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Well the day has finally come. After 5 Motability cars, we have handed the last one back (early termination) and left the scheme. There have been a number of challenges in the process of transitioning back from Motability to a private vehicle and, as quite a few people are leaving the scheme (or considering doing so when their current lease ends), I thought that it might be useful to share my experience, and what I’ve learned along the way, in the hope that it might help others.
There would be way too much info for a single post, so I will split the info across a number of posts covering the multitude of different issues that we faced.
In this first post I shall address the subject of Disabled VAT exemption. As you may know, Motability have a block VAT exemption on the basic vehicle cost of all cars purchased for the scheme. The rules for private new car buyers are more complex. If the disabled person is a full time wheelchair user and requires a ‘substantial and permanent’ adaptation to the vehicle then the car can be purchased VAT free. However, both criteria must be met. A scooter user, or someone who uses a wheelchair but only occasionally will not qualify. A permanent and substantial adaptation is something that is bolted into the car and / or the cars electrical system and cannot be easily removed. My wife is a full time wheelchair user and requires a person hoist, so we qualify for VAT exemption on a new car (once every 3 years max).
Initially when I looked into this issue I interpreted the guidance as meaning that the car had to be registered in the name of the disabled person. This is not the case. A nominated driver (myself in this case) can purchase the car with their own money ex VAT and have the car registered in their own name, as I have done. There is a simple 2 page self declaration that you fill in and hand to the supplying dealer. This form has a section which allows you to state the nominated person if it’s not the disabled person.
The next issue is that, as with Motability, the rules suggest that the car can only be used for the specific benefit of the disabled person. This is to deter abuse but, as with Motability, there is some discretion on this. I was very up front with HMRC and had the same conversation with them as I’d had with Motability a few years earlier. I explained that as we are retired and my wife cannot drive, we only need one car. Consequently, there are regular occasions when I use the car for reasons that are not for my wife’s direct benefit, such as visiting family and friends etc. They assured me that this is absolutely fine but, for peace of mind, I got them to put this in writing for me, which they kindly did.
There is a very good helpline for VAT exemption enquiries – HMRC Charities Helpline tel 0300 123 1073 (0900-1800 M-F).
The final issue with VAT exemption is that, for reasons that are beyond me, not all car dealers will allow VAT free purchases. I live between two main BMW dealers. One will process VAT exempt sales and one won’t. Guess which one got my business?
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Don’t do it yourself, I did mine because I’ve been detailing my cars for years but even then it was an OK job and no more.
Don’t get a dealership’s version, it’ll cost you a small fortune and will probably be a really cheap job done.
Look around locally for a professional detailer. Expect to spend more than £500 and for it to take days. It will require a full clean and paint correction, repolish and then application and curing of the ceramic layer. Look for recommendations, even ask to see finished cars. Ask them for their process, if it’s not thorough, walk away.
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
Sorry @kdwolf I had rather assumed we were talking about a Motability or lease car. As it’s a private purchase of that value I’d say it’s worth doing, but I agree 100% with the advice that @MFillingham has just given you. My professional detailer will be working on the car for an entire day, even though it’s a brand new car, but if you are buying a used car there will be more paint correction work to be done as well.
That’s the conundrum for me: as I am getting very close to 50K on my Motability Enyaq which is due to be returned in April 2027 or pending final Ombudsman’s decision, I have used Lotus Eletre in mind, which will cost me between £55K and £60K, so I was hoping someone will tell me – rubbish, don’t or yes, you should go with X. I guess I will have to run your answers through Chat GPT to understand the nuances
Thank you.Professionally applied, is worth it for long term paint protection, enhanced appearance, and reduced maintenance on newer cars with a good standard of paintwork that has no major blemishes or stone rash.. As a certified detailer, it is their job to recommend a proffesional product, suitable for the type of paintwork, at a price point your willing to pay. Unfortunately, what professional product one detailer recommends, may differ to what another detailer uses in your area.
Like everthing in life, of course there are negatives but most are down to improper aftercare maintainance. Less so, is enviromental fall out can lead to premature wear on the coating and what most people forget, is its not immune from stone rash etc (thats what PPF is for)
Understood and truly appreciated.
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Apologies for briefness and spelling mistakes.Motability Skoda Enyaq SportLine 85x April 2024 (unhappy customer - Ombudsman pending)
Motability Mazda CX-60 PHEV July 2023 (unhappy customer - early termination on mechanical grounds)
Motability VW Touran Family Pack May 2019 (happy customer)@Glos-Guy did you take delivery of car atend of last week?
I looked at the Neue Klass iX3 but really struggled with it on several counts. Primarily, the new style front end and grille
Once you think rodent teeth you can’t get it out of your head .Ive just seen a video pop up on my FB feed. First thing I saw was the front of the iX3 and this comment popped to mind. That’s me ruined too, now I have to clean off a keyboard, teach me to drink while doom scrolling.😂😂
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
Hopefully n8w, you can start your own forum “Not Mobility Car” and stop regailing oeople who come on here to discuss Motability provided cars. Seems you used motability for cheap BMW leasing and when that was removed, you threw teddy in the corner. The fact you can buy a crappy nazi supporting, British jobs killing BMW and are just a sad badge bunny who wants his reps car on his drive, means you shouldn’t have had a motability car in the first place.
Firstly, the “off topic “area of the forum, is a place where you can talk about everything and anything, even ingrowing toennails if you want! BMW alone can’t be responsible for Rover groups collapse, which had already started by mismanagement, underinvestment, and failed corporate strategies by British Aerospace. Then there was Phoenix Venture Holdings, that put the final nail in the coffin, along with succesive governments. Rolls Royce (a long story) under BMW ownership, who had to remake from the ground up, through a mishmash with VW and of course Bentley was sold to VW as a stratigic move by both Bentley and VW, But, don’t let that stop you having a Nazi owned Skoda or an Indian Owned Range Rover you talk so gracefully of on the forum! Perhaps most important and beneficial to all, go and get yourself some lessons in attitude management!
DITTO
Congrats on your car purchase ( Only live once) and getting off of this imo sinking ship and I am sure you will enjoy driving it every single day
Thank you for ALL of your great advice that still remains for others
I have copy/pasted and kept your great piece We’ve left Motability – Tips for others considering leaving
For future Refs
I wish you and your wife all the very best for the future
Please keep popping back ( imo we now need you and your advice more than ever to help steady the ship )
Very much appreciated JOJO22
Thank you so much for writing this up. We are in the process of leaving as my current car is too small after a change of circumstances and there is nothing else suitable.
We have been so confused with it all. I am also very relieved to read about some dealers not doing the VAT exemption because the one we saw the other day was extremely confused about it and didn’t know what it was. But we can find one that does.
trying to get all the adaption information too has been such a pain!thank you! Ive checked my award with PIP today on gov onelogin and it appears they have extended my award by 2 years to 2029(they haven’t told me yet though by means of a letter in the post!) which means I will be able to get a motability car after my current lease ends BUT I doubt it very much I will do because the mileage clause on new leases means I will be penalised for working essentially because of commuting distance. I want to see if my supplying dealer will be able to purchase my current lease car from motability instead of it going to auction. If they can, I will buy it from them as it’s been great and in many ways been a dream car for me. I dont need a new vehicle- I am very grateful for what I have.
2024 Skoda Enyaq estate- 85x Sportline plus in Race Blue. Extras: Supernova 21 inch wheels, Maxx Pack, Transport Pack, Heat Pump and Pano Sunroof.
Ordered 31/10/23, Delivery 27/3/24@jojo22 Thank you very much for that. Much appreciated. It took quite a while to compile all the info, but with so many people leaving, or seriously considering it, I thought that it might save others some of the hassle that I had, especially around VED. Forewarned is forearmed and all that! I also know that many people don’t really know where to start with negotiating and will accept advertised discounts as being the totality of what’s available, when it’s just the start! I’m loving the new car thanks and am back to enjoying driving again.
@bluewheels Your kind words were also appreciated. The situations with dealers and VAT is a minefield. I had two conversations with a salesman at Cotswold BMW in Cheltenham, during which I mentioned that we were looking to buy ex VAT. He was unaware that they didn’t do it until after I returned the car that he’d arranged a test drive in! I can see this government putting a cap on the vehicle price that you can get VAT exemption on if they continue their assault on the disabled, so I decided to fill my boots whilst we still could!thank you! Ive checked my award with PIP today on gov onelogin and it appears they have extended my award by 2 years to 2029(they haven’t told me yet though by means of a letter in the post!) which means I will be able to get a motability car after my current lease ends BUT I doubt it very much I will do because the mileage clause on new leases means I will be penalised for working essentially because of commuting distance. I want to see if my supplying dealer will be able to purchase my current lease car from motability instead of it going to auction. If they can, I will buy it from them as it’s been great and in many ways been a dream car for me. I dont need a new vehicle- I am very grateful for what I have.
On another thread, it seems as though Motability are looking to make exemptions for people who do high mileages for medical or work reasons – and quite right too. Fingers crossed that your problem may disappear!
Would love to hear if anyone has experience or knows otherwise how people with particularly poor credit could navigate moving off the scheme and into a lease.
Most lease companies won’t touch poor credit holders with the largest of barge poles and yet in practice my motability car that is paid automatically by PIP monthly and has been for 10+ years now has never missed a payment, I’d argue this is in better standing than a fair few “good credit” Peoples payments.
The inbound changes to motability could well put me completely out cone July next year, the small few bad credit companies that offer leasing are acutely aware of this and are arguably poised to snipe customers away at a lovely premium for themselves.
I don’t work, I have very little money at the end of any given payment period, no savings and don’t really have any one who I can lend a sizeable sum off of to get a lease or otherwise. It’d take at least 8 years to resolve my financial position to a point most other companies would consider me viable, less time if I DRO’d or something similar but they’re not viable.
Sure, I could leave the scheme and save the £££ every month for a year and buy a second hand car, but then there’s all the other costs with any vehicle, second hand or otherwise. It’s all very stressful and confusing for me as I’m sure it is for many others!
Buying a second hand car is the best bet honestly. It depends on your needs if youve not got many people to transport a secondhand dacia spring can be pretty cheap plus it can even fit a folded wheelchair inside of it.
Would love to hear if anyone has experience or knows otherwise how people with particularly poor credit could navigate moving off the scheme and into a lease.
You could speak to leasing companies and see if they would except mobility component of PIP (c.£350 month) as satisfactory proof of credit providing your PIP award runs for at least the duration of the lease.
I know you can get an unsecured loan from most banks/building societies based on our PIP award, cus I dit it with nationwide because my money was locked away and the penalty would have been higher than the loan interest rate.
Alternatively get yourself one of the high risk (poor credit rating) credit cards to build up your credit rating, but make sure you pay the balance off on time. You don’t have to spend alot on it and could pay for your shopping!
Buying a second hand car is the best bet honestly. It depends on your needs if youve not got many people to transport a secondhand dacia spring can be pretty cheap plus it can even fit a folded wheelchair inside of it.
Even though there are massive discounts to be had when buying a new car, I agree that if you can’t get the VAT knocked off it generally makes more sense to buy used. In fact, that was what I was intending to do myself, but when I realised that the combination of VAT exemption + negotiated discount + first year showroom tax VED meant that I could buy a brand new car for less than 2 year old models were selling for I changed approach.
Well even with a used car if its less than 3 years old and vat qualifying you can get the vat discount on it for adaptations which makes a huge amount of sense. I saw a used top end Kia E Niro for £26K the other day that was vat qualifying, if you did pcp on that it would be reasonably priced per month.
Well even with a used car if its less than 3 years old and vat qualifying you can get the vat discount on it for adaptations which makes a huge amount of sense. I saw a used top end Kia E Niro for £26K the other day that was vat qualifying, if you did pcp on that it would be reasonably priced per month.
You don’t pay VAT on adaptations on any car, new or used, VAT qualifying or not. Unfortunately, VAT exemption on the whole car only applies to new vehicles. VAT qualifying used cars only benefit businesses. You can’t buy them ex-VAT as a private customer. Unfair, but that’s the rules.
After what you wrote, you are on a treadmill going nowhere.
Its good motability is keeping you mobile, but at what cost?
If you try a few leasing companies or a 2nd hand car, and see where the land lies. But you back youself into a corner with the idea that you have a poor credit rating and do nothing to disprove it, by trying to buy a 2nd hand car.
If you get. 3 year old vehicle, its not likely to be a money pit, and you would have more cash at the end of the month.
Yes you would have to push yourself a bit, but at least you are trying to break out from the treadmill to nowhere.
Ive spoken both with adaptations specialist and hmrc round this as long as vehicle is 3 years or younger and vat qualifying, they’re entitled to the scheme. Before I was decided to stick with the scheme a Kia dealership were happy to do this on a used KIA EV5 but cost wise it was too much and I am not in a position to take in debt.
HMRC also have guidance for this online
A second-hand adapted vehicle can be zero-rated if the qualifying conditions are met. Although second-hand cars are usually sold on the Second-hand Margin Scheme, this is an optional scheme, not a mandatory one, and an eligible vehicle can be sold outside that scheme and normal VAT practice followed.
@shaan200 That’s the guidance we used for a new car. I hadn’t noticed that small paragraph. I read it a bit differently to you, but if HMRC have told you that it applies to the scenario that you describe then that’s good. I’d get it in writing from them though, as I did when discussing me using the car when not for my wife’s benefit. I described examples of my personal use and they replied that it was acceptable use (as Motability did when I asked them the same question 2 years ago).
I think that the issue that you will have is everything coming together. VAT qualifying cars are a tiny percentage of the cars for sale and then there’s the need to find one from that small pool that’s in the spec, colour etc that you want. I suspect that the biggest problem will be finding a dealer that’s prepared to allow a VAT qualifying sale on a used car to a private individual. Many won’t even help with new cars, which generate a lot more profit than a used one, and amazingly there is no requirement for them to do so. I recall even my very helpful dealer (who were happy to do an ex-VAT sale) saying that VAT qualifying used cars only applied to VAT registered businesses, which a Google search I’ve just done also confirmed. As I say, if you can get info to the contrary in writing from HMRC that might be helpful waving under a dealers nose if they are reluctant. I hope that you get a successful outcome.
Yesh Id recommend that too as its what i was planning to do if I went that route. The big one HMRC told me is ex demo cars are normally and if they were short lease ones but they mentioned to make sure to ask if the car was vat qualifying and not margin. Its obviously alot of effort.
Its another reason I did the scheme other than finances plus it being my first adapted car if it turns out I want to change it or my medical needs get worst motability seemed safer at the time.
Heiliger Strohsack! As they say on Google Transkate… 🤭
That car is a thing of beauty my friend 😍 whilst under the bonnet and bodywork it’s a beast!! What’s not to Love?! ❤️
Lovely Colour and Alloys too , it will give you and Mrs Glos a greater feeling of security and allow easier access & more storage with the overall size and height difference
It must be fun to drive too when the opportunity presents itself 😏 although… can it really hold a candle to a 2ltr Tdi 150ps Front Wheel Drive that many of us are so used to on here? 😬🤪🤣🤣
Good shout on upcoming work from your detailer , without doubt a must on a car like this. I’ve saw up close the difference it makes and how much easier it is to wash going forward.
As others have pointed out it’s important that members like yourself stick around on here, you guys have a sound moral compass and wealth of experience & knowledge that can be really beneficial to some other members who maybe struggle a little more than most
Also you folks have “earned” the right to be here ( as long as you want to )
So I really hope the ones that have contributed for years on here but have now moved away from the Scheme decide to stick around, In a world where loneliness and isolation is on the rise, coming in here for a little bit can help with that 😇
Even though my participation over the past 4/5 years has been scarce I’ve always thought of this place as a little community where everyone usually had each others backs. Now that’s even more important than ever with the media and politicians trying to divide the population with the finger firmly pointing to the disabled in the blame game of why the Country is in such a mess
So please stick around 🫡
When life hands you melons...,
Make melonade!
Thank you.
Once you think rodent teeth you can’t get it out of your head 
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