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I agree. I’ve seen a lot of posts around where people are clearly trying to just get what they want from them. What doesn’t make sense to me is why a £28/£30k car has a £3/£4k AP, yet a lot of these electric cars are starting at £40k-£50k and have no AP (I suppose it makes sense in the sense they want people to have an EV) – which I’m really not against them, if I had the means to charge one I’d get an EV car, especially given the far cheaper running costs I’d have. But after looking into the logistics of owning one with my current circumstances, it’ll just be an utter headache and have a fairly big impact on how I’m able to utilise having a car.
There’s plenty of cars available to me on the scheme (a few I was looking at that now have much higher APs after this quarters prices) but they’re literally just out of the grant allowance.
What more information would you like? Shall I start posting the correspondence I’ve had from the grants people?.
yes you’re right, it’s caused me an issue. I was asked to go back to each and every dealership to take pictures of myself and my family in the cars, providing a list of evidence as to why the cars they suggested aren’t suitable. Their response to that email – the same letter about EV when I’d previously queried why they’d only sent me a list of EV cars when I’d first applied. Not a single point I’d made about each cars suitability was addressed, (none were to do with EV, apart from the Mazda MX30 and its abysmal range). I sent an email following this asking if they’re going to look at the actual points I’d made, I received no response then. So I called asking if they’d seen the email, and got the same letter as before. So I’ve put a complaint in about how I’ve been repeatedly ignored, despite being made to go around showrooms making myself feel an absolute clown, which is apparently all for naught as they’re not interested in doing anything to help. “Throwing my toys out the pram” because I’m not getting my own way? I’ve always paid the AP on my car myself, as you’ve read all my previous threads I’m sure you’ll understand – my current car has a now x6 times higher AP than what I paid 3 years ago. I’m simply trying to get a car that meets my needs, and so far, as I’ve said in this thread, they are all 1500+.
yes, I’ve made posts complaining about the Motability grants foundation (not the scheme) – again, like me and many others at the moment, they aren’t being helpful, they’re being quite the opposite if anything. Like I’ve said, my main point now is who do I contact about the way I’ve been treated through this whole process.
Partly yes, my preferable choice of car had an AP of £2,699 (It’s since gone up). There are several other cars I’m happy with, all of which are out of the allowance I can use the grant for (Starting at £1,499, my award will only allow me to go up to roughly £1120)
A huge part of my problem now however, is how my whole application etc has been handled. 9/10 of my responses have been generic emails/letters about how they want people to go EV – completley ignoring points I put across about the suitability of the cars they have offered. I’d been and looked at all the cars put forward to me, when I’d contacted initially to say they aren’t suitable, I was told to go back and take pictures of myself and my family in the cars to prove to them there isn’t enough room etc. I felt an absoloute tool going back to do so, but we did. I’d composed another email, with the pictures and reitterated the other issues I found, to get a response on how they don’t take fuel into consideration (shock horror). This was the start of whats been a lengthy complaints process. I’ve not once had a call back that’s been promised, or recieved any of the letters they allegedly sent out.
Not only that, there was one advisor who spoke to me like I was filth, I won’t go much into it, but she quite literally belittled me and ridiculed my situation. The response I’ve had from the complaints team completley ignored this fact (I’ve had 2 final emails, one was about how I’d put the complaint in about fuel type, I hadn’t, the second was literally a ‘take it or leave it’ response, telling me I can take this no further)
I’ve recently put in a complaint to the Grants team. Sounds like I got the same ‘award’ as you, £749. Had about 2 months now of dealing with them, not to mention some of the most horrid agents on the phone. Constant promises of callbacks, and letters that never arrived, it must be pure magic that as soon as I’d sent a complaint via email, I had a response on ‘behalf of the CEO’ saying they’d look into the matter and contact me within 30 days – within 3 hours of sending.
I was awarded for a ‘large 5 seater SUV’, yet the list of cars I was put forward by them, not one a large SUV. I went to view and test each car despite knowing they won’t be suitable, compiled an email listing the reasons why – to be quite literally told they don’t care as they think they are fine.
I’ve pointed out in my complaint that they’ve very specifically told me, my award is only to be used toward a Large SUV (They’ve said this on a few occasions). Other than the Skoda Enyaq 50, there isn’t a single Large SUV on the scheme with an AP lower than £1500, meaning my grant is essentially worthless. (Since the max AP I can use the grant with would be £1120)
Each response I’ve had from the grants team up to now has been utter made up garbage. I’d apparently asked for my grant to be increased to £3k for a specific car (I hadn’t, I was asked if I’d found any suitable cars, to which I said there are one or two so far, they picked one from that list, the AP for the car in question isn’t even that much either).
I’ve thankfully been able to extend my current cars lease for 2 years, giving me time now to save for something that suits my needs. Sadly I’ll likely miss out on being able to use the £750 NVP toward it though as this ends in Jan.
I hope your able to solve all this soon, I know for us it’s been one hell of a stress and continues to be so.
Turns out I didn’t need to ask anyway. Logged into my acount one day and had 2 options – ‘Apply’ for a new car (Essentially just prefilling a load of paperwork). Second was ‘Extend lease’, despite asking MB twice, being told no both times, I clicked extend, got a small page with some info telling me I can still order a new car with no hassle in the mean time, MOT, Insurance etc stays the same, followed by a tick box confirming I was ok with this, then a page to confirm my new lease end date in 2026!
The lease is 3 years. Some are able to extend by a further 2 years at the end, depending on your cars mileage and if you have any adaptations or not for disability. (I was told I could not extend my lease as I had over 20,000 miles on mine – 27,000 – however I was able to extend via my Motability online account without questions)
My information came from dealerships directly etc. As well as Skoda having a good calculator on their website (https://rangecalculator.skoda-auto.com/210/en-gb?actioncode=MSNRS18%2FGWAFWAF%2FGYONYON&drivingEnvironment=Highway&drivingStyle=Normal&mbv=5AZJK2&occupancy=FullCar&salesgroup=64079&season=Winter&temperature=19) Which does show a significant drop in range.
If I had the means to charge from home, I honestly wouldn’t mind EV so much. The cost of charging from home on a tarrif and so on would work out so much cheaper than fuel, and I’d be able to charge and go. I simply don’t have that option, so for me having an EV car would be a huge inconvenience at the moment.
So after something as simple as logging into my Motability account (I don’t really check it) – I had the option to extend my lease for 2 years with 3 simple clicks. (Despite Motability telling me I couldn’t)
Definately will be upgrading in the next few months as we do need something bigger, but the pressure of having to order the car /find the AP in a relatively short space of time has well and truly been lifted.
@MickC That looks interesting. I’ll go and take a look at that (Just as soon as I find a local-ish dealer with one to view!)Currently have a VW T-Roc.
I did enquire about 6 months ago about renewing my lease early as we could do with a bigger car. EV is of no use to me as my running costs would be too much. I don’t have a driveway, and the nearest one I could leave it on is 6/7 miles away, meaning I’d be without my vehicle, not to mention costs of getting back home and back to collect my car. I know I can use public charging, but I don’t hang around shops etc long at all. Not to mention the overall running costs (Especially since I’d likely use fast chargers). The range on EVs just simply isn’t enough for me. Even the cars advertised as 350 miles, that will drop by almost half in winter months meaning I’m charging twice as much. I’d be far better off with a hybrid car.
Found several cars suitable – Just out of my budget. Currently ringing dealerships as far as 2 hrs from me to find any that have offers etc on current stock to get a better price.
At this point I’m torn between placing an order now, seeing if APs do come down in a few weeks, or renewing my current lease. Although when I asked, Motability said I won’t be able to as my car has over 20,000 on it (Currently at 27)
When my renewal came up I did ask if I could keep my current car (The AP on my car now is £2,700) – I was told as it has over 20,000 miles and no adaptations I can’t. If APs are no better come October though I think I’ll push for a lease extension.
Thanks both. I did look at the MGs – personally wasn’t a great fit for me. I may go back and check again though.
I had read breifly about the issues with them, which for me is pretty concerning since Auto is all I can drive!
