Used Motability cars - any downside?

hethmar

Son has been looking for a low mileage VW Golf or Honda Civic and has found some very low mileage decent looking cars of about 2-3 years old - all ex motability.

Before he gets too enthusiastic - are there any downsides to buying an ex Mobility car please?

Nilrem

They may have scuffs etc around the doors, and may have been run a little hard depending on who drove it (same as any car really), but apart from that they should be well maintained to at least manufacturers standards (all routine servicing etc is included in the lease).

If you can get a good price I wouldn't hesitate

harveybobbles

Well........................................

The Motability cars come thru the dealer network like this:

The original selling dealer gets 1st chance to buy it. If they dont want it it gets offered to other dealers of the same mfr. If they dont want it they get offered to dealers like us - they get described as gold or platinum.

Gold means they need some minor work doing ie parking dents and scuffed wheels.

Platinum means they are fresh as a daisy.

The Motability cars that are bought from auction are the ones to avoid, as they are the ones that get totally twatted! More hits than the Beatles etc...!

We gave up buying MFL cars from the auction as they really were a total disgrace and you'd end up rebuilding them!

However, the ones bought from MFLdirect website are clean and tidy and they are the ones to go for!

hewhoisnotintheknow

harveybobbles wrote: »

Well........................................

The Motability cars come thru the dealer network like this:

The original selling dealer gets 1st chance to buy it. If they dont want it it gets offered to other dealers of the same mfr. If they dont want it they get offered to dealers like us - they get described as gold or platinum.

Gold means they need some minor work doing ie parking dents and scuffed wheels.

Platinum means they are fresh as a daisy.

The Motability cars that are bought from auction are the ones to avoid, as they are the ones that get totally twatted! More hits than the Beatles etc...!

We gave up buying MFL cars from the auction as they really were a total disgrace and you'd end up rebuilding them!

However, the ones bought from MFLdirect website are clean and tidy and they are the ones to go for!

is that site open to the public or just the trade

steveo3002

have a really really good look for any paint jobs and repair jobs

the garage i worked out had them in and they were all what id call abused , lots of scrapes and dents , rough interiors etc ...also got to see these cars when the disabled people still owned them and again not looked after at all

im sure theres folk that look after them like theyre thier own , but i never saw many

mchale

steveo3002 wrote: »

im sure theres folk that look after them like theyre thier own , but i never saw many

Also bear in mind it many have been driven by grandchild of claimnt and had the b*****ks screwd out of it, also may have had mileage clocked.

System

mchale wrote: »

Also bear in mind it many have been driven by grandchild of claimnt and had the b*****ks screwd out of it, also may have had mileage clocked.

Same as any other 2nd hand car then

terryya

We bought an ex-motability car at auction and there were a few scuff marks on the edge of the door and the interior was a bit tatty. However the price, compared to dealers and private sales, was very good and with 2 young kids knew that they would be causing the same 'damage' anyway.

Like others have said, I think they ares similar to all used cars in that you get some good ones and some bad ones, some careful owners and some not so careful.

On the plus side is that all the work is done on them. we've had ours 18 months now, had no problems and only paid for service and MOT (and it's a renault:p). We got a complete print out of work done, and it had had all the services done and tyre,discs, pads, wipers replaced a couple of months before we bought it.

terryya

mchale wrote: »

Also bear in mind it many have been driven by grandchild of claimnt and had the b*****ks screwd out of it, also may have had mileage clocked.

I'd say that considering they come with a full history of all the work done on them, complete with mileage, from a main dealer, the liklihood of them being clocked is much lower than some other secondhand cars!

mchale

terryya wrote: »

I'd say that considering they come with a full history of all the work done on them, complete with mileage, from a main dealer, the liklihood of them being clocked is much lower than some other secondhand cars!

No, a motabilty car is only allowed a certain mileage over its 3 yr lease (36,000 AFAIK) over that, a cost per mile is charged, it use to be 8p, so if little Johnny is out ever night in it, the mileage clocks up. end result clock it back

steveo3002

no reason for the motorbility folk to clock the car is there?

and if the garage is dodgy then it wont just be motorbility cars