Motability and renewal extension worry

nathaliroma

Hi, I’m new to this and just got my PIP award letter yesterday. I was awarded enhanced for both. I do have an old banger car at present, so got quite excited at the idea of having a new Motability scheme car, blue badge etc. But! I have been looking at all the horror stories of renewals taking so long that cars and badges are taken away. So my dilemna is, should I take the risk and upgrade (from old banger given to me), or just use the mobility payments to keep old banger. He does work ok still and he’s mine. I don’t want to be without a car. What do your experiences and wisdom think. Any advice would be really welcome 🙏 

noman

Think about how much life is left in you old banger and the cost of keeping it on the road,any repairs it may need,mot,tax,insurance tyres etc.

With a motability car everything is taken care of,all you have to pay for is fuel and you will have the car for the length of your award.

When it comes to your pip review your lease can be extended if your pip is extended because of backlogs till the review is completed.

OverlyAnxious

If you have somewhere to store the old banger for free and it's not worth selling, keep it SORN for now.

If I had become eligible for the Motability scheme, that's what I was going to do.

Sort of depends on your award length as well.  If you've only got a short award, it may not be worth the risk and hassle.

nathaliroma

Thanks all, yeah I wish I did have somewhere to store the old banger and keep just in case. It’s true, it being old it could just die anyway. My award is until June ‘26. Do you know how long you can extend your lease for while waiting for a renewal extension? Can you just keep doing it or is there a time limit? I know they say initially they want 12 months at least left on PIP award. We still get the payments while we wait. are they satisfied with that?

poppy123456

If your award is until 2026 that means they will contact you anytime from 1 year before the award is due to end.

The lease on vehicles is 3 years (unless it's a WAV and then it's 5 years) but they will extend that until a new decision is made on a review and there's no time limit for how long they will extend it for.

nathaliroma said:

We still get the payments while we wait. are they satisfied with that?

I'm not sure what you mean by that? Once you collect the vehicle your mobility payments will be paid to motability, not to you. This will continue until the end of the lease or you return the vehicle. If you order another vehicle at the end of your current lease then payments will just continue to be made to motability.

nathaliroma

Thanks for that, very helpful. So it’s only if PIP decide not to renew that I would have to give it back. Other than that I can keep renewing until the decision is made. 👍

poppy123456

You don't need to renew anything because motability will just extend any lease you have, you just need to ring them to ask them nearer the time. If you're not awarded Enhanced mobility at your review then yes, you will need to return the vehicle.

Do also bear in mind that it may take quite a few months for collection of your vehicle. If it's not in stock then it will need to be ordered. How long it takes will depend on the make/model and spec of vehicle you choose. Some take longer than others.

When exactly does your current award end?

nathaliroma

Hi poppy, it ends on 14.6.26. Silly question, do they send me the Motability award money until I get the car and then it goes to them. As I don’t want to pay for something I don’t have??

poppy123456

That means your review will be anytime from 26/5/2025, which is less than 3 years time. I don't know what the backlogs will be like at that time but if a new decision is made before your award is due to end and you're not successfully awarded Enhanced mobility again then you will need to return the vehicle.

Any new decision overrules the current award. You do not start paying for the vehicle until you've collected it, which advised here.

poppy123456 said:

 Once you collect the vehicle your mobility payments will be paid to motability, not to you.

If there's an advance payment, this will need to be paid before you can collect the vehicle. Either by installments on the day.

66Mustang

The important thing to consider is called "total cost of ownership" (TCO).

Before I was eligible for Motability, my old car was costing me 31.5 pence a mile. This included everything: depreciation of the purchase price, tax, insurance, MOTs, repairs/tyres and of course fuel.

My current Motability vehicle costs me 40 pence per mile. This includes the cost of the Motability payments, the (amortised) advance payment, and the cost of fuel.

I went with quite a high performance car. My car has double the power of my old car and obviously has the benefit of not letting me down which is worth something in its own right.
 
For me, having 231 horsepower as opposed to 116, and, more importantly, the reliability and convenience of a brand new car, made it worth spending approximately 27% more money.

Obviously you will almost certainly be coming from a different car to what I had, and choosing a different car to me on the scheme. Your mileage and countless other aspects will also make the figures differ. The type of car you choose will dictate the TCO but the principal is similar.

I hope this helps.

nathaliroma

Fab advice. Thanks everyone. Am going to have a look at the car dealership tomorrow as they are open and probe them about all this stuff, wait times etc. I guess the choice is really spend the allocation on my existing car or put it towards a new one. The old banger could die anytime and I also might not be guaranteed PIP renewal. Bit of a gamble either way 🤔

noman

There is also the £750 new vehicle payment which covers all or part of any upfront payment for car or wav.

nathaliroma

Nice 👍 

noman

My partners pip was due to end jan 14th 2024 but has been extended till jan 2025 due to the review backlog,her motability lease was extended for the same period but she has applied for a new car and collects it around march.

£95 of the £750 goes to the dealer and she gets the remainder (£655) paid into her bank account!

nathaliroma

Wow that’s amazing 🤩 Good for her 👏👏👏

nathaliroma

I’m definitely interested now 👌

poppy123456

Details of the new vehicle payment here. https://www.motability.co.uk/get-support/faqs/what-is-the-nvp/ you can either have it paid to you or have it paid to the dealer for the advance payment or towards it.

There's always a risk of losing your Enhanced mobility and the vehicle but for me it's worth that risk. I'm on my 3rd vehicle now and it's worth every penny. The peace of mind that comes with it is worth it's weight in gold.

Make sure you test drive the vehicle before making your decision. Please also remember that any wating times they tell you are only ever a guide. Sometimes the wait can be less or even more.

You can see all the information and all the vehicles available on motability website here. https://www.motability.co.uk/how-it-works/

nathaliroma

Brilliant, thanks so much 

BrettW

Was really lucky with mine. I've recently ordered the Mokka 1.2 Turbo automatic which was a £0 advanced payment meaning that the £750 can go straight into a bonus fuel pot for me  

Motability published their new Q1 2024 price list today and my car has now got a £350 AP, which whilst still really low, would have taken a good chunk out of my fuel pot so it looks like I got the car I wanted at the right time because Motability always honour the deal they offered you at the time of order  

nathaliroma

Brilliant. After doing this chat and all the info from you lovely folks, I took the plunge today and ordered a small hatchback. Kia’s high spec are £0 up front so yes the £750 for petrol. I did think about electric but the cars are too big for me so had to go petrol. The lady said that probably by the next renewal they will have smaller electric cars. It’s amazing, how lucky are we to live where we do👍

BrettW

nathaliroma said:

Brilliant. After doing this chat and all the info from you lovely folks, I took the plunge today and ordered a small hatchback. Kia’s high spec are £0 up front so yes the £750 for petrol. I did think about electric but the cars are too big for me so had to go petrol. The lady said that probably by the next renewal they will have smaller electric cars. It’s amazing, how lucky are we to live where we do👍

Unfortunately an EV is totally out of the question for me. I live in a terraced house with no offroad parking so home charging is a none starter.

They are fine if you can charge at home and just want something to potter around town or stay within the mileage range but if you find yourself in the situation of having to use the public charging system regularly then both costs and convenience can often become higher than an ICE vehicle

Which Kia have you ordered? I was lucky with the Mokka because for the last quarter the top line spec was at £0 so I grabbed it while it was at that price point because I suspected it would start going up again in Jan which turned out to be the case.

I've basically got all the bells and whistles on the car including cameras, park assist, lane assist, front and rear sensors, adaptive cruise control, etc. I had my heart set on a Mokka and would happily have paid whatever AP they wanted but seeing it at £0 just as I wanted one was like a sign from God lol