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I suspect by the end of the decade the scheme will be unrecognisable
You are probably not far wrong there!
So apart from the cars that have already been removed, do we know when other changes will take affect?
Will we see increases in AP’s within days or in January list, as well as reduced mileage allowance etc.
My current lease ends 4th May so can put pen to paper from 4th Feb.
It might not affect you but (without going into our personal circumstances) we use the 20k allowance in full and any reduction will affect us massively. Together with the introduction of pay per mile for EVs, its a double whammy that we simply won’t be able to afford. Feeling robbed.
We don’t know the full story yet, so its not worth worrying about yet. I the same breath 2028 is a long way off and anything could happen between now and then. Remember, half the stuff surrounding Motability that has we have seen in in the red book, was never mentioned in the budget.
The Red Book IS the budget though. What the Chancellor says in the Commons is just a budget statement.
Motability are saying that existing leases will be unaffected and they will be reviewing the impact of all of the changes over the next 6 months, so I’d hazard a guess that new leases from next summer will be hit with the full impact. The obvious exception being the removal of all premium brands, which is effective from this week.
The Red Book IS the budget though. What the Chancellor says in the Commons is just a budget statement. Motability are saying that existing leases will be unaffected and they will be reviewing the impact of all of the changes over the next 6 months, so I’d hazard a guess that new leases from next summer will be hit with the full impact. The obvious exception being the removal of all premium brands, which is effective from this week.
Yes, but it’s pointless guessing at figurers that are not there😉
@kezo I thought of you when I was in a private hire Mercedes the other day, after your recent comment that you are going to leave Motability and probably buy a diesel that “will see you out”.
The car is a 10 year old E220 CDi estate which the driver bought when it was 3 years old. I last used him 2 years ago and the car had done around 300,000 miles. On Monday I was chatting to him about this and he said “look at the dash now”. The car has now done 424,000 miles. He services it himself but put it into a Mercedes main dealer for one job because “at £142 including the part it just wasn’t worth me doing it myself”. Unbelievably it’s still on the original engine and timing belt. The car drove very well on both local roads and the motorway and he’s in no rush to change it as he said it’s been worry free. This made me smile when so many Motability customers think that anything other than a brand new car every 3 years is a recipe for financial ruin 😂
When I leased my BMW 4 series privately, I had a 30k per annum mileage allowance.
Motability could easily charge an extremely low amount for additional mileage if they’re being forced into reducing the allowance.
Elon Musk hates Labour. Maybe he would fund any court action taken against this disgusting government.
Elon Musk hates Labour. Maybe he would fund any court action taken against this disgusting government.
I assume this comment is some sort of sick joke. Whatever you think about this government, encouraging a repugnant, far right megalomaniac to meddle in our country’s politics is not the answer.
In my opinion, these series of less favourable changes will heavily reduce the number of customers on Motability, essentially triggering various negative chain of events.
Car manufacturers offer discounts to Motability to secure a large share of the fleet market (Primark Model). If the scheme shrinks, manufacturers might lose the economies of scale and be forced to increase prices for all new car buyers to offset the reduced volume and maintain profitability.
Dealerships, particularly those in more deprived areas where Motability sales are a higher percentage of their business, could face severe financial strain or closure.
Motability vehicles typically return to the used car market after three years, providing a steady and significant supply of second hand cars. A decrease in new Motability sales would, in a few years, lead to a reduced supply of used cars, which could potentially cause second hand car prices to increase, which we already witnessed it during Covid when Motability was heavily affected.
As the largest fleet buyer in the UK, a mass exodus of Motability customers would significantly damage the automotive industry by reducing demand for new cars. This could lead to job losses and reduced corporate tax revenue, further negatively impacting the government’s budget.
Therefore these cost cutting as framed by the Chancellor, could be false economy. We know they love to do U-turns, let us hope this is no difference, though doubtful.
It seems strange that whether you are rich or poor you can get or did get DLA or PIP now and you could get the high end cars if you could afford the higher AP so it seems to me madness that say a Mercedes with a renault engine a Alfa which was only one car with fiat engine and so on is not allowed only due to its badge its insane.
All very well thought through points @Jay but, personally, even though my wife and I have decided that we will be leaving Motability, I don’t see these changes resulting in a mass exodus. As this forum often demonstrates, many Motability customers won’t even entertain other options and plenty more couldn’t, even if they wanted to, due to lack of funds, poor credit ratings etc.
If we look at each of the changes, the biggest ones are the removal of premium brands and the addition of VAT to APs. I read yesterday that 40,000 cars on the scheme are from the now banned premium manufacturers. That’s only 5% of the cars on the scheme. Some of us will indeed leave the scheme because of this, but I’d hazard a guess that only around 20% will, as the other 80% will accept a non-premium brand in order to stay in the scheme, or won’t have the financial means (or confidence) to do anything else. So that equates to just 1% of scheme users leaving due to this change. As I say, it’s a calculated guess, but I suspect not far out.
As for VAT and insurance premium tax on APs, I don’t know the numbers on this one, but I suspect that the overwhelming majority of people pay no more than £1k on APs. Those of us who contribute on this forum aren’t terribly representative of the average Motability punter IMHO, as we are mostly car enthusiasts to a greater or lesser degree, so probably on average pay far more than the average AP. Therefore the average Motability customers will only be hit with an extra AP of a few hundred pounds. If you look at what’s happened to APs over the last few years, they have gone up by way more than this, yet Motability customer numbers have rocketed so, again, I suspect that the numbers that leave because of this aspect will also be very small.
As for the reduced mileage limits, this would only affect a small percentage of Motability customers, as most seem to do exceptionally low mileage, many to the point of where having the car is economically unviable! There will hopefully be options for those who do use the full 20k a year to still be able to do so at a reasonable cost.
Keeping in mind that the 20% VAT exemption on the basic lease is remaining, the scheme will still be cost effective for the vast majority of people, even with these adverse changes, and still cheaper than other options (if people insist on having a brand new car – a used car will obviously be cheaper).
The issue that I believe is far more likely to have a big hit to Motability is the benefits review due next year. There seems to be a lot of talk about reverting Motability to a scheme that caters for people with physical disabilities only. This is obviously a minefield, not least due to the fact that in recent years mental health issues were deemed to be disabilities, in the same way as physical disabilities, and that would take an awful lot of unraveling, even if there was an appetite to do so, and would be subject to countless legal challenges. What could be easier (and is probably far more likely) is changing the questions and criteria for the higher rate mobility component of PIP, as this alone would remove access to Motability for many. However, it may be that yesterdays changes take the focus off Motability completely, and there may be no changes as a result of the benefit review!
My final point is that even if the benefit review cuts large numbers entitled to Motability, and this adds to the comparatively fewer numbers who leave due to yesterdays changes, the scheme will still have more than enough customers to avoid the scenarios that you describe. Keep in mind that just a few years ago the scheme had 200,000 fewer customers, yet choice was far better and APs were considerably lower than they are now!
Perhaps Motability could increase the good condition bonus from say £250 to £500 as a way of helping absorb the AP on your next car? You’d like to think they’re on our side in some small way after today’s budget…
Unfortunately the good condition bonus, as far as I’m aware, doesn’t come from Motability, it comes from you the customer who pay a small amount on top of the AP which is returned at the end of the lease if the vehicle is returned in a good condition.
It will all come out in the wash as the saying goes….those dissing Labour…..will feel like they are having their eyes poked out if the Tories or Reform replace Labour…they openly talk about wanting 25billion of cuts to Welfare.
https://news.motability.co.uk/scheme-news/keeping-the-motability-scheme-strong-for-the-future/
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CopilotCEO Andrew Miller@kezo I thought of you when I was in a private hire Mercedes the other day, after your recent comment that you are going to leave Motability and probably buy a diesel that “will see you out”. The car is a 10 year old E220 CDi estate which the driver bought when it was 3 years old. I last used him 2 years ago and the car had done around 300,000 miles. On Monday I was chatting to him about this and he said “look at the dash now”. The car has now done 424,000 miles. He services it himself but put it into a Mercedes main dealer for one job because “at £142 including the part it just wasn’t worth me doing it myself”. Unbelievably it’s still on the original engine and timing belt. The car drove very well on both local roads and the motorway and he’s in no rush to change it as he said it’s been worry free. This made me smile when so many Motability customers think that anything other than a brand new car every 3 years is a recipe for financial ruin
Ah! There was some truth in my thinking aloud, as you point out, there is very little reason for a brand new car every 3 years and pick the right car, it could last a lifetime!
Even taking a budget option such as a 3 year old 22 plate Dacial Duster Comfort £12,000 and ran it for 6 years, it is not going to cost £24,000 to do so. At the end of 6 years you would have a chunk of change in your pocket and some capital remaining in the car.
Need an adaption, there two a penny on the likes ebay and a few quid to get the local workshop to fit it, it wany be much if anymore than buying from the scheme
@kezo I can’t go into details without breaking a confidence, but I already have someone lined up to fit the person hoist in any private car that we buy, and it will cost us less than paying for it through Motability 🤔
Yes, adding a 20% VAT to Motability Advance Payments will likely make the scheme unaffordable for many vulnerable disabled people, as it will significantly increase upfront costs for vehicles. This change, effective from July 2026, is expected to add around £3,000 to the cost of the cheapest three-year leases, making them financially out of reach for those with lower incomes, such as the median household income of £18,500 for scheme users.
I can buy a Kia Kona 24 reg low mileage EV with 6 year manufacturer warranty for just over £18,000
Unfortunately I have suffered a brain injury and occasionally I get confused and often say the wrong thing.
I looked to see if you have major adaptations will you be able to claim back the 20% VAT and apparently you cannot so its a no win.
Yes, adding a 20% VAT to Motability Advance Payments will likely make the scheme unaffordable for many vulnerable disabled people, as it will significantly increase upfront costs for vehicles. This change, effective from July 2026, is expected to add around £3,000 to the cost of the cheapest three-year leases, making them financially out of reach for those with lower incomes, such as the median household income of £18,500 for scheme users.
You are confusing two issues. The article posted earlier from Motability that mentioned this huge hike was in response to a suggestion that the government would remove the VAT exemption on the whole lease cost. This didn’t happen. They are ‘just’ charging VAT on the AP, so a car with say a £1k AP will see a rise in AP of £200, plus the insurance premium tax that is also going to be applied to Motability leases.
I looked to see if you have major adaptations will you be able to claim back the 20% VAT and apparently you cannot so its a no win.
Again, incorrect. Substantial and permanent adaptations will exempt the car from the 20% VAT hike on the AP, so no VAT will be applied, so nothing to claim back.
Whilst info is sketchy to say the least at this stage, as it is still being fully digested by veterans organisations, but imposing VAT on Motability AP’s may have some unpleasant and unintended consequences, particularly for the somewhat older veterans in receipt of WPMS on the Motability Scheme.
Basically as it stands with Motability, those on WPMS pay a lower AP, thus in future will pay less VAT. This hasn’t been lost on those in receipt of AFIP – the newer veterans mobility allowance which aligns to PIP etc money wise (nor the Treasury/Motability as I understand it).
I am pretty sure that Motability will concoct a plan and I fear they would very much like to cease with the headache of producing the differential pricing for one set of customers (WPMS) every quarter.
Hence, the AP’s for WPMS customers may ending up rising to match other allowance claimants, with the corresponding circa £9.00 per week being returned to WPMS recipients. This in order to equalise and simplify the VAT situation.
However, apparantly this will have to be a fully manual process as the Veterans_UK payments system cannot cope with this without large investment into what is a creaky old legacy system. The cost of doing this manually, or the upgrade of old IT systems will probably dwarf how much they take in under VAT!
I know Blesma and a few other veterans organisations are on the case!
Across the board In general, I wonder if there are any implications surrounding the Disability, Equality Act’s or even Human rights ?
Will motability customers have to pay the ppm toll for electric cars as they are exempt from paying road fund license?
While I have no issue with owning used cars, and have in the past, the issue is that because I have been a motability customer for a while, I will have no ncb so the premiums will be high.
Motability took away the option to purchase the lease cars at the end of the lease, using our benefits, I was considering purhasing the previous lease car but the option was no longer available
Need an adaption, there two a penny on the likes ebay and a few quid to get the local workshop to fit it, it wany be much if anymore than buying from the scheme
That maybe OK for the likes of hoist’s however I’ve approach Motability a few times in the past about transferring my remote control to my next lease and they have always turned me down quoting the insurers will not allow it for controls to the cars systems or if they did they’d have to be tested and that would cost more than installing a new remote.
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