I would be interested if anyone here has experience of the Motability scheme. At present I drive a VW Golf, the second car I have leased through Motability. While I appreciate the simplicity of the scheme where I simply have most of my Disability Living Allowance paid direct to Motability and in return have a car, insurance and servicing for three years with "only" fuel to buy I have wondered whether there might not be a better way to keep me on the road.
I have thought of several options open to me and would appreciate your views on these, or any others you may come up with yourselves, in comparison to what is offered by Motability. I should mention that I do not need any modification to the car which, in any case, must be provided and removed by the driver under the Motability scheme. Also I drive about 15000 miles/year;Motability charges me for annual mileage above 12000.
My first thought was at the time of having to hand back my last car. Should I try to buy it and keep it for, say, another 5 years? That option was ruled out by my financial position at that time and, I admit, a certain degree of inertia on my part. It was easier to carry on as before and VW were doing a special deal on the Golf which meant I did not need to find a deposit on it.
My second thought has been to wonder how the Motability leasing scheme compares to others offered by manufacturers or others. Does it really offer the best deal for a disabled motorist? I know that they enjoy certain advantages due to their charitable status. However my first car through Motability was financed through VW Financial Services on the same terms as I get now and I am fairly confident that their motives were not entirely charitable.
Finally I thought of buying a low-mileage second-hand car using some savings which I am fortunate now to have as a deposit, using my Disability Living Allowance to pay instalments, insurance and servicing over 4-5 years and then keeping it for a further 4-5 years allowing me then to blow my Allowance on riotous living.
All thoughts much appreciated.
Bobby
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bobby;
I am in much the same position as yourself, having a motorbility car with no adaptions, and i looked a few years ago at buying my 'mb' citroen zx, but the insurance payments for my wife and i amounted to about 80% of my allowance, leaving me out of pocket when it came to servicing, re-tyreing etc.
best regards steve
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Thanks for your reply, Steve. It makes me wonder what residual values Motability uses. Are they based on what one would expect of a car bought new from a dealer or do they reflect the price Motability paid I wonder. I guess the former. And by doing so it would deter the "owner" buying it and pressing him towards taking out a new contract tieing him in for another three years.
Unfortunately I don't have any hard figures relating to Motability as they don't seem to have to publish APRs, residual values etc as you see with other leasing arrangements.
Bobby
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Motability Finance usually auctions off its old cars, so know what they fetch on the basis of ongoing experience. There is probably a sale of ex Motability cars somewhere in the country every day of the week.
HJ
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