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Just back from a 1500 mile trip to see my father in law who is on end of life care. Away for a week.
M6, had 2 “red flag” incidents, one where a car dangerously cut in front of me, moving from lane 4 to a slip road at speed. My car emergency braked. One where car in front did a full emergency stop, it was a Tesla, think it phantom braked. My car, again, full on emergency stop to a standstill, then accelerate sharply to avoid being a rear end target.
On top of that, my car had some sort of meltdown on the M74 and did weird brake/ accelerate/ tug steering ( leading to surges and pulses causing steering issues) in every bend at any speed, flashing the traction control light while doing so. It was really bad, even doing so when overtaking and changing lanes on a straight road. I had to wait 30+ miles to get to a services, turned car off, restarted and problem was gone….but it would have given Drive Smart a fit for the erratic and frankly dangerous way it was behaving. This issue appeared at any speed, on any bend, cruise on, cruise off, lane keep on or off etc, I tried it all to see if it made a difference. But no, it was simply that, for whatever reason, if you turned it went mental.
A classic example of where you would be penalised for no fault of your own.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
Currently averaging 13,000 miles a year, so a paltry £1500 extra for going over. Add in VAT on AP and suddenly private leasing or purchase becomes very doable. Could reduce mileage to around 12000 I suppose.
I looked at the Tesla Model Y standard – came out to about £15,900 over 3 years (its a 5 year lease at 12,000 miles a year) excess mileage is 14p inc. VAT. Insurance is £485 a year, call it £1500. Breakdown cover, tyres etc call it £600 over 3 years. So, £18,000 all in for 3 years.
Motability…Same AP, £3500, but add VAT. Sacrificed PIP Mobility, £12480 (actually will be more as it increases every year…) Excess mileage fee £1500 for 6000 miles = £18180. And the spectre of Drive Smart on top – which is reason enough to bin the scheme regardless of cost.
I know, there may be lower AP vehicles, equally there will be lease deals to be had on other cars, this is just a quick comparison.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
Scottish users will be subject to all of this. The insurance tax rate and VAT charges are not a devolved government choice. I think its a bit of a con, IPT on vehicles is 20%, it would be interesting to see what that translates to in terms of average increase per scheme user.
Mileage, Excess mileage fees, tyres and other allowances of your lease are set by Motability, not the DWP or SSS. As is Drive Smart, so SSS will not intervene, especially if Motability dress it up as saving costs to the average scheme user – which is tosh, but that’s what they are doing.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
Just read a very concerning post on Facebook of a wheelchair user being kicked off Motability after getting 2 consecutive red weeks on the Drive Smart box, she had raised concerns on it for the past 4 weeks as it was marking erratically like 100% in all areas but down to 24% on speed. It also listed taxi journeys and private transport as her driving.
Motability were deaf to her concerns and would not accept a complaint from her. Direct Line said it was up up to Mota to investigate a complaint or cancel. Mota said it was Direct Line’s decision. Her car will be collected within 7 days and she is listed by Direct Line as Insurance Cancelled, so getting cover on a private car will be difficult/ more expensive.
It’s pretty wild reading, and doesn’t bode well for Motability users when they just are not interested in any issues with the device.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
I’d agree with that, my Ioniq 5 awd was the pick of the many cars we tested. Great range, a little thirsty as awd, but at less than £6 a fill its hardly an issue. Love the interior in grey (white) and the 330hp/605Nm makes overtakes a breeze.
Now 14 months in, 14,000 miles and no issues except the boot lid rattle, which took me 2 minutes to fix.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
Indeed, was telling my computing teacher wife about this in preparation to saying we’d leave the scheme if it was introduced for all drivers and she preempted me with a very emphatic No Way…based on the personal issues, listening while you are in the car, offshoring and selling your data, tracking all journeys, using your own phone and data etc, so far beyond the scope of scoring how you drive it’s crazy. She was amazed anyone would agree to have it regardless of their age.
We will absolutely 100% leave the scheme if this is imposed on us.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
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.
Or, as we did, take all the silly photos, get a visit from a surveyor, suck’s teeth, says no…so no Ohme charger.
Dunno why its a difficult install, we already have a dumb charger on the wall, 6mm cable etc all there, all they needed to do was take it off and bolt their one on…the dumb charger is a 4yr old Viridian Classic 2.0 with all the latest protections, pen fault, current sensing etc built in, just no smarts.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
I think the take up is being driven by Direct Line, they supply the box and get to sell the data, probably sold to Motability under “Increased Safety and Accountability”, perhaps along with a reduction in the insurance block cost vs not taking it in their contract submission.
Have said before, if the black box of damnation becomes mandatory on my lease renewal then I’m 100% out.
Can see many folk leaving the scheme if the boxes are as pox-ridden with errors, threats and lifestyle comments as we’ve seen, soon have people cancelling their leases!
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
At least I am no longer working – that used to be an easy 27k miles a year (sometimes well over 30k)….imagine being hit with a mileage bill for £14,280!
Oh, forgot about the drive to Wife’s dad’s early April, she’s desperate to see him as he’s just been diagnosed stage 4 cancer and is frail, so they estimate 3-4 months tops – palliative care only as he’s too ill for chemo. She can’t get away sooner as she’s a teacher – no hols outside term time. That’s 1200 miles, then same again for the funeral…could fly & rent a car, but its a logistical pain in the arse with her guide dog, far easier to drive.
Back to London in April for the marathon, but we are flying down for that as she’s working, so fly down with dog Friday night, fly back straight after the run on Sunday, home after midnight and back at work first thing Monday morning – she’s crazy…lol.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
28p a mile would scupper things for more people than very high mileage users. Rural dwellers would end up paying over. Given a lot of disabled are not cash rich it would be pretty difficult for them to find the big sums to pay – and prove difficult for Motability to get back from non-payers too.
As a rural dweller, I do 12-13000 miles a year, not hard when the nearest decent supermarket is 27 miles away and same for almost all shops. Hospital 37 miles away and wife has been admitted 3 times this year already – add in the outpatients visits afterwards and I’ve been going there several day a week since before christmas.
Wife is training for the London marathon, the only decent stretch of paths/road to run on are…yup…27 miles away. Local roads are too dangerous to run on and she needs a decent 16-18km stretch. She has a treadmill for shorter runs, but not really suitable for 3-4 hour sessions. Speaking of that, we are off to Inverness for the 1/2 marathon this weekend, that’s 250 miles or more easily. Wedding event the following week, another 80-100 miles for that, soon adds up.
Call it 12500 miles a year, that’s £2100 overpayment – hardly buttons when private lease firms allow you to adjust the mileage for a relatively small monthly increase (around £500 in total over 3 years to go from 10,000 to 15,000 miles seems about average).
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
All the big car hire firms are slated on Trustpilot, although one star is pretty dire – Europcar managed 1.6 , Enterprise 1.7, Hertz 1.3…
I have only needed Motability car hire once, a Quashqai back in 2018. Was pretty flawless, apart from them categorically stating on delivery no dogs in the car….the disabled user who is on the Motability lease is blind with a guide dog…couldn’t make it up…
I said dogs going in the car, anything less is full on disability discrimination. Never heard anything more about it.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
When its time to change cars, I road test my shortlist of 6-7 and then take my wife with for the choice on the final 2. This time that was the Ioniq 5 Ultimate and the EV6 GT Line, both with flush handles.
Wife was not amused by the EV6. She’s virtually blind, so she couldn’t find the manual opening flush handles – let alone the faf of operating them one handed.
She didn’t see the point in paying for the extra tech pack on the Ioniq 5, until she learned it was the only way (at that time) to get electric pop out handles – which she needed to find and open the door. Hyundai changed the spec on the Ultimate and now include pop out handles on the base Ultimate, no packs needed.
Its a worrying trend, started by the likes of Tesla on its Model S in 2012, its not for aerodynamics, more for the look of the car.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
Yup, lovely car, but that key…my god, its hideous.
Whoever thought putting the emergency manual key on the keyring separately needs a stern talking to with a waggly finger!
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
I’d agree on the C10, but the B10 seems to get fairly positive reviews.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
I think there are, on some cars, phantom drain issues. That, plus they do fit very small and crappy 12v batteries as the cranking amps/big power not needed. I don’t understand why they don’t just fit a lithium battery – well, I do understand, it’ll probably be 50p more expensive!
Kia /Hyundai had problems early 2021 with their charging regime for the 12v, it basically didn’t allow for it to be charged often enough and, when on charge, it was for a short period only, so loads went flat. They updated the software and included a lot more 12v charging sessions which solved the issue (unless you had a component causing 12v drain – see phantom drain above).
I’ve had a Kia Soul since mid 2021 then an Ioniq 5 since Jan 2025. Neither has had any issues with the 12v. But I do spend a fair bit of time in Utility mode – and that defaults to charging the 12v when on, so I may be helping the battery cope with any suboptimal conditions.
No ICCU issues for me so far – 11,500 miles…touch wood…avoid black cats etc…
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
Yes, fine in a pinch, but not as good as a dedicated pump. I have a Ring RTC1000 cordless one for home use, saves mucking about with plugs/leads, quick on top ups and easy to use. Set the digital display to the pressure you want, hit start, wait till stops…done. It also remembers your settings , so once set for the correct pressure, just plug and go.
I also got a combined tyre inflator/battery jump starter that I keep in the car, also easy to use, but slower as its a small unit. I got it mostly to have a jump starter for the apparently inevitable EV 12v death…but never had any 12v issues yet in over 4 years & 54k miles, even though Hyundai/Kia are apparently terrible at looking after the 12v battery.
Come to think of it, I have another one similar to the OEM one in a Slime kit I’ve never used and a very small 12v one I used to carry/use on my motorcycle..sheesh, I am awash with the things!
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
Looking at images of stock MG pumps its the same as the ones I got in my Citroen and in my Kia, both would pump up tyres without the goo.
I used it a few times, both to raise low pressure and to inflate punctured tyres with the goo. Very easy to use, it can take a while to inflate as its only got a small piston.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
There’s much higher charging losses on a granny, you don’t get all the watts you use…and they typically charge at 10a, not the 13a you assume. So you’d get 2.3kw per hour before losses, probably lucky to see 2kw after losses, or 16kw supplied for a spend of 18.4kw.
7kw chargers also have losses, but they are a bit less and not so noticeable as a much lower % of overall consumption.
Plenty of data on this on Speak EV.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
Never mind cars @Abercol your wife is truly amazing. You must be very proud of her. What an incredible woman.
Yup, very proud. She’s blind and running the marathon in support of Guide Dogs. Her personal trainer was roped in to be her guide runner – he got no warning, poor soul. She applied to guide dogs as a charity runner for 2026, thinking there’s no way she’d get in as people wait years for a place, only for them to accept her the next day. At that point (September 2025) she’d not run at all. Now her long training runs are 2-2.5 hours, 9-12 miles. She’s booked in to run a couple of half marathons in Feb & March before the main event in April.
I’ve already been told that after the marathon she will switch to long distance open water swimming…and has already signed up for the triple loch quest with Go Swim with 750m as a starter over summer…sheesh.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
I am another not if you can’t charge at home vote…
125 miles a week means 7-8 day charge cycles in winter for the cars you’ve chosen. 64kw in the Countryman is about 180-200 miles in winter, thats charging to 100%. Maybe a bit less if open road, bit more if town based. Aircross would be even worse as Stellantis just don’t seem to get a grip on excessive winter consumption & EV database lists cold weather range as 150miles, so 10% to 90% would only give you a weeks driving. Also, as others have said, short trips in the cold can use more because you need to heat the cabin each time – especially bad are several short trips over a day, you may do 15 miles but lose 30 miles of range.
My son does not have a home charger, he has a Tesla and as such gets to charge off peak at 36p. He also uses that time to do some work on his laptop which his work allows as a part of his working day, so its not lost time for him. I know he changed his car to a Tesla once he moved job and no longer had workplace charging for his 45kw ZS EV, it just needed plugged in too much/was slow to charge compared to his 75kw Model 3. He loves it and has no plans to go back to petrol.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
I like my EV. A lot. This is is my second one. 54,000 miles covered without any issues so far
Just today, I drove in the snow 20 miles to drop my wife off for her wee jog… that’s a 2 hr run for her. Was told not to go away as she’s been ill (hospitalised just before xmas) and wasn’t sure if she’d need assistance/collecting from the roadside. So I sat in the car, heater on 21 deg, seat heat on, reading my book. 2hrs 20 mins later (why is it always longer…lol) she came back, I’d used 2% of my 80kw battery, so that’s 14p to be toasty the whole time without worrying about leaving an engine idling or using lots of fuel. Outside temp 1 deg, weather app says feels like -9 due to wind chill.
I do this a lot as wife is training for the London Marathon, so gym 3 times a week and running at least 3 times a week, none locally as we don’t have any facilities or quiet enough roads on our doorstep. In fact, she’s already said there will be another run at 1pm tomorrow after I take her to Dundee for her echocardiogram.
Would I buy a second-hand one – yes. My son is on his second EV, not had any issues at all with either of them. He only changed to get a bigger battery (I did tell him at the time…lol).
I’m not EV mad, drive what you like, I may not be in an EV for my next car, time will tell…
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
Just my wife and I on our own this year (and the dog of course, who has her own treats in store). First time ever.
Merry Xmas one and all.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
Forgot to add…yes, such penny pinching makes me think about what else have they shaved all of the profit off of and how they may deal with warranty work. Not a fan.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
Never been charged for an inflation kit before. My 2015 Grand Picasso was the first car I had with out a spare wheel, no inflation kit on collection, I went back to the dealer and they gave me one out of a huge box full of them, I guess they just forgot to put one in.
Every other car after that has had one, used them too – and Kwik Fit will give you a free replacement goo canister via Motability – worth remembering as they are a few quid otherwise.
I have my own small portable tyre repair kits, a remnant of my motorcycling days, both screw in plugs and the worm type tyre plug kit – used both over the years during motorcycle trips and they work very well (perhaps not so well on cars without a jack!)
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.
