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@Rich44 that’s a good reply from your MP. I had a similarly encouraging response when I contacted our MP, he’s known for being particularly keen on disability matters. If lots of us make plenty of noise about this ridiculously unfair excess mileage charge, who knows… it might make no difference, but we at least have to try.
Typical politician’s poor response wasn’t it. They are going to cause real hardship with these new restrictions.
…you may fall fowl of the new Drive Smart criteria depending on how they interpret ‘ new-to-scheme’
- Anyone who is applying for their first vehicle on the Motability Scheme regardless of the age of their drivers
- Anyone who hasn’t had a lease with us in the last 7 years including anyone who started a lease and didn’t complete it within the same timeframe
The second half of the second point could catch a lot of people out.
That second half of the second point is baffling. Why should early termination of a lease (which can be for many different valid reasons) mean drive smart has to be fitted to a new lease? I don’t see the link.
What a very sad state of affairs. B*gger the needs of disabled people for whom 10k miles is simply insufficient to allow for regular hospital visits, the demands of family life, or (heaven forbid) actually using a car for leisure, who will simply be forced off the scheme.
I see it only starts to apply from leases starting on or after 1st July. At least folks who happen to be changing in the next three months will get the benefit of the 60k allowance on their new lease.
Its a shame quarters can’t be guaranteed anymore and my on personal view manufacturers shouldn’t be allowed to remove vehicles part way through a quarter only for them to appear again the next quarter or the next, at an inflated price because they are popular.
My thoughts exactly. The list is extremely volatile these days. Not exactly customer orientated.
Ant, Where to start? For context, we got one of the first to market before they’d ironed out numerous issues. Newer versions might have significantly improved but, Suspension set up is dire. Imagine being on a trampoline and double the bounce! Any roller in the road causes head crash and tickle your tuppence. Reliability is poor. It’s been back for 8 recalls – some DVLA and some Mazda. All necessitating annoying days at the garage. Transmission us about as smooth as a Turkish wrestlers jock strap. Crash bang wallop – I’ll find a gear in here somewhere? PHEV but very rough transitions. EV range started off about 5 miles!!! Improved after second software recall and getting better since but 25 miles maximum. For a huge car cabin is seriously cramped. Must be Japanese biology driven not brick s###house! Boot small. Access to Rear seats compromised by wheel arches, so much so daughter cannot use them. 12V battery number 2 on its way out. Too much power and can’t put it down on the road without scrabbling (and I drive like Reginald MoleHusband!) £55K car with £9K AP – NEVER BEEN AS DISAPPOINTED IN A CAR – and I had a mini metro!!
Wow!
But apart from the above, you quite like it?! 😀
…we’ll be terminating the dreadful Mazda CX60 and ordering a Shuttle ASAP. Fingers crossed
May I ask what was so bad about the Mazda? Just curious.
We’ve had two Volvo V60s, of the shape before the current one. Very capable cars, solid as a rock, with the most comfortable seats we’ve had in any car. Can’t recommend them highly enough.
What strikes me with this thread is all the polite, well-reasoned replies that don’t hurt your head when trying to read them.
Personally, our “glorified large mobility scooter” has been a positive game changer for us and we’d definitely have another. Nobody is disputing that EVs aren’t for everyone, but please @on_the_spectrum, stop forcing your blinkered opinion on us as being the only correct view. Your post just comes across as an acrimonious rant that any Daily Mail-reading conspiracy theorist would be proud of.
Ant I totally except it was not aim at me, but yes you cannot call Reform racist for starting what some of the public are voicing
Why not? That’s what it is, racism pure and simple. Racism needs to be called out, whether its coming from a political party or the public. To suggest that Reform are in some way innocent of it because they are merely ‘stating what some of the public are voicing’ is (putting it politely) nonsensical.
To bring it back more on-topic for this forum, as Mossfinn infers, if anyone values their Motability car then they should be giving these snakes a very wide berth.
I agree 100%, a Conservative/Reform coalition could work and balance each other out.
Heaven help us. If that load of racist, Russian-funded extremists get into power, then Motability cars will be the least of our worries.
You cannot call someone a racist because you disagree with them, that is narrow minded and negative. before you comment my parents were Asian.
At no point did I do that. Clearly I was referring to the Reform party, not you.
I agree 100%, a Conservative/Reform coalition could work and balance each other out.
Heaven help us. If that load of racist, Russian-funded extremists get into power, then Motability cars will be the least of our worries.
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.
The reduction in miles I can’t really see as an issue 20k was an awful lot in my option
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.
What is the new mileage limit please? I can’t find reference to it anywhere. Will it apply immediately, or from a future date? Will it affect existing leases?
Apologies, but it’s impossible not to make this political, because that’s why this decision has been made… The rabid far right have made Motability a clarion call to arms. The disciples of Fartage will always believe his propaganda. We can’t even rely on the media to question its veracity, as most of the media is right-wing controlled (now includes the BBC).🤦🏻♂️ The Tories left a complete mess for Labour to fix. No-one could fathom why Sunak called the election when he did, but they could no longer be trusted by the electorate or investors. Labour are in a no win position, as they have raise money for the exchequer, as the Tories run down public services / Defence / NHS etc over the past 14 years, and now they need investment. If you think things are bad now under Labour, then just wait until Fartage gets elected. Zero experience, zero competence, Pro- Putin, Pro-Trump and anti-EU. Worrying times.😱 Anyway, rant over and back to Motability. I was going to rejoin in early 2026 (when I retire). However, if all I am left with is Nissan, Toyota, Vauxhall, MG etc then I won’t rejoin and make my own arrangements…
Saved me some typing there, agreed on all counts. If Reform get in then heaven help us all.
Isn’t this this proposed pay per mile tax instead of Vehicle Excise Duty? If so, would it be payable by Motability customers? I’d assumed that it wouldn’t be, as VED isn’t. Or is that just wishful thinking?
That’s a good question, but my understanding is that the idea is that it’s to replace declining fuel duties, rather than VED. Motability drivers aren’t exempt from the fuel duty payable on petrol or diesel, so I doubt would be exempt from this either so, yes, probably wishful thinking. However, it’s not been properly thought through, so anything is possible
Ahh, I’d got the wrong end of the stick then. That’s bad news. We do a lot of miles and swapped to an EV mainly because we couldn’t afford to fuel a diesel car any more. 🙁
Isn’t this this proposed pay per mile tax instead of Vehicle Excise Duty? If so, would it be payable by Motability customers? I’d assumed that it wouldn’t be, as VED isn’t. Or is that just wishful thinking?
As ELTel says, you cannot get a car that they aren’t making any more. But it sounds to me like you have a perfect case for twisting their arm to get some sort of concession from them for keeping you hanging, especially as Motability sent you a holding email every fortnight. Keep banging their heads together and asking both parties what they are going to do for you to sort out a mess that is no fault of your own!
I’ve read about this happening for several different manufacturers though, its not exclusively a Volvo thing.
Hi All, Not sure if this has been asked before but has anyone ever been able to pay extra for a higher spec or trim that’s not available on the scheme? For example the normal Audi q3 s line 35 etc being changed to the sport back version? If anyone has experience with this, with any dealership could you advise, what did you get and how much extra you may have paid please?
It’s generally not possible. I guess if it was, then lots of folk would be doing it.
The closest we’ve got to it was several years ago when we pointed out to a Volvo dealer that the trim level of a car named on the scheme (a base trim) had been discontinued by the manufacturer, and asked if we could therefore have an SE (the trim level above). After a lot of head scratching they said yes, but when we collected the car, the dealer admitted to us that they’d got into trouble for doing so!
Ive been a Ford Fan Boy all my life and last year i went to have a look at the Explorer while it was “on nationwide tour” i was hoping i would love it when i saw it….but i did’nt..too many niggles for me. Haptic buttons,column selector,soundbar just stuck on top of the dash,infotainment screen low down,no 4×4 it put me off and then they delayed its launch and when it did finally arrive it AP was way too high. So from March 24 to Sept 24 i went from ordering Enyak Sportline to Ioniq 5 to Mustang Mach E and all the way back to getting an Enyak Sportline last Oct,it is perfect in every way..from layout of controls to subtle regen 3 stage control,comfy seats,huge boot,std audio system is very good,memory seat,blind spot alert and cross traffic alert,and the over speed alert sound is nice gentle reminder,its a 4×4 been great in recent snow and ice.
Interesting to read. We seriously considered the Enyaq but were put off by three things.
1) The long delivery times for the Skoda, several months rather than only three weeks for the Ford.
2) Personally we didn’t find the seats on the Skoda that comfortable (although to be fair, after our Volvo, nothing would ever be as comfy). The Ford seats felt slightly better to our bums!
3) We trailed round car showrooms with all of the gubbins we typically need to fit into the car when we go away (including wheelchair, trike attachment, shower chair, rotastand turntable, bedstick etc etc) to try each car’s load space for size. The Ford, although on paper having a smaller load area, somehow loaded better than the Enyaq and others. I can’t really explain the reason for this, beyond the wider tailgate I mentioned earlier.
Like many others it seems, no car on the list is the ideal choice for us. We just found the Ford to be the best compromise at the time we were choosing. I too was bothered about the gear selector being on a stalk but I’ve got completely used to it now. Ours has the driver assist pack which includes heads up display, 360 degree camera, parking assist, blind spot alert etc. If it also had 4-wheel drive, dumb cruise control and normal buttons on the steering wheel, I’d be pretty chuffed with it.
Last month we collected our new motability car, but temporarily still have our previous (non-motability) car. Due to my wife’s disability, we didn’t have to pay for car tax on the old car. Am I right in thinking that now we have a motability car, car tax will become payable on the old car? If so, it doesn’t seem to be an automatic change, as it still shows as taxed on the gov.uk site. Thanks for any clarification.
We didn’t want a BEV, even though we can charge at home, but we looked at the i4 as IMHO it was the best looking car on the scheme when we were last looking to change. In addition to it being a BEV, we would have discounted though, it as it felt very cramped inside and it was nigh on impossible to get in and out of the back of it without considerable difficulty and discomfort. The boot wasn’t great for a wheelchair either. I can’t imagine that it’s terribly practical for many people with disabilities, but if it ticks all the boxes and you’ve got your head around the downsides of having an EV (as well as the obvious positive of lower running costs as long as you can charge at home) then IMO it’s the only desirable car that’s been on the scheme for some time, so I’m sure that many will welcome its return. Very few private or fleet buyers go for the 35 model though, so demonstrators will usually be the more desirable (and more powerful) 40 model, so do try to get a drive in the model you’d be ordering.
Seconded, on all points. Certainly a desirable car and great to see it back on the list, but my wife found it impossible to get into the passenger seat as the dashboard stuck out so much.
