Buying ex-Motability cars

MouldyOldDough

I understand that buying ex-motabilty cars is now limited to dealers

But what about the driver of the car - ie) Can you purchase your own (previous) motability car, after 3 years of use ?

This could be important in the choice of the car

ps I am entitled to one and am considering all options (such as Hybrid / Fully electric

Grumpy_chap

Is the mobility car treated as a lease?
There are some rules (that are a fairly recent introduction) relating to the lessee buying a lease car direct from the lessor and taxation implications.  It is all around a lease being a lease and not finance purchase.
I am not sure of the details, but if the mobility vehicle is not a lease it is moot.  If the vehicle is a lease, I am sure someone else will be able to explain the details of the tax rules.

Herzlos

They'll let you extend the lease for a while if you want to keep the car, but I've no idea if they'll sell you it outright.

Richard53

You can request an extension of the agreement for up to two years (from memory) but not beyond. It might be possible to buy it at the end, but I think it would need a lot of work. I have enquired with Motability in the past and though it's theoretically possible they didn't seem keen. I think you would pay top book and then a bit if you did.

facade

You can buy it at the end of the lease.

Some years ago one of my friend's mother tried to do just that. Motability inspected the car to value it, and wanted a very hefty price for it- precisely because she had kept it in such good condition.....

they don't have a GFV at the start, you contact them close to the end of the lease and are at their mercy how much, or whether they will even sell it to you.

https://www.motability.co.uk/contact/faqs/can-i-buy-the-car-at-the-end-of-the-lease

k3lvc

facade said:

You can may be able to buy it at the end of the lease.

Some years ago one of my friend's mother tried to do just that. Motability inspected the car to value it, and wanted a very hefty price for it- precisely because she had kept it in such good condition.....

they don't have a GFV at the start, you contact them close to the end of the lease and are at their mercy how much, or whether they will even sell it to you.

https://www.motability.co.uk/contact/faqs/can-i-buy-the-car-at-the-end-of-the-lease

Amended so it ties in with the link you've posted

Car_54

Motability is indeed a lease scheme.

According to their website, "it may be possible" to extend the lease.

And, "Alternatively, you also have the option to purchase your car at the end of the lease.". So, it doesn't seems there are any ifs or buts.

https://www.motability.co.uk/contact/faqs/can-i-extend-my-car-lease

Richard53

The word 'may' is doing a lot of work there. I would have been more than happy to pay top book for my wife's 5-year-old Skoda (lease extended twice because she liked it so much) but the dealer was pessimistic and said it would be almost impossible - "we never hear of it happening". Also, the price he quoted (in theory, of course) was so far over book I lost interest.  They had an immaculate, low-mileage car with FDSH and they can ask what they like.

The week we sold it, I discovered rust in the spare wheel well (failed hatchback rubber) and I was almost glad.

chrisw

Motability will sell you the car but will want full retail price for it and there will be no warranty on it. 

You will probably be able to buy a similar car from a dealer with a warranty for the same price, however you will have had the benefit of knowing the car since new which might be important to you.

Bigwheels1111

My dad was offered his car after 3 years.
They wanted 4k more than like for like cars.
It was returned to the dealer, 2 weeks later the dealer had it up for sale for 1.5k less than motability offered it to my dad for.

motorguy

As per the above, you may well be able to buy it direct from Motability at the end of the term, but the price is likely to be unpalatable.

When i was motor trading, we had access to a trade motability portal, and we could buy the cars direct from that.  Some of the prices were reasonable, but others were quite high, depending on when the car was registered, etc.  The cars that werent bought via that portal by the trade usually ended up at public auctions.  These tended to be the scruffy cars or cars that had been badly priced on their site.  

They do try to recover as much money as possible for their cars, so a retail buyer asking to buy a single car is likely to get quoted quite a high price.