Ex Motability cars

zaksmum

I am trying to buy an ex Motability car at auction. Apparently now this is no longer permitted, these are only allowed to be purchased by dealers.

When I queried this I was told it was at the request of Motability.

Why is this, does anyone know? I have contacted Motability for an explanation but they ignore me.


As a charity surely Motability should want the best price for their vehicles at a public - not private - auction?

motorguy

zaksmum wrote: »

I am trying to buy an ex Motability car at auction. Apparently now this is no longer permitted, these are only allowed to be purchased by dealers.

When I queried this I was told it was at the request of Motability.

Why is this, does anyone know? I have contacted Motability for an explanation but they ignore me.


As a charity surely Motability should want the best price for their vehicles at a public - not private - auction?

They may well have further obligations if cars are sold to private individuals OR they dont want unprepared ex-motability cars sold to the general public.

Their cars, their choice ultimately.

OR it may well be the auction house telling you that as it suits them better.

chrisw

There's a recent article in Autoexpress which gives all the ins and outs of Motability vehicles and how they are disposed of.

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-news/107754/ex-motability-cars-should-you-buy-one

zaksmum

At auction cars are usually sold as seen, so can't see them having further obligations to the buyers.

Previously anyone could buy an ex Motability car, can't help wondering what has changed, especially with somany Motability cars having to go back

Robisere

I am grateful to have had a Motability car since 1995. There is a used car dealer near me which sells many ex-Motability cars, but I have never yet seen one of my cars after ending a lease. I can tell you that they are well maintained, because they have to be: any Motability car with issues after a service, would get a rocket and possible ban from supplying cars to Motability customers. Mileages are almost always low: my current Hyundai iX20 has only 14,000 miles and I am halfway through my lease. All servicing is done free to the customer, tyres are all free, as is insurance and road tax. Any damage, by RTC or otherwise, has to be declared to the insurer RSA. Repairs are carried out at Motability-appointed bodyshops nearest to the customer's home and a hire car provided whilst repairs are made. There is an excess to be paid, for example in my case a cracked windscreen was completely replaced for an excess of £50, with new screen wipers front and rear. There is an incentive to look after the cars: a £250 bonus at the end of a lease, if the car is in good condition. Which makes it good enough for the dealers to put on their forecourts.

In short, the cars are well looked after and should be a good buy. Why would Motability put them into auctions, when there is enough value left in them to get some money back for what is after all a charity?

zaksmum

I would imagine a private buyer would be happy to pay more than a dealer as the dealer needs to make his own profit on whatever price he pays

knightstyle

We are currently driving our fourth ex-mobility car, we have to have automatics due to DW having a bad left leg. All of them were bought from main dealers who had supplied them from new and we got decent warranties, the cars were all about 3 years old.
Our present one is a Ford Cmax, 2013, had 17k miles when we bought it and now has 68k miles with no problems what so ever. Just wondering if now we should trade it in or keep it for a few more years.

Pennywise

Dealers want quality 3 year old cars to sell and usually use their own network to make them available to all other dealers of the same brand. It's not only making a profit on them, it's also being able to have a good choice to keep customers coming back every few years, and to keep work for their parts & service departments.

The typical dealer won't be able to keep a good range of cars just from part exchanges so they have to either go out to buy them or like I say, source from within their network of dealers.

By keeping them "in the family" they also keep used prices high if they're not available to buy cheaply from auction houses or private used car garages outside the main chains/brands/franchises.

motorguy

zaksmum wrote: »

At auction cars are usually sold as seen, so can't see them having further obligations to the buyers.

Previously anyone could buy an ex Motability car, can't help wondering what has changed, especially with somany Motability cars having to go back

Maybe, maybe not.

Maybe they've had someone post a picture with a sad face in the Daily Mail or similar of an ex-Motability car that they've bought at auction with problems and Motability dont want to know?

All very possible.

motorguy

Robisere wrote: »

I am grateful to have had a Motability car since 1995. There is a used car dealer near me which sells many ex-Motability cars, but I have never yet seen one of my cars after ending a lease. I can tell you that they are well maintained, because they have to be: any Motability car with issues after a service, would get a rocket and possible ban from supplying cars to Motability customers. Mileages are almost always low: my current Hyundai iX20 has only 14,000 miles and I am halfway through my lease. All servicing is done free to the customer, tyres are all free, as is insurance and road tax. Any damage, by RTC or otherwise, has to be declared to the insurer RSA. Repairs are carried out at Motability-appointed bodyshops nearest to the customer's home and a hire car provided whilst repairs are made. There is an excess to be paid, for example in my case a cracked windscreen was completely replaced for an excess of £50, with new screen wipers front and rear. There is an incentive to look after the cars: a £250 bonus at the end of a lease, if the car is in good condition. Which makes it good enough for the dealers to put on their forecourts.

In short, the cars are well looked after and should be a good buy. Why would Motability put them into auctions, when there is enough value left in them to get some money back for what is after all a charity?

Not all motability cars are well looked after.

They're graded. The best ones are sold at a buy it now price from their site, those grade A ones that dont sell will go to closed main dealer group auctions, the roughest ones will go to open auctions.

When i was motor trading we'd access to their stock directly and some of the cars were returned in a frankly shocking condition.

motorguy

The other side of it is, maybe the dealers have dug their heels in?

If a dealer group is maybe buying 1,000 ex motability cars a year, I cant imagine they're terribly happy if private buyers can come in and pillage the nicest cars from the auction ring?

Maybe dealers were getting tired of people bypassing them and just going to auction?