Motability vehicle written off and replaced - what are relevant consumer rules?

daffodil83

Hi all,

My partner's car was unfortunately written off, not his fault, and it was a peugeot e-208 with an advanced payment of £899 due to being a more 'premium' model than the free options.

We have had the 'like for like' replacement car ordered and bought last week, however the price of the new car had increased in the mean time, and the Motability discount has decreased and this meant our advanced payment was £2,349.

They pro-rata'd the previous advanced payment and refunded the amount, minus the 2 month's we'd had the car. So we had a refund of around £800 of the previous advanced payment.

Looking at the vehicle order forms the Motability discount was £1325 on the first car and £1320 on the second, despite the second car being £5000 higher priced. This means the discount is proportionally much less.

I'm now writing to complain about the reduction in the discount resulting in the higher advance payment.

Please could anyone let me know any potentially relevant consumer law or insurance law for complaining about this?

Okell

I'm no insurance or Motability expert but I'd have thought that if your partner has suffered a financial loss stemming directly from a car accident where somebody else was at fault, then your partner should be claiming from the other party's insurance.  But whether the type of loss you describe is foreseeable and therefore claimable, I have no idea.

What were the facts that led up to the write off?  (ie details of the accident)

Did your partner claim on their insurance or did they go after the third party?

Who paid out?

easy

Do remember that your partner isn't 'Buying' the car.  It is leased from Motability. 
You need to talk to Motability's insurance about this  -  call them on 0300 037 3737.  
If your partner was not at fault then the insurer should recover the additional advance payment from the other party,  but it may take time.  Are you sure the claim has been finalised,  or is it still in progress?

born_again

As it is a lease car, any payment goes the Motability.

Advance payments change every 3 months. 

So as above you need to talk to Motability or Direct Line who are the insurers.

MyRealNameToo

The issues is that you didnt have a brand new car at the time of the accident and the car wasnt yours. The insurer of the third party will ultimately settle to Mobility what the value of the car was as a 2nd hand few months old vehicle (or more if it wasnt brand new when you go it). You are now looking to lease a different brand new vehicle and inevitably that is more expensive than the older car you lost. 

You won't be covered by the third party for that as its betterment, you may be able to speak to Mobility to see what the scheme policy is but it sounds like their approach is to refund the what was left on the first lease and offer you a new lease at the prevailing rate. 

Mildly_Miffed

I don't think you have any comeback at all.

The collision wrote the car off. Your lease ended. The financier were paid for the car that was destroyed.

The insurer is under no obligation to replace the car, and price chances in the interim period are not their problem.

born_again

MyRealNameToo said:

The issues is that you didnt have a brand new car at the time of the accident and the car wasnt yours. The insurer of the third party will ultimately settle to Mobility what the value of the car was as a 2nd hand few months old vehicle (or more if it wasnt brand new when you go it). You are now looking to lease a different brand new vehicle and inevitably that is more expensive than the older car you lost. 

You won't be covered by the third party for that as its betterment, you may be able to speak to Mobility to see what the scheme policy is but it sounds like their approach is to refund the what was left on the first lease and offer you a new lease at the prevailing rate. 

Motability is a fixed rate lease.
ie all your PIP mobility payment a month (£308.20) other qualifying benefits may vary. The only difference between cars is the Advance payment on each car. Which in many cases is not based on actual price of the car.

https://www.motability.co.uk/get-support/if-something-happens/cars-wavs/accidents-and-insurance#not

Uninsured loss recovery

If you're involved in an accident caused by someone else and they've been identified, our insurance provider will try to recover your 'uninsured losses' from them, like your excess, injuries and taxi fares.

Recovering these can take a long time and is not always possible, and you might need to show proof of your losses.

If you're injured, they'll appoint solicitors for you.

Which I'm not sure that a increased AP would be a uninsured loss.

Aretnap

born_again said:

Which I'm not sure that a increased AP would be a uninsured loss.

Well it's definitely uninsured, and it's a "loss" of sorts. That doesn't mean that you can claim for it though.

Contrary to polupar belief you can't just claim for "any and all losses" from the third party. There are particular things that you can claim for (heads of claim) and the main one for damage to property is the loss in value that the property suffered. In other words, the difference between what your car would have sold for five minutes before the accident, and what it would have sold for five minutes after the accident.

That sum is objective - it's the same for any Peugeot e-208 of a particular  age, spec,mileage etc. The value of the car is the value of the car. It doesn't vary based on the way that you bought or leased it, nor does it vary because the particular car that you want to replace it with, leased from a particular supplier in a particular way, isn't on as good a deal as it was a few months ago.

Unfortunately as you say, that payment is due to the car's owner (Motability), not to the OP. As far as the OP's concerned his lease has ended because the car is not repairable, and what happens next boils down to the terms of the Motability lease. If there's any comeback to be had, it's going to be with Motability, not an insurer.

daffodil83

easy said:

Do remember that your partner isn't 'Buying' the car.  It is leased from Motability. 
You need to talk to Motability's insurance about this  -  call them on 0300 037 3737.  
If your partner was not at fault then the insurer should recover the additional advance payment from the other party,  but it may take time.  Are you sure the claim has been finalised,  or is it still in progress?

Thank you this is a very good point. The claim has not been finalised unfortunately, we're just chasing them every week. We have 2 witness statements saying my partner was not at fault so we're hopeful it will come back favourably.

I'll definitely get the new advanced payment added to the claim, I'm not sure it was automatically included. 

Okell said:

I'm no insurance or Motability expert but I'd have thought that if your partner has suffered a financial loss stemming directly from a car accident where somebody else was at fault, then your partner should be claiming from the other party's insurance.  But whether the type of loss you describe is foreseeable and therefore claimable, I have no idea.

What were the facts that led up to the write off?  (ie details of the accident)

Did your partner claim on their insurance or did they go after the third party?

Who paid out?

I suppose Motability is making the claim on behalf of my partner? I think I'll have a look into the insurance policy and how it works as it seems that's the main route being suggested. No one has paid out yet and I assume it's Motability's costs that will be covered rather than ours as it's a lease hire. But will definitely ask for our costs to be reimbursed.

What people haven't mentioned though is the decreased discount applied by Motability to the new car - this is what caused the advanced payment to be so much higher. They must have changed their policy, which as other people have said they can just put prices up, but I firmly believe we don't have to just put up with this monopolised market dictating to disabled people, so I will still be complaining once the insurance is settled.

poppy12345

daffodil83 said:

easy said:

Do remember that your partner isn't 'Buying' the car.  It is leased from Motability. 
You need to talk to Motability's insurance about this  -  call them on 0300 037 3737.  
If your partner was not at fault then the insurer should recover the additional advance payment from the other party,  but it may take time.  Are you sure the claim has been finalised,  or is it still in progress?

Thank you this is a very good point. The claim has not been finalised unfortunately, we're just chasing them every week. We have 2 witness statements saying my partner was not at fault so we're hopeful it will come back favourably.

I'll definitely get the new advanced payment added to the claim, I'm not sure it was automatically included. 

Okell said:

I'm no insurance or Motability expert but I'd have thought that if your partner has suffered a financial loss stemming directly from a car accident where somebody else was at fault, then your partner should be claiming from the other party's insurance.  But whether the type of loss you describe is foreseeable and therefore claimable, I have no idea.

What were the facts that led up to the write off?  (ie details of the accident)

Did your partner claim on their insurance or did they go after the third party?

Who paid out?

I suppose Motability is making the claim on behalf of my partner? I think I'll have a look into the insurance policy and how it works as it seems that's the main route being suggested. No one has paid out yet and I assume it's Motability's costs that will be covered rather than ours as it's a lease hire. But will definitely ask for our costs to be reimbursed.

What people haven't mentioned though is the decreased discount applied by Motability to the new car - this is what caused the advanced payment to be so much higher. They must have changed their policy, which as other people have said they can just put prices up, but I firmly believe we don't have to just put up with this monopolised market dictating to disabled people, so I will still be complaining once the insurance is settled.

It sounds like you received the £750 new vehicle payment when you ordered the car that was written off. This payment was a one off and they then ended in January 2025. When this payment was given you had a choice to either take the payment or use it towards the AP, which sounds like what you did. 

The AP changes every 3 months and the most recent one was 1st October. When this happens the AP can decrease or increase. 

There is a good condition payment of £250 that is given at the end of a 3 year lease but you wouldn’t have qualified for that. 

chrisw

daffodil83 said:

easy said:

Do remember that your partner isn't 'Buying' the car.  It is leased from Motability. 
You need to talk to Motability's insurance about this  -  call them on 0300 037 3737.  
If your partner was not at fault then the insurer should recover the additional advance payment from the other party,  but it may take time.  Are you sure the claim has been finalised,  or is it still in progress?

Thank you this is a very good point. The claim has not been finalised unfortunately, we're just chasing them every week. We have 2 witness statements saying my partner was not at fault so we're hopeful it will come back favourably.

I'll definitely get the new advanced payment added to the claim, I'm not sure it was automatically included. 

Okell said:

I'm no insurance or Motability expert but I'd have thought that if your partner has suffered a financial loss stemming directly from a car accident where somebody else was at fault, then your partner should be claiming from the other party's insurance.  But whether the type of loss you describe is foreseeable and therefore claimable, I have no idea.

What were the facts that led up to the write off?  (ie details of the accident)

Did your partner claim on their insurance or did they go after the third party?

Who paid out?

 I firmly believe we don't have to just put up with this monopolised market dictating to disabled people, so I will still be complaining once the insurance is settled.

You don't have to just put up with it. You are perfectly free to go and buy or lease a new or used car from anywhere you wish.