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I myself are saddened that Smart#1 is not on Motability as it is very well built quite to drive and is as some car mags say great car and less noisy than the Tesla model y says what car so motability please get the Smart onto the scheme as at the moment it is the only EV I would choose although the Funky Cat is nice but not keen on the name.
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Smart use to fall under Daimler AG (Merc) untill 2019ish, when Daimler announced a joint venture 50/50 partnership with Chinese automaker Geely (Volvo owners) and a new production plant was buit in China.
The “Ora” brand is a joint venture beteen BMW and Chinese Great wall. The Funky Cat has lot in common with the British icon, which is now owned by BMW.
A bit of useless information but, there you go 😂
small boot on the #1. Having owned lots of smarts over my driving history, I would have loved to have seen it on Motability but know that the boot size wouldn’t have worked for me. It’s getting great write ups at the moment. The reality is that it’s not a smart, it’s more a Geeley. Then again 2nd get smarts had Mitsubishi engines and third generation Renault!
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I would not be surprised to see the Smart # 1 and a few others on motorbility
I have a gut feeling that the next 12 months will bring a few unexpected surprises
Smart with £1k AP!! Makes the X1 BMW look more reasonable at max £5999
Smart is no longer the brand it use to be. Mercedes went into joint venture with Geeley to produce this car which shares the same platform as the Volvo ex30. This may be an insight to the AP’s on that car which forum members hope to see soon.
I priced up the BMW today as an alternative to the Skoda enyaq- with comparable options, it was over 11k which is eye waveringly expensive for a vehicle you will most likely hand back at the 3-5 year mark.
The smart premium model has no extras- they all seem to be included as standard. So for people with the £750 bonus payment, £250 for what is acclaimed the best family hatch is a steal in my opinion.
If my Skoda order falls through, and i can work with the reduced boot capacity, I will certainly consider this vehicle.
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Smart is no longer the brand it use to be. Mercedes went into joint venture with Geeley to produce this car which shares the same platform as the Volvo ex30. This may be an insight to the AP’s on that car which forum members hope to see soon. I priced up the BMW today as an alternative to the Skoda enyaq- with comparable options, it was over 11k which is eye waveringly expensive for a vehicle you will most likely hand back at the 3-5 year mark. The smart premium model has no extras- they all seem to be included as standard. So for people with the £750 bonus payment, £250 for what is acclaimed the best family hatch is a steal in my opinion. If my Skoda order falls through, and i can work with the reduced boot capacity, I will certainly consider this vehicle.
I think that a lot of our fellow members do not take into account when ordering factory fitted options, that they are not insured and Motability will only insure (their not your) Motability car and you will only get back your AP as a pro rata return, not your outlay on factory fitted options.
So it is well worth noting what cars come with standard equipment, compared to the basic with you having to fork out thousands for factory fitted options. We can all have a bad day driving and making the occasional mistake, never mind having to worry about other drivers writing off our car.
That’s a good point. I think though that the vehicle insurance does cover the whole vehicle – insurance companies need to have everything disclosed to them when they arrange a policy. It’s how they determine risk. Private buyers would not be allowed by law to undisclosed optional extras on a vehicle when taking out insurance- it’s a specific question that gets asked. This does though lead to a question- if the car was written off, the value as determined by the price of the car with extras is par of the consideration of final payment back to motability… So technically they could be onto a winner value wise! I am not sure if that sits well with me morally.
Whilst  we can spend money on extras, we lose this if the car gets written off or the motability period ends early- it’s like a dead investment if the intention is to only lease the car and never consider purchasing- which is the majority of us. The flip side to that though is some extras do provide for extra comfort that may help peoples conditions. Heated and massage seats are one example. I couldn’t drive a vehicle without heated seats because of the issues I have with my hips and femur- I would seize up. If I wanted to get that extra and say extend the leas out to 5 years because the vehicle meets my needs, the investment is worthwhile.
There is also another scenario where a customer may wish to buy the vehicle at the end of the term and so the extras they opted for initially are even more worthwhile to them for as long as they own the vehicle after purchasing.
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The EX30, Zeekr x and Smart #1 are all closely related, buit in the same factory on the same Geely SEA platform and use CATL battery packs.
Whether they are better than Tesla. MG or any other brand depends very much on what your after.
That’s a good point. I think though that the vehicle insurance does cover the whole vehicle – insurance companies need to have everything disclosed to them when they arrange a policy. It’s how they determine risk. Private buyers would not be allowed by law to undisclosed optional extras on a vehicle when taking out insurance- it’s a specific question that gets asked. This does though lead to a question- if the car was written off, the value as determined by the price of the car with extras is par of the consideration of final payment back to motability… So technically they could be onto a winner value wise! I am not sure if that sits well with me morally. Whilst we can spend money on extras, we lose this if the car gets written off or the motability period ends early- it’s like a dead investment if the intention is to only lease the car and never consider purchasing- which is the majority of us. The flip side to that though is some extras do provide for extra comfort that may help peoples conditions. Heated and massage seats are one example. I couldn’t drive a vehicle without heated seats because of the issues I have with my hips and femur- I would seize up. If I wanted to get that extra and say extend the leas out to 5 years because the vehicle meets my needs, the investment is worthwhile. There is also another scenario where a customer may wish to buy the vehicle at the end of the term and so the extras they opted for initially are even more worthwhile to them for as long as they own the vehicle after purchasing.
Yes, the insurance might well cover the whole car, but you do not have the insurance, only Motability have the insurance and if your car is a wright off, you do not get the insurance, unlike owning the car, you only go back to go (and maybe get your AP on a pro rata basis) and can then apply for a new Motability lease, which will be determined by Motability depending on if and how many accidents were your fault.
Your Factory Fitted extras will only count when your car has ended its lease and it will make the value of your car increase, whether or not you decide to buy it. If you decide to buy it and have spent thousands on factory fitted extras, then that car will be assessed and valued accordingly by Motability, whether they sell it to a third party or yourself, who has already spent the extra thousands on the factory fitted extras, the same as if you do very little millage, then that makes the car more valuable to Motability, whether they sell the car to a third party or to yourself who has kept the millage down.
There is no magical formular as to how Motability make over a million in profit each year and have over a Billion Pound in the bank, while the rest of its customers struggle to meet large AP’s.
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