Motability good value?

PolishBigSpender

Ferret1959 wrote: »

Hopefully I will be able to negotiate a deal with paying them back but it would mean giving up seeing me girlfriend as all my money goes on fuel to see her.

Why doesn't she come to see you? Seems to be a pretty lousy deal if you're having to pay for petrol AND excessive mileage without her contributing!

sarah29parsons

Hi there I have had a motability vehicle for the past 2yrs and its great less expense! As I have a large family I needed a large vehicle that gives us the space and seating so I opted for the vauxhall zafira which I gave a deposit of £100. Before I leased this car I had purchased a vehicle using my DLA as I wanted to own something after the 3 yrs of payments ( as this amounts to a large amount of cash) so I brought a used vauxhall zafira was great actually having something of my own. That was until everything that could go wrong with it did!! I ended up paying out nearly another £1000 on a new gear box amongst other things like general upkeep of the car. After sitting down using my figures I worked out that Having my own car was costing me £35 more a month not to mention cost of new tyres. So I contacted the finance dept of motability and made them aware I couldn't afford to upkeep the car and as a result they agreed to end my contract as I had pay'd over half as stipulated in my original contract (which I kept fortunatly). So I'd say that motability is good if you consider all the benefits that come with it... like breakdown cover, insurance(which is fully comp and you can have 3 more people on the policy) any repairs, tyres and courtesy car if needed wen repairs are done!!!!! hope this helps!!
Sarah

wazza

moredeadthanalive wrote: »

........

....., I may consider getting a SMax. Or should I run the Mondeo into the ground. It will probably have another 4 years left before it blows up!!!

I have just checked the prices for a Diesel SMax. £25000 to buy (less VAT and any dealer discount gives about £20000). Three years depreciation is about £10000. Ins and serv is £3000. Total cost £13000 for 3 years motoring!!

Motability - downpayment is £2700 plus £300 for cruise. Total payment over Motability is £7500 plus £3000 = £10500 for 3 years motoring.

........

SMax currently has a AP of £495, i think it will go up after March because a new facelift model has/is coming out.

sunnyone

moredeadthanalive wrote: »

I had Motability cars on contract lease for 15 or so years. I started with a Metro (which I wrote off) and had Renaults and mostly Vauxhalls. In those days the annual mileage allowance was 12000 and you could get a Vectra sized auto car for about £500 on top of the DLA.

With a family and doing over the 12000 miles a year it was better to buy a new Zafira with the Vauxhall cashback and VAT back and run it for 5 or 6 years. There was only £100's difference in cost but I got to build an NCB and had a car with cruise, and the trimmings I wanted.

I seem to remember that the last Zafira cost under £15000 (after all the discounts). Six years of DLA (average £2000 over the 6 years) is £12000. Servicing and insurance and tyres are say £500 a year which is £3000. Resale cost of Zafira now is about £3000 (guess). And I save on the new hand controls after 3 years (£300). So all in all, buying new was better than Motability 6 years ago.

I bought a VAT free 3 year old Mondeo (where the VAT is on the dealer profit) and had to convert the Zafira from VAT free to normal. The VAT free entitles all work on the car to be VAT free also. Again, the DLA has more than paid for the depreciation and servicing.

Now the Motability mileage limit is 20000, I may consider getting a SMax. Or should I run the Mondeo into the ground. It will probably have another 4 years left before it blows up!!!

I have just checked the prices for a Diesel SMax. £25000 to buy (less VAT and any dealer discount gives about £20000). Three years depreciation is about £10000. Ins and serv is £3000. Total cost £13000 for 3 years motoring!!

Motability - downpayment is £2700 plus £300 for cruise. Total payment over Motability is £7500 plus £3000 = £10500 for 3 years motoring.

So now for a new car, Motability looks best.

For a car you are going to keep, buying second hand looks better value.

I hope this makes sense and I haven't deluded everyone with baffling figures. I am sure someone will let me know!!!

Thats not possible within the law nor are some other details of your post.

Pete268

Ferret1959 wrote: »

I have spoken to them(very hard to do having had throat cancer.).

It was them would contacted me telling me about the excess mileage after the car had been serviced.
Two members of their staff told me not to worry but I can't help but worry.

I am having a new car off them in March on the scheme, I can't afford to buy a car.
I'm totally on benefits.

Hopefully I will be able to negotiate a deal with paying them back but it would mean giving up seeing me girlfriend as all my money goes on fuel to see her.

I went over the mileage limit on my last but one Motability car. They also told me not to worry about it, but then they went very hard at the last minute.

Although I had ordered my new car, they wouldn't let me collect it until the excess mileage on the old car had been paid off.

Fortunately it was only in the region of around £300 which was not really a problem and as soon as I had paid it, I could collect the new car.

Peter

moredeadthanalive

wazza wrote: »

SMax currently has a AP of £495, i think it will go up after March because a new facelift model has/is coming out.

On the Motability site, I couldn't see one for that price. The cheapest SMax is £1995 and I wanted the Diesel, automatic top spec one at £2750. They are the premium family car. For £495 you can get manual Mondeo. Still very nice, but the SMax has more leg room with the hand controls.

ShockingPink

I've been on HRM for 10 years and decided to buy a nearly new car and use
y dla to pay for the finance. I'm just getting my second car and despite paying insurance , repairs etc have saved enough to buy this car outright.
My dad had motability cars for years and was very happy with them, but when he died the car was taken within a week. This not only exacerbated our grief (having to clear his stuff out of it) but also left my mum without transport. This might be worth thinking about.

moredeadthanalive

sunnyone wrote: »

Thats not possible within the law nor are some other details of your post.

I disagree.

I am a wheelchair user. I bought the car from a Ford dealer. I had the hand controls fitted before I collected and paid for the car. This entitles me to the VAT free purchase. The car is TAX exempt and whenever I get it serviced, I sign a form so I don't get charged VAT. I haven't broken the law and my post is just a statement of what I did.

Check out HM Revenue & Customs Notice 701/59, Section 4 - Second hand adapted motor vehicles.

HTH

Tally-Ho_2

moredeadthanalive wrote: »

On the Motability site, I couldn't see one for that price. The cheapest SMax is £1995 and I wanted the Diesel, automatic top spec one at £2750. They are the premium family car. For £495 you can get manual Mondeo. Still very nice, but the SMax has more leg room with the hand controls.

The S-Max at £495 AP was the 1.8 Turbo Diesel Zetec, which was shown on the Quarterly Price Guide here:
http://www.motabilitycarscheme.co.uk//documents/website/Mot%20Ops/Publications/Car%20Price%20Guide.pdf


Unfortunately it seems this vehicle has been pulled off the scheme as it no longer appears when you do a live search in the 'Searchable Price Guide'.

Whilst posting this, I have just rang my local Ford dealer who has confirmed it is no longer on offer on the scheme.

Tally

wazza

Tally-Ho wrote: »

The S-Max at £495 AP was the 1.8 Turbo Diesel Zetec, which was shown on the Quarterly Price Guide here:
http://www.motabilitycarscheme.co.uk//documents/website/Mot%20Ops/Publications/Car%20Price%20Guide.pdf


Unfortunately it seems this vehicle has been pulled off the scheme as it no longer appears when you do a live search in the 'Searchable Price Guide'.

Whilst posting this, I have just rang my local Ford dealer who has confirmed it is no longer on offer on the scheme.

Tally

I feel it was for the pre facelift model whatever they had in stock.