[The Highlander]

A close friend who requires a carfrom Motability, had asked how the prices were set with regards to the advanced payments. His present car is due to be replaced in the very near future, and one of the cars he has been looking at is the new Sportage DCT. To his amazement he found out that the DCT model was almostdouble the advanced paymentof the same manual model.
I asked him if all manufacturers were the same, but it seems, no, One of the other cars he has looked at is the Skoda YetI SEL/ DSG at about £100 ad/pay yet the Kia is almost £2k.

I may not be the brightest star in the sky, cut one would have thought that for a person with disabilities, the vehicle with the auto box of one description or another is always going to be the one with the greater benefits to the disabled driver.

I hope someone can shed a little light on this subject, as it seems you can have cars from various makers all about the same on the road prices, yet you can have a variation of over £2k in the advanced payment.

Cheers Ian

 

[Uvox2]

I totally agree Ian, about you not being the brightest star in the sky plus you would think the auto box would be a popular, even essential, choice for some disabled drivers.

It seems many manufacturers are happy to supply their vehicles with a manual box at a competitive advance payment, but expect the potential user to pay for the whole cost of the auto box.

Does it really cost over twice as much to make a auto box then a manual or are manufactures simply cashing in on people who have to have an auto.

Paul

 

[Airbrush]

Hi hope I can help you here I was on notability for over 23years so I think I can help , first of all the advance payment is to make up the short fall that your car will get at auction at the end of your lease, if you or your friend is on income support you can apply through motability for help with the cost of the auto box or advanced payment , you can call motability operations that will send you a form to fill in this takes about 2weeks for a final answer ,once you get the grant you will get it every time you apply for a new car , but you will have to send in a new form each time , Also you can have your car over 5 years or 3 years ,over 5years will help you get the help , I hope this helps you , just ask if you need any more help ,,

 

[bmhill]

i have noticed more cars im manual than in auto and the autos are more expensivei asked why and was told it has to do with 3 major factors
first being the initial cost of the vehicle and that the auto option normally costs more (mercedes being the exception to the rule as most are auto)
second being the cost to run for the 3 years of the lease so that includes the insurance and tyres along with servicing etc
thirdly the resale value of the vehicle at the end of the lease
also remember if you send the car back in a good condition you get some money back from your deposit we got £385 back from a £500 deposit because we ended the contract 7 months early otherwise from what Motability told us we would have got £250 back.

 

[Follybodger]

The advance payments are calculated by taking how much the manufacturer will subsidies the new car for, how much on average the running costs ie servicing, tyres, insurance etc. etc.will cost over the 3 years and how much the car will be worth then it is 3 years old at the end of the term and being resold. The difference is then the advance payment.

 

[Guests]

Hello,
I thought that I would put my point of view as someone who, when diagnosed with severe Rheumatoid Arthritis and Fibromyalgia and declared disabled, medically retired and given Disability Living Allowance .

I was told "ooooh you are lucky you will be able to get a car through Motability and you won't have to worry about driving costs anymore"

So, needing an automatic car, with plenty of room for dog, family etc, I sold what was my own manual car which I owned outright and had to hand over most of the money gained from the sale so I could get the car which suited me to

a) get into
b) drive
c) fitted like an old comfy slipper

I ended up with major problems with Motability Services when the car persistently developed problems and was denied servicing (because it had had its service that year)

Then of course, when it came to the end of the lease and I needed a similar automatic car with plenty of room etc, I didn't have any money to put towards it for the up front payment because I had paid for the deposit for the car I was handing back - nor did I get any return for my money I had paid into the car.

I was told by my advisor at Citizens Advice Bureau that the Disability Living Allowance was mine to put towards getting about as I thought fit and I was not forced to use Motability

So I made the decision to see if I could buy a good used car from scratch - fortunately I found a reputable dealer who understood my situation, helped me and the car was magic.

Now, after four years driving around and it is coming up to a full major service with bits of things needing doing, I have decided to start again.

The car I am trading in is mine, I get the money for its value towards my new car and I am looking forward to getting my new Sportage (this week)

With the Sportage, there is the 7 year Warranty, 3 years free servicing plus MOT - I have also included tyre / wheel protection in the deal- I decided to run with the PCP because then I have guaranteed value at the end of the contract.

I think that if you are disabled with specific needs to help you drive a car (or your partner being able to get into the car), it is better to find a car which suits you like a glove and then go down the route where anything like a deposit actually goes towards you owning part of the car (even if it is the petrol filler cap) - so after the monthly payments for the length of the contract you will have ownership of a bit of the car and will get something back.

Yes, perhaps PCP might not work for some people, maybe HP is better, but at least you have a better chance with trade in than just handing back a low mileage car to Motability after 3 years and then struggling to find a down payment for automatic.

Hopefully I have explained my point of view properly and you can understand it.

 

[bmhill]

thats ok if you can afford it or have the credit rating needed as well as a good postcode for insurance.£58 a week for a brand new car is cheap, for a new car worth the same as Mobility car is £1000 at least for insurance so that drops the car down to £38 per week and all we have to put in is fuel and not worry about anything.
no brainer for us when we got full rate
just another perspective here.......

 

[Guests]

Advance payments are always an issue. Motability, the charity is non-profit, but is the overseer of Motability operations which is a profit making organisation and runs the leased fleet. Plenty of opinions of the setup, both good and bad. However, there aren't many affordable lease packages that allow you 20k miles per year, all servicing, tyres, insurance and RAC UK and Europe cover included.
Being a pensioner, with my wife the Motability customer, we bite the bullet and save a regular monthly amount that either covers the advance payment or is a big percentage of it 3 years down the line.
We've been with Motability for over 10 years and found them very helpful and understanding. We had a car that became unsuitable for my wife after a year. We hadn't been able to save much but applied for a grant and gave the explanation and were given the balance to change to a larger more suitable vehicle.
Our current car was seriously vandalised over the night of 23/24 December and discovered by a neighbour at about 8am. After 1 call to Motability, the car was being towed for repair, we had an appropriate hire car and were on our way to visit relatives by 11am.
My wife and I, although we don't like the advance payments, consider Motability as providing the best deal for the disabled.Edited by: JimT506