Buying ex-motability car?

dunroving

loskie wrote: »

Cars bought at Auction? Most dealers do.

Fleet Cars properly serviced? Not always the case,margins are tight and repairs and servicing is screwed right down.

A lot of motobility cars I have seen lined up at auction often look unloved. It's a free car and many treat it with little or no respect.

Arnold Clark?? Well read reviews and make up your own mind!

11000m in 4yrs not that good. A car is better to be used.

You don't say how much.

It's £6,900 inc. a 12-month warranty.

As for other models, each to their own, but the C3 Picasso is the car that fits all my needs. Higher profile so esier to see and get in and out, decent mpg and performance, and a big boot for dogs, garden supplies, bike ...

Richard53

Just to redress the balance slightly ... My wife has a spinal condition that means she can't walk far, and has had a Motability car for many years. She isn't incontinent or clumsy, she doesn't bang a wheelchair in and out of the back seat, the car is insured for just the two of us to drive (and we play by the rules, so I don't borrow it for my own use), neither of us rag it, and it is treated well. She covers about 6k a year of varied driving, local and long journeys. It gets serviced on the button by the local Ford dealer and she always gets the 'good condition' bonus when she hands them back in. Anyone buying one of her cars would get an excellent vehicle in top condition for its age.


Don't be put off by the disability thing; not all people classified as 'disabled' are drooling, incontinent, fagash-flicking morons who can't be trusted to look after a wheelbarrow. As others have said, condition is everything, so inspect properly, but don't be surprised if you see a few gems. Even if you don't trust main dealers to do a good job with the servicing, at least it will have seen the inside of a workshop on proper schedule, and it will have FDSH, which can only enhance resale value. It should be three years old with a full MoT, and the tyres are likely to be good as they are replaced when needed (I think up to 4) as part of the contract.

forgotmyname

Decent mpg? 1400cc petrol 42 - 44mpg with a genuine mpg of approx 38mpg. My Mondeo estate does more..

If its the 1.6 expect 35mpg..

Thats quite poor for such a little car. Quite high ion the tax also.

knightstyle

As we have to have an automatic due to DW back problem we have bought 2, possibly 3 ex motability cars in the past, 2 had no service books but the service history can easily be checked by a main dealer as records are computerised.
All the cars were good buys and we got the selling garage to supply replacement service books, these are the same as the originals but have a big R faintly printed on the pages.

[Deleted User]

Dont buy a used Citroen or anything French!

loskie

Look at a Skoda Roomster. Odd looking, practical wee car but make a good buy as not that trendy.
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201411028680215/sort/default/radius/40/make/skoda/usedcars/model/roomster/page/1/onesearchad/used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew/postcode/g40ds?logcode=p

dunroving

forgotmyname wrote: »

Decent mpg? 1400cc petrol 42 - 44mpg with a genuine mpg of approx 38mpg. My Mondeo estate does more..

If its the 1.6 expect 35mpg..

Thats quite poor for such a little car. Quite high ion the tax also.

Must be a diesel as all the petrol Mondeos on AutoTrader do less than 40 mpg (official estimates; actual performance presumably lower).

I've had a pretty good look around and balancing out what I am looking for, the Citroen C3 Picasso is the best combination. The main thing I am looking for advice on is the Motability thing, not recommendations of what other cars I should be looking at.

dunroving

loskie wrote: »

Look at a Skoda Roomster. Odd looking, practical wee car but make a good buy as not that trendy.
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201411028680215/sort/default/radius/40/make/skoda/usedcars/model/roomster/page/1/onesearchad/used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew/postcode/g40ds?logcode=p

There's only one thing stopped me looking at Roomsters and that's the fact I'd have to look at it every day. It's a shame as I like Skodas (I drive a Fabia), I don't know why they decided to make it look like a Pope-mobile. Everything else about it seems very good.

Hoof_Hearted

Arnold Clark offer an Autocare warranty. I wouldn't bother trying to claim:

From another MSE thread: "I purchased an extended Warranty with my vehicle from Arnold Clark Sefton Street Liverpool. My vehicle developed an oil leak, (so obviously a mechanical fault taking place) Arnold Clark said that after checking with Autocare the Warranty Company, that it was not covered. No where within my Warranty documents does it state that this sort of mechanical problem isn't covered. Arnold Clark Service Manager said "it's Autocare telling us they will not cover the cost for repair"."

Read more about this wonderful company -- search Arnold Clark - Trading Standards on MSE forum.

dunroving

Hoof_Hearted wrote: »

Arnold Clark offer an Autocare warranty. I wouldn't bother trying to claim:

From another MSE thread: "I purchased an extended Warranty with my vehicle from Arnold Clark Sefton Street Liverpool. My vehicle developed an oil leak, (so obviously a mechanical fault taking place) Arnold Clark said that after checking with Autocare the Warranty Company, that it was not covered. No where within my Warranty documents does it state that this sort of mechanical problem isn't covered. Arnold Clark Service Manager said "it's Autocare telling us they will not cover the cost for repair"."

Read more about this wonderful company -- search Arnold Clark - Trading Standards on MSE forum.

Interesting, as I asked a lot of Q's about that yesterday. They said they'd throw in the 12-month Autocar warranty with the price (normally £345 for one year). The pamphlet they gave was very sparse on details and T&C's but they also didn't seem to have any detailed answers to my questions.

Overall, from the responses here I am not especially put off by the Motability thing, the more I reflect on it the more I am put off by the Arnold Clark thing and the fact that after they said that they have all service records for all their cars, they couldn't find the service manual!