DSG MY23
Current: Hyundai Ioniq 6 Ultimate
Next: we'll see what's available in 2028.Rene,
We’ve had the same experience ourselves. Largely impeccable service from the salesmen, whom I expect have been chosen specifically for their personal qualities.
My observation, this time around, would be that everything has changed. Sales personnel are doing the work of 2 or 3 people because staff get laid off in bare times. Everything is cut to the bone. People don’t ring back because they’re too busy and have no time. Service drops and what was an acceptable level 5 years ago is now a luxury they can’t afford.
The guy I’m ordering with has been good. Particularly, the hoops we’re all having to jump through with the lease agreement being via a Court of Protection Deputy and therefore an agent. I’m certain he could have just fobbed us off but has gone the extra because he’s invested in our situation. There are many that aren’t.
Unfortunately, it is what it is and am a guilty as anyone for generalising.
I really think this will be the last time we use the Scheme though. Three years hence it will be unrecognisable but if it isn’t that will be a bonus.
Thanks Mark, I appreciate the reply. I’ve spent the last couple of hours having a pleasant chat with a Google Gemini Ai Bot which has helped me obtain all the relevent contact details for the dealerships General manager and their head office director of Motability, it also helped create emails to send to the dealership, the dealerships head office and Motability opperations along with providing various other bits of useful information which I wasn’t aware of but will definitley be of use. These Ai’s may well be out to ‘take over the world from us worthless humans’, but if it’s information helps they can do whatever they want.
Sorry but I am unable to be of much help apart from suggesting that you ALSO use AI when choosing a car and simply ask it
Honda Civic e:Hev Sport problems
I only make mention as you said you are new to the scheme and use AI and I simply want things to go well for you
We can agree that all cars can have some issues but the Honda Civic e:Hev Sport has imo far more problems than is usual/acceptable
In fact as a seasoned MB user
I find some of those issues to be major and quite alarming and unacceptable and I personally would steer well clear and suspect the savvy members on here may well agree
Its not as if it has just been launched
They have had since 2022 to make improvments
It looks nice thats about it
Not sure if in your shoes I would waste any more of what is limited time getting in a spat with HQ
Point is there are far better cars out there imo and if I may politely suggest its best to always do a bit of homework before deciding
I hope this is taken as it is intended
Good luck with your search and please update us going forward
A tale of 2 different experiences with dealerships.
First experience was with Mercedes Benz Bristol, pre booked a test drive in a Smart#1 online and with a week’s notice. Confirmed via by them via email.
Roll on to the day of the test drive and an hours journey, to find that they had given the car to a salesperson to take home on their rest day. This took them an hour to tell me, obviously not impressed but out of my hands. Salesperson was apologetic and TBH not his fault. I declined to return on another date, once bitten twice shy.Second experience at Mercedes Benz Poole. Started on a good foot, they had a car to test drive! The whole experience was very pleasant, carried out professionally by Ian the salesperson. I was allowed the car for 3 hours on my own. On my return, an ample supply of coffee and biscuits were provided. At no point did I feel that I was being treated any differently to the usual retail customer. I even got a free boot liner thrown in, so order placed.
As others have said, if you have not received a good level of customer service, try another dealer. For me it has meant a 4 hours round trip, but I feel was well worth it.
I had an awful experience with VW Swansea after ordering the car which I ended up cancelling and going with Skoda Swansea instead where the salesman was so good, we ended up buying a new car for the missus as well.
Then we had a Nissan from Swansea and they were excellent and I went back for the Ariya I currently have and my inlaws went there for their Leaf as well.
You are a customer and should be treated with respect and dignity.
VW Stafford would not even let us sit in the test vehicle let alone test drive, Skoda Brownhill refused a test drive point blank in fact did not really want to talk to us, Hodson Ford Penkridge would only allow a test drive after we had signed the paperwork.
Despite the above all other dealers have been excellent.
Unfortunately I have suffered a brain injury and occasionally I get confused and often say the wrong thing.
One question for all these people with bad experiences, did you submit feedback to Motability?
Motability have said multiple times that they want the experience within their accredited dealerships to be positive ones and all dealerships are made aware that they have a responsibility to ensure the vehicle they provide is suitable for each customer. Which, to me at least, means you’ve got to be able to test drive the car for a decent period of time to be sure that it suits your needs.
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
I contacted Motability about my experiences with our local VW dealer, basically sorry but not interested. Didn’t want any details from me even though a friend had had the same treatment from them.
Please excuse spelling/typos. Apart from being a clot it turns out I had one on my cerebellum that's now causing various problems!
As others have said, if a dealership treats me in a sub-par way, then they don’t get my business, there are plenty of dealerships around, ok, they might not be just down the road, but so what, I’d rather travel for good service than suffer a crap one locally.
Accompanied short test drives are the norm at some dealerships – such as Arnold Clark, as they won’t spend the money on their insurance cover to allow unaccompanied drives.
Most dealerships I went to were very good, worst were Renault Perth – basically told me to go away. VW Aberdeen, ignored me, then were extremely meh about anything I wanted to look at. Honda Aberdeen – salesman was very rude and test drive was a joke, less than 3 minutes. Smaller rural/small town independents tended to be better than big groups. The brilliant dealerships locally for me were Ford Forfar, Kia Forfar, Skoda Perth, BMW Aberdeen, Citroen Montrose (no longer in business). All allowed unaccompanied test drives, rural ones were “here’s the keys, keep it as long as you need it, we close at 6pm…”. BMW was 2 hours max – but that’s plenty of time.
Not as much choice nowadays as dealership models mean lots of smaller ones are closing leading to monopoly issues. Arnold Clark for instance has loads of brands sewn up locally between Aberdeen, Dundee and Perth, hence my using them for my Hyundai – the Dundee branch Motability guy was very good to be fair.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
Finally managed to get an application approved for a VW Transporter Shuttle LWB for my daughter. 5 months after first asking for an early termination we’re nearly there!
Joshua at VW Van Centre Birmingham was great and tenacious with the complexities involving Motability and a Court of Protection Deputy.No chance of a test drive – only a handful in the country! That base covered by a drive in a Ford Torneo Custom which is basically identical.
Pencilled in for March 23 collection. Would rather not have the 7 hour roundtrip again, but thems the rules!
Will post a review when we’ve had it a few weeks.
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