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To be fair Motability has been taking the wee wee. At some point CEO was paid 1.7 million plus bonuses, currently it’s nearly 800k. Seriously… At some point they were sitting on 2bn cash reserve. Don’t forget it’s owned by 4 banks. To be honest it should be nationalised and turned into a public car leasing company or replaced with a scheme enabling dealers to offer similar all inclusive leasing deals for disabled people using PIP.
Can’t disagree. Used to watch Harry’s channel and found it entertaining but I noticed he was heavily biased and against EVs in general so stopped following him.
re the original question we can only guess what happens behind the curtains. Motability tries to get the best possible deal whilst manufacturers struggling with high cost for older platforms. Next gen cars (eg BMW neue klasse) will be significantly cheaper due to purpose build factories/assembly lines and cheaper battery cells and economy of scale. Chinese cars could fill the gap temporarily however they are rather expensive in the UK compared to Australia or Europe.
Actually it is the CLA. Mercedes have currently 270+ CLA electric in stock, currently offering £4850 discount and some dealers already offer additional deposit contributions. This suggests they can’t shift them quick enough. There will be a slight model refresh in Q1 2026 (updated steering wheel with manual buttons and optional 400v charging) making the existing stock less desirable.
Sorry, my post was a bit blunt. I did not mean to be rude.
The 2024 loss is largely due to one-off non-cash adjustments (such as revaluation of used car values and depreciation changes) rather than a decline in core sales performance. When these items are removed, the “underlying” pre‑tax loss shrinks to about £130 million, a much smaller figure that would be more favorably viewed against the backdrop of increased sales and revenue.
Long story short I don’t think this will have any impact on AP.
Please stop scaremongering. That article is rubbish.
Motability generated some loss due to incentives (£750 pay outs, free ev chargers, grants – ) and drop in resale value. You may remember Tesla cut prices by 20% couple of years ago that had a knock on effect on used EV prices. Also insurance went up a bit.
BTW Motability has 4 billion (!) pounds in capital reserve (i.e. cash in the bank) so far from going bankrupt. 😀
Re other costs Motability vehicles are exempt of VED and VAT…
So back to our original topic. Do we know what is coming? It would be good to see Audi Q4, BYD Seal and Sealion 7, Xpeng G6 and likes to come onto the scheme.
Some cars are better than others regardless of the fuel. I just test drove a BYD Seal and it was surprisingly good. Much better than a Model 3 and not far off of my Jaguar I-Pace actually.
I would suggest to test drive some EVs and make sure you opt for the smallest possible wheels (18-19?). Some cars now have frequency adaptive dampers (Eg top spec BYD, new Model 3 and Model Y) which makes the ride lot smoother.
There is a misconception surrounding heat pumps. Actually it can both heat or cool the car hence has a positive impact on range regardless of the weather. If you do very long trips often then you will appreciate the potential 10% extra range. If you do short trips only then you will see less gains however if you are sitting in a traffic jam on M25 for 3 hours then you will notice the difference.
Enyaq and ID.4 are very similar however Enyaq is more aerodynamic hence has longer range. I think Skoda has better interior in terms of quality and design. The updated model looks stunning.
Ioniq has more advanced EV drivetrain (800v battery, faster charging) and infotainment.
Never driven a Skoda so can’t comment. Some EVs tend to have a funny brake pedal feel as they blend regen and friction brakes. Try different regen settings during your test drive.
I think a couple of hundred miles is ok if you happy with driving provided you drive an EV with cheap tariff.
I live south of London and most dealers around here are not very good at customer service (too many wealthy people buying cars I assume). We picked up our last two cars from Caffyn’s Eastbourne and Barrett’s Ashford.
I think available cars on scheme is driven by importers/manufacturers decisions. Apparently Motability negotiates quite aggressively to get huge discounts. Some companies like Tesla, Polestar and Genesis have online pricing model hence will not budge. I expect more (EV) deals towards end of the year when ZEV mandate starts to bite (Ford, VAG, Toyota?)
When we got our first Motability car 12 years ago the dealer gave us the original invoice by mistake. Retail price of the car was about 27k including VAT and Motability paid 16k only after VAT and discounts deducted.
Actually OP is right. AP seems completely random in some most cases:
Peugeot 308 Estate EV
AP: 7,999 Cash price: 39k (32.5k + VAT)
BMW i4
AP: 7,999 Cash price: 52k (43.3k + VAT)
https://www.motability.co.uk/find-a-vehicle/cars/search-results/bmw-i4/
Smart #3
AP: 6,295 Cash price: 34k (28.3k + VAT)
Cupra Tavascan
AP: 6,495 Cash price: 47k (39.2k + VAT)
BUT this dealer offer 4,800 off!
https://www.monmotors.com/offers/cupra-tavascan-motability/
Omoda 5
AP: 4,845 Cash price: 33k (27.5k+VAT)
Octopus EV Leasing:
To me AP seems completely arbitrary especially once VAT exemption and 10-20% fleet discount factored in.
Actually I bought a new I-Pace three years ago so happy to answer any questions.
You may wish to update your calcs with the following:
Extended warranty. UK cars come with 3 year warranty. Extended JLR warranty with Jaguar Assistance is absolutely must have. It used to be £700 last year but it’s about £1000 per year now. https://jaguar.motor-admin.com/warranty/vehicle-details-1
Vehicle subscriptions will expire in year three (online sat nav, data, security tracker). It costs about £280 per year I think.
Second year service is about £300, 4 year service is in the region of £700 as it involves replacing the brake hoses.
Probably it is the best value for money out there at the moment. There are some annoying design issues (intelligent wing mirror heating, no rear wipers, passenger side mirror is not auto-dim etc) still it is a very nice car. Great drive, comfortable ride, spacious cabin, ridiculously fast.
However it’s fairly outdated in terms EV technology. Very inefficient, low motorway range, very slow “rapid” charging. I’m thinking of voluntary terminating my PCP and either buy pre-reg one or buy back my own for peanuts.
