Just wondering

iluvmarmite

I have read a few posts about motability cars and its got me thinking about it all.

My sister has one on the scheme, they use all of her componant to pay for it which is just over £200 a month I think, not quite sure on the exact cost. This includes all the tax for 3 years, all the insurance for her and her husband, all the servicing, MOT when its due and any mechanical defects that need to be put right, including tyres, RAC membership etc. Surely all that comes to more than £200 odd a month.

How do motobility make a profit from this? And she gets insentives from them like a £50 shopping voucher if she recommends a friend to the scheme, so they must get something out it for them to do that, plus when its sold at auction who gets the money? The dealer or motability?

DX2

iluvmarmite wrote: »

I have read a few posts about motability cars and its got me thinking about it all.

My sister has one on the scheme, they use all of her componant to pay for it which is just over £200 a month I think, not quite sure on the exact cost. This includes all the tax for 3 years, all the insurance for her and her husband, all the servicing, MOT when its due and any mechanical defects that need to be put right, including tyres, RAC membership etc. Surely all that comes to more than £200 odd a month.

How do motobility make a profit from this? And she gets insentives from them like a £50 shopping voucher if she recommends a friend to the scheme, so they must get something out it for them to do that, plus when its sold at auction who gets the money? The dealer or motability?

For starters a brand new car doesn't need a MOT every year so deduct that from the equation straight away. You only need an MOT after three years.
Yearly service well in theory there shouldn't be anything wrong with the car since it's new.
Apart from that all in all I think personally it's a good deal.

When the car goes to auction the money goes back to motability.

iluvmarmite

Yes I know the car doesnt need an MOT untill its 3 years old, and a service does have to be paid for though, labour, oil change and air filter (well thats what they do when I service my car) I think its an excellent deal and am glad the money from the sale of the car goes to motability and not the dealer.

birkee

Motability cars also have a premium value at three years old, because of their maintenance record, and the fact that they are unlikely to have ever been thrashed. Most of them will be low mileage too.
I've got my own car, and I've done 11,500 miles in just over 6 years. It would be stupid for me to get a motability car.

jetta_wales

Those on HRM are entitled to tax exemption which Motability use for the car so there's no cost for that.

When you ask about them making a profit, that's the point, they don't. Depending on the car and the insurance some customers will cost them more and some will cost them less then overall their aim is to break even with any profits they do make being put back into the scheme for things like adaptation grants etc.

So it's giving us access to a cost price service for driving essentially.

Hope that makes sense.

catnia

I think maybe Motability are actually a charity? Sorry if I'm wrong!

GlynD

Speaking as a War Veteran who is just switiching from car ownership to WMPS (that's military motability for you civilians), I will save £100 a month on insurance and HP straight off. Not to mention the savings on tyres and servicing over three years. I'm not personally worried how Motability make money, or if they do or not. All I'm concerned about is that it's a long running, well run and workable scheme for me. The ins and outs of it don't make me curious.

moose1982

catnia wrote: »

I think maybe Motability are actually a charity? Sorry if I'm wrong!

Indeed they are.

(Not allowed to post as a link due to newbie status, but grabbed this from their website)

Motability, the national charity (registered charity no: 299745), has overall responsibility for the Motability Scheme:

• We direct and oversee the Scheme.
• We raise funds to provide financial help to Scheme customers who would otherwise be unable to afford the type of car and any adaptations that they need.
• We administer the Government's Specialised Vehicles Fund which provides financial assistance for customers who need to travel in their wheelchairs.
• We provide technical support to customers and the adaptation and conversion industry.

jetta_wales

Technically they are both a charity and a non profit company and is owned by a few banks.

moose1982

Interesting to see on the Charity Commision's website that last year Motability actually returned a net loss of about £1.4m.

Richie-from-the-Boro

The Car Scheme is operated for Motability on a contract basis by Motability Operations Group, a not-for-profit private company owned by the major banks: Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland. The Powered Wheelchair and Scooter Scheme is also operated by Motability Operations for new or renewing customers from 1 July 2010. Customers who joined prior to 1 July 2010 will continue to be supported by
Route2mobility (R2m), a private limited company.

For nosey sods like me - their last [ SO ] accounts and Compaies House says : MOTABILITY OPERATIONS LIFE ASSURANCE TRUSTEES LIMITED was first registered at Companies House on 2006-08-10 as a Private Limited company without share capital with registered number 05902622