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Hyundai take bings and bings to the extreme. Even when I mute the ones that I can (which you have to do every time that you start the car) the car still bings and bongs for all sorts of reasons – not all of which are even apparent!
The BMW that I am buying was blissful silence in comparison to the Hyundai. Whereas I mute the speed warnings in the Hyundai I will leave them on in the BMW, as there are less bings each time it sounds and they are a much quieter and a far less irritating tone. I’m sure that there are other manufacturers available through Motability who are more in line with BMWs approach than the ‘nanny state’ Hyundai’s 😂
Sorry @Azzy I forgot to answer your question. If you do 500 miles a week and your car is 3 years old, you must already be up to around 70k miles? If so, I’d think that you’d want to renew the car?
The lower mileage limits from 1st July and, more importantly, the punitive 25p per mile surcharge for additional mileage, would surely make a Motability car uneconomical for you? If so, I’d either be looking to ditch Motability ASAP (if you are able to) or, if you are tied to Motability, change now and at least have 3 more years before you need to look at options away from Motability.
As for car type, given your high mileage, I’d personally look at either an EV with a good real world (as opposed to claimed) range – but only if you can charge at home – or a diesel. However, the choice of the latter through Motability is dire.
@Glos Guy The difference between our processes is I needed Motability to inform DWP that I no longer had the Motability car before they would issue the Statement of Entitlement. You need the DVLA to inform or show the DWP she is not claiming VED exemption on a vehicle, so they will issue a Statement of Entitlement for your new car. I have check “is my car taxed” on the DVLA website, and it shows my car last change of V5 as the 1st April, car first registered 4th March. So you could check your Motability cars last change of the V5 to see its status. Don’t know if this will help.
The ‘check if a car is taxed’ .Gov website showed that DVLA altered the tax renewal date after 2 weeks, which told me that they’d processed it. However, when I called DVLA to ask how long it would take for them to send the new V5 to Motability, they told me that this can take up to another 4 weeks and until then their system wouldn’t be fully updated, due to the levels of fraud they experience and the checks that they have to go through. I could sort of understand this if I was exempting a car for the first time, but I’ve given them money that they weren’t expecting. Utter nonsense.
I then called DWP in the vague hope that they might issue the Certificate of Entitlement now, but the person said that they will only issue one when we no longer have the Motability car. I said that this must be incorrect, as many people have a Motability car which they pay the VED on because they use their exemption on a private car, but it was a case of ‘computer says no’. BrokenBritain.com
I’m going to call DWP every week from now on in the hope that they can see that the DVLA have updated their system and that they will then issue the certificate. As I understand it, once we are finally rid of the Motability car things will become very straightforward every time we change a car in the future, but all this kerfuffle would make me think twice about ever rejoining Motability.
@Azzy I currently have a Tucson Ultimate PHEV. It’s incredibly well equipped, but dull as hell to drive. I also don’t enjoy driving it because of Hyundai’s OTT implementation of all the warning and message bings and bongs, which drive me demented. Other manufacturers implement these things in a less obtrusive way. As @kezo says, when the very limited EV range is depleted, it’s an uneconomical car. I haven’t been convinced by the whole PHEV experience over the last 2 years. It’s a faff having to charge it after every single use and if I add the charging costs to the petrol it costs more per mile than the 2.0i petrol BMW X1 4WD Auto that we had before – which didn’t need charging!
@chastw Interesting to hear your experience. The timeline that you experienced fits with what Motability told me used to happen, but they informed me that what used to take 5-7 days is currently taking the DVLA 4-6 weeks.
I know that the worst case scenario is that I pay the VED in order to take delivery of the car and then change the taxation class afterwards, just as you did, and claim a refund but there’s a big problem with that. The first year VED on my new car is an eye watering £5,690 which I’d have to pay in addition to the cost of the car, so even after a pro-rata refund I’d still end up out of pocket by £474 per month that I shouldn’t have to pay. This is why I started paying the VED on the Motability car from 1st May, when the delivery date on my new car was the end of July, in order to give me plenty of time. The delivery date has now come forward to the end of June, which has narrowed my window by a month!
@kezo I’m not at all surprised to hear that. When discussing the early termination, Motability told me that my wife would start receiving the additional PIP payments from the week after we hand the car back. Yeah, right. That’s never going to happen! We are less worried about that aspect though, as it’s just going into a savings account to build up a fund to cover tyres etc on the new car, which I hope not to need during the first year 🤞
If we still haven’t got the ‘Certificate of Entitlement’ by the time the new car is ready for collection, I’m going to chance my arm with my wife’s PIP ‘ongoing’ award letter and the letter from Motability confirming that the disabled exemption has been removed from their car.
Oddly, the VAT exemption aspect is a dead simple two page self-declaration form that I have printed off from the net and will take me just a few minutes to complete, yet getting the VED exemption, which is worth a lot less, is a nightmare in comparison! This country is nuts 🙄
@Glos Guy When you get the certificate of entitlement the instructions are to write down your reg number in black ink in the top right of the certificate. And yes, the image that @kezo posted is what I have. As I said in my post, they sent me 2 certificates at the same time back in 2021 and I only have used one of them . The 2nd one is unused and that’s the one I’m thinking of using as opposed to asking them for a new one. Going by what you said it’s probably best I wait a few weeks until DWP finally update their system and then apply to change my tax on new car. Can’t see that I need bothering to get a fresh certificate as it will only be exactly the same as @kezo shows in his picture. For all the details on putting disabled tax on a car whether new or used it’s all set out at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67eb99310678ace40a7f27be/ins216-how-to-apply-for-free-disabled-tax.pdf
Ah, I see. Many thanks for clarifying. As I’m buying new, all I need to do is hand the Certificate of Exemption to the supplying dealer. Dead easy – well, when I eventually get hold of the ruddy thing it will be. That, sadly, is not so easy 😂
You need a new certificate if you change vehicle or the registered keeper changes, as it normally gets stamped by main post office to “x” vehicle.
As we are buying a brand new car we don’t use the post office. The supplying dealer processes it with DVLA. As it’s a private car, I’m hoping that we get to keep the certificate so that we can use it next time. Either way, I’m hoping that all the hassle this time is purely down to the rigmarole of removing the VED exemption from a Motability car and DWPs refusal to issue a certificate until that has fully run its course. In future it should be much easier 🤞
Thanks @kezo That’s really useful. As I thought, it’s just confirmation about the benefit recipient and their eligibility for VED exemption. No reg number. @UncJ what kezo has just posted is what you need. Maybe you have something different confirming that a previous car was exempt? That might be different and may not be what you need.
As for timescales, I think (and hope) that I’m still OK as the latest that DVLA and DWP should get their act together is mid June and my car is due end June. However, neither seem to be very competent so anything is possible. I just don’t want to have to pay the ginormous first year VED and then claim a refund. Even if I cop for just one month it’s £475 😰
@UncJ DWP won’t be updated for some time, as the first step is Motability notifying DVLA. Only when DVLA have changed the taxation class on your returned car (happens quickly) and their system updates (happens slowly – can be 4-6 weeks) does the DWP get notified that you are no longer using your VED exemption. This is where I am currently stuck.
However, if you already have a Certificate of Entitlement it sounds like you are good to go (we don’t have one, so need a new one, which they won’t issue yet).
I am confused by your Certificate of Entitlement having a registration number on it. I’m asking for one so that a new car can be registered VED free, so it doesn’t have a reg number yet (although, as it happens, I’ll be assigning a private plate so know what the reg will be). I’d assumed that the Certificate of Entitlement was just in the claimants name (to show that the person is eligible for VED exemption) and not a registration number?
What are you looking at 6 weeks?
Sorry @kezo Don’t understand your question
Do you have the orginal certificate from when mrs GG was entitled to PIP or ring PIP enquiry line (0800 121 4433) and ask for a new one to be sent out. If they don’t understand what your asking for, keep trying until you get someone with an ounce of common sense. Edit https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67eb99310678ace40a7f27be/ins216-how-to-apply-for-free-disabled-tax.pdf
No, just the PIP award letter.
DWP will not issue a replacement whilst their records show that we have a Motability car with VED exemption. Once their system finally updates to show that the Motability car is no longer disabled exempt they say they can issue immediately, but I’m going to have to be patient. Will try again every week until I get the result I want. It’s to stop fraud apparently. Very frustrating.
As has been said, it’s difficult to answer your question with such limited information.
For example, in our case none of the 1st July changes affect us. We do less than 10k miles a year, never get through more than 2-3 tyres a lease, don’t take the car abroad and are exempt from the VAT on the AP due to the adaptation that we have. As it happens we are still leaving Motability, but that’s because of poor vehicle choice as none of the cars that we are now ‘allowed’ appeal.
The fact that you asked for a grant suggests that money is tight, in which case an extension may be good for you. However, you might not like your car and want to change? If you could charge at home and fancy an EV, the money you could save on fuel could more than offset the AP of getting a new car.
A bit more info might elicit some better advice but, in the end, only you can decide what’s best.
Sorry to hear about your prang. You definitely don’t lose your GCB. On the only occasion that I’ve had a prang they even said that if I was happy to live with the car with the damage, rather than have it repaired, then it wouldn’t affect the GCB! I wanted it repaired as I’d only had the car a few months and the ding would have irritated me. You only lose your GCB if you return the car with damage that you haven’t told them about and given them the option to repair. As you know you have to pay the excess.
The repairer will give you an indication of repair time. It all depends on how much work is involved and whether anything needs replacing or just repairing. Mine was repairable and needed spraying but it still took 4 or 5 days. You keep the hire car throughout and it’s extended if there’s a delay
Petrol automatics are absolutely fine to drive. Same as your EV except that if they have any brake recuperation it’s generally not as aggressive as in an EV.
I find the statement about modifying electrics to be interesting as in order to use a push pull accelerator and brake system with an integrated indicator switch would therefore qualify.
I would think so, as long as the disabled person is a full time (not occasional) wheelchair user. HMRC have a very helpful helpline and they confirmed both my wife’s and the cars eligibility.
HMRC Charities Helpline 0300 123 1073 (0900-1800 M-F)
Odd, because I’ve heard from multiple people that their insurance renewals this year have dropped, some by a fair amount. All private ICE cars, although I’ve no idea if that makes any difference. The prices I’ve been quoted for my new private ICE car amazed me at how reasonable they were, even for a car in the highest insurance group 50!
Thanks for the helpful replies. I am a wheelchair user and have only been able to drive a car with electronic under ring accelerator and handbrake for several years. I am now disillusioned by Motability and the advance payment cost and adaptations are prohibitive. Unfortunately, a couple of dealerships have refused to sell me a car via private purchase, with adaptations required (I have a restricted license because of this) VAT free. They keep telling me incorrectly that I must pay the VAT upfront and reclaim from HMRC, contrary to HMRC’s advice.
You are absolutely correct that those dealers have given you incorrect advice. HMRC make it very clear that VAT cannot be reclaimed once paid. You have to have the exemption at the point of purchase or you don’t get it.
Sadly, car dealerships are under no obligation to sell VAT free cars to disabled customers or their nominated drivers, even though it costs them nothing other than some admin time. I live between two BMW dealerships. Even though I am buying an extremely expensive car, one of the dealerships refuses to sell cars VAT free to those who qualify, even when I challenged their MD by letter. The other dealership had no issue. Guess which one got my business?
I reckon it’s even simpler than that. I wouldn’t mind betting that the insurance is a block policy that for £x million covers all cars within the Motability fleet. It would be an absolute industry, and not worth the cost of the vast administration involved, to make a calculation on a car by car basis across 660,000 vehicles, with hundreds of cars leaving and joining on a daily basis. The insurers will most likely quote a single block policy cost based on actuarial calculations using group claims history. Much smaller organisations than Motability would have block policies calculated in this way, so I’d be staggered if a scheme the size of Motability has anything more complicated. Forcing out a lot of the highest mileage drivers will be factored into the actuarial calculations and reduce the premium although, as we know, this will be offset by the imposition of 12% insurance premium tax which the government has decided to now impose on Motability customers.
I’m not sure if this query relates to a new private car purchase, or the addition of VAT on APs for Motability cars, but if the same rules are applied to both then, in addition to meeting the adaptation requirements, it’s worth keeping in mind that the disabled person must also be a full time wheelchair user. Someone who doesn’t use a wheelchair, or only does so on occasions, doesn’t qualify for VAT exemption on a new car purchase, regardless of the adaptations.
So in total it cost me around £3,500
Don’t forget your sacrificed benefits. In total I suspect it would have actually cost you around £16,000 😉
Am I missing something? Most people are celebrating this as if the whole Drive Smart thing has been scrapped. From reading the news release it sounds as though it’s only been paused and Motability still intend to press ahead with it once the app glitches are resolved?
@jojo22 If it helps, I got approval for an early termination this week. We have 15 months left on the lease. The authority is valid for termination at any time within 2 months. I have a new private car on order which is now due at the end of June. If it goes beyond 2 months you have to re-apply, but it’s straightforward. You then need to pay the £250 early termination fee just before you return the car. You must return the car within 2 weeks of this, so it’s essential not to pay until you have a cast iron date for a new car.
As for justifying the return, just have a reason that it’s difficult for them to argue with. I said that we only need one car and that the cars that I buy privately are well beyond the limited scheme choices available. They had no issue with that. As to whether they will tighten up on criteria if departures turn into a flood remains to be seen.
You get a pro rata refund of the AP.
Sadly I am still driving around in the Nanny State Hyundai @kezo but yesterday I had confirmation that my new car has been built this week and should now be with me by the end of June – fingers crossed. As a result, I called Motability who have agreed to our early termination at any time within the next 2 months. Thankfully BMW isn’t as keen on bings and bongs as Hyundai. My test drives were a tranquil joy in comparison.
Like you, our decision to leave Motability pre-dated the announcement of the recent changes (none of which would affect us) and was due to the now poor choice on the scheme. We have gone for a car that we ‘want’, rather than continue to compromise with one that we are ‘allowed’.
However, unless I am misunderstanding things (always possible) I don’t think that APs will go up by 32%. The 12% on IPT is only on the insurance cost (which I’d guess is quite small per customer) and the recently announced changes (lower mileage limit, excess mileage charge etc) were implemented in order to help offset the additional costs to the scheme. As a result, I believe that part of the 32% hit has already been offset through these measures. So whilst APs will undoubtedly continue the upward trajectory that we have experienced over the last 2 years, I predict that the July price list will just be a continuation of this trend, rather than see a massive hike. Even though we won’t be Motability customers by then, I sincerely hope, for the sake of those who remain, that I am right.
The UK government is projected to save over £1 billion over the next five years by restructuring tax reliefs for the Motability scheme, officially confirmed in the 2025 Autumn Budget, to take effect from 1 July 2026. These changes, aimed at reducing public spending, include imposing VAT on advance payments and applying Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) to leases
Exchequer impact (£ million)
2026 to 2027 +£90m
2027 to 2028 +£165m
2028 to 2029 +£225m
2029 to 2030 +£280m
2030 to 2031 +£305mThe above figures show how much money the exchequer (government) expects to make each year from the changes. Put another way, this is how much extra Motability customers will be paying each year.
If anything, Motability will lose out from these changes, as they are likely to result in the loss of thousands of customers, who will choose to use their money away from the scheme where they won’t be subject to all the restrictions in vehicle choice and, particularly if they are a higher mileage driver, may find better value for money
However, unless the Timms review tackles the spiralling benefits crisis, if the trend of recent years continues, those of us who leave the scheme are likely to be more than compensated for by the addition of new benefits claimants who will be eligible to join Motability, so there is no question that the scheme will remain secure. It’s also worth remembering that Motability Operations still made a healthy profit when the number of scheme customers was a fraction of what it is today.
I went for lunch with some mates today and had a 1 hour journey each way on the motorway. It really struck me that a huge number of the cars that I saw on the journey were brands that didn’t even exist a few years ago (at least in the U.K.). As not a single one of them even remotely interests me, I have absolutely no idea how many of them were EVs, PHEVs or ICE cars, but I have never seen such a huge change in the types of cars on our roads in such a short period of time.
Given that the vast majority of people aren’t particularly in to cars and see them as a necessary evil to get from A to B, preferably as cheaply as possible and in comfort, it is no wonder that these new (mostly Chinese or Far Eastern) brands, offering well equipped cars at (relatively) cheap prices, are swamping the market for those who insist on having a brand new car. Add into the mix the problems that traditional manufacturers are having trying to get EV sales even remotely near to government targets and it’s no wonder that Nissan and others are experiencing problems!
