Motability Insurance and Advance Payment

WaveyDave_2

Hello

My wife is getting her first ever motability car, and we've chosen a car that an advance payment. I've been trying to find info on the provided insurance, but it doesn't give much info.

In a hypothetical situation, where we had the new car delivered and stolen the next day. If it was not recovered, what would be the situation RE the advance payment we've made? Would we get it back as part of the insurance settlement, as its technically not our car.

Many thanks

Dave

G_M

Would we get it (advance payment.) back as part of the insurance settlement,

No. You get a car for 3 years under the scheme. That's what the insurance would give you. Either a temp courtesy car till yours is recovered (and repaired id damaged), or a replacement if yours is not recovered and is deemed 'written off'.

And if you do decide to go ahead and apply for a M car, don't forget the £25 cashback scheme. Referrals here.

WaveyDave_2

Hi

Thanks for your reply - but I'm not quite sure I understand what you mean.

Say, for example, we get a car with an advance payment of £5000, and the day after delivery it is stolen, and not recovered. What would be the position with the car - would they replace it for an identical spec/car, would they cancel the agreement and we'd have to choose another? That would mean we'd have to find another £5000. It would be helpful if Motability had more info about this on their website!

tenacioust123

Basically you would get exactly the same car that was stolen. You may have to have a curtesy car until there was one available.

G_M

WaveyDave wrote: »

Hi

Thanks for your reply - but I'm not quite sure I understand what you mean.

would they replace it for an identical spec/car, would they cancel the agreement and we'd have to choose another? It would be helpful if Motability had more info about this on their website!

You'd have a leasing contract with Motability for 3 years. Your contract with them (underwritten by the insurance) would be that they provide a certain spec car for 3 years in return for the costs agreed.

therefore they would replace your stolen car under the terms of the original contract. Simple!

I guess there's a limit to how many scenarios they can describe on their website - they do provide quite a lot of info but they are very responsive/helpful if you ring them with specific queries not covered.

jasmin10

We have just sorted out our first car and was also confused by the advance payment. When I enquired about it, I was told that the advance payment is a non-refundable amount that is put towards the depreciation of the vehicle.

patflanel

On the motability site, in the FAQ section one of the questions is :-

You said:
Does the contract end if the car is a total loss?

Mo says:
If the car is declared a Total Loss the contract will be ended at the date of the incident.

The outcome of this is that you would be required to take out a new contract and pay any advance payment.
This seems rather harsh as you have entered into a contract for the supply and maintainance of a car for 3 years.
This has happened to a friend so I know it is the case.

code-a-holic

I am a year in to my first motability and was not aware of that about a total loss ending the contract. I find that quite scary! I paid £1800 advance payment - that would feel a waste if the contract was terminated and another advance payment was needed on a new contract.

WaveyDave_2

code-a-holic wrote: »

I am a year in to my first motability and was not aware of that about a total loss ending the contract. I find that quite scary! I paid £1800 advance payment - that would feel a waste if the contract was terminated and another advance payment was needed on a new contract.

This is my concern, due to my wife's dexterity problems, the car we've picked has an advance payment of £3000. This could conceivably be completely lost at any time! We would then have to find another £3000. Whilst there is no doubt motability is a great idea, this has really put me off pursuing this course of action!

WaveyDave_2

For anyone else who might be interested -

Just spoken to Motability, they said that in the event of a write off, the Advance Payment is refunded on a pro-rata basis.

Tally-Ho_2

''For anyone else who might be interested -

Just spoken to Motability, they said that in the event of a write off, the Advance Payment is refunded on a pro-rata basis.''

The problem then arises for example if you paid £1500 for your car, then if it is written off in say a years time you would get £1000 back. Now, if the Advanced Payment on the car has risen over the intervening time (which a lot have in recent times) you lose out by only having £1k refunded when the equivalent car's current AP could be for example £3,500 by now.

Also if one has specified 'Optional Extras' at the time of ordering the car and paid for them with the AP, then the value of the Optional Extras is not refunded.

There doesn't seem any way to insure against either of the above scenarios. I know of you buy a car you can take out enhanced GAP insurance to cover things such as these but this type of insurance does not seem to exisy for Motability customers.

Tally