Should you buy an ex-Motability car?

Ex-Motability Scheme cars can be a great way to get a good quality nearly-new or used car at an appealing price, according to our research. 

The Motability Scheme allows people who are eligible for one of a number of mobility benefits, such as Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and the Disability Living Allowance (DLA), to use that money to lease a brand new vehicle. 

All the vehicles leased under the Motability Scheme must be maintained by the main dealer network during the lease, so they should be very well looked after and have full service history – and they’ll have had any necessary recall work carried out. If you’re buying a car that’s just left the Motability scheme, you can also be confident that it’s only had one previous owner.   

Some used car buyers are wary of buying ex-Motability cars because they may have been modified, but less than 10% of cars have mobility adaptations fitted to enable the user to drive them more easily, and all of the changes are reversible. 

Motability provides a wide range of vehicles, from city cars to large SUVs, and includes many petrol, hybrid and electric cars.

Are ex-Motability cars a bargain? 

Motability vehicles can be great-value secondhand buys because the scheme gives the supplying dealer the first option to buy the car back at the end of the lease, often at a reduced price, allowing it to be sold at a competitive price on the used market. 

Most Motability leases last for three years, although lease agreements for wheelchair accessible vehicles last for five years. However, at present, there are some particularly attractively-priced one and two-year old ex-Motability electric vehicles (EVs) on offer. 

That’s because there was a massive increase in the number of EVs leased using the scheme in the past 18 months, and some of those cars were handed back early, many because the users weren’t able to have home EV chargers fitted and found it extremely difficult to access the public EV charging network. 

We trawled used car adverts online (on Auto Trader and Motability specialist CMW Cars) and found six ex-Motability cars aged two years old or less, with savings of up to £2904 (14%) on the recommended retail prices for these cars.   

We found a 2024 Vauxhall Combo Life Electric with 4000 miles for £18,000  – nearly £3000 less than valuation tools suggest – and an 11,000-mile Volkswagen Tiguan plug-in hybrid (PHEV) for £26,995, representing a saving of £2831. Other ex-Motability cars for sale at less than their car valuation book price included a BYD Atto 3, Citroën e-C4, Peugeot e-2008 and a Vauxhall e-Rifter. 

Ex-Motability cars for sale online

* What Car? used valuation price for car in excellent condition sold by a dealer

Why are Motability EVs being handed back early? 

There are currently 815,000 people using the Motability Scheme to lease a vehicle. Around 70,000 EVs were taken up by those on the scheme in the 2023/24 financial year, double the number leased by users in the previous period. 

Motability wasn’t able to tell us what percentage of EVs were returned early, but the Disability Foundation said many EVs are being rejected by scheme users because they can’t find public EV chargers that provide suitable accessibility for disabled or less-mobile motorists. 

The motoring disability group says around 50% of Motability users don’t have a driveway or suitable location to have a home EV charger fitted, so they must rely on the public charging network. 

A spokesperson for the Disability Foundation said there is an “almost total lack of accessible [public] EV charging in England” and warned that disabled motorists have been left behind in the transition to EV “in a scandalous way”, in a recent article in The Times.

The situation for Motability users is compounded by the fact that they can’t simply hand the cars back because they’re not suitable, they have to pay a £250 fee to end the lease early, so they’re having to pay to get rid of unsuitable cars. 

What is being done to help Motability users transition to EVs? 

A spokesperson for Motability Operations, which runs the Motability Scheme, said: “We are working hard to ensure our customers experience a smooth transition and are not left behind in the UK’s shift to electric, which is why we’ve invested in making EVs more accessible for disabled people.” 

The charity provides some incentives to help ease the transition to EV ownership, including covering the cost of the installation and provision of a home charge where the user can have one, and a discount card for cheaper public EV charging for all users. 

Motability Operations also pointed out that EVs can be more suitable for disabled users than petrol or diesel cars: “They can be significantly cheaper to run for people with access to home charging, don’t require trips to the petrol station, offer more interior space due to their design, are quieter, and all come with automatic transmission.”. 

However, it does recognise the issues that can arise for some people using the public charging network, and it is working with the Government on the PAS1899 British Standard, which provides guidelines on the physical environment, placement, information provision and design of public EV charging stations and chargers. 

FAQs

What is the Motability Scheme? 

Motability is a vehicle leasing scheme run by Motability Operations that provides vehicles at reduced rates to drivers who qualify for certain mobility benefits, including the enhanced mobility element of the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) benefit. Those who qualify for a Motability car can swap all or part of their benefit to lease a brand new vehicle.  

There are currently 815,000 Motability Scheme users in the UK, and these vehicles account for one in every five new cars sold in the UK each year.

What types of cars are leased on the Motability scheme? 

Motability users lease all sorts of vehicles from city cars to large SUVs and estate cars, so there isn’t one type of vehicle you’ll find if you’re searching for a used ex-Motability car. 

That said, some people with mobility issues find it easier to drive cars with automatic gearboxes, so you may find more of these than manual-gearbox cars, and some vehicles that are leased by wheelchair users will be models with roomier interiors or large boots that are better suited to storing a wheelchair.  

Are all Motability cars modified?  

While the Motability Scheme offers around 500 different adaptations, they are not mandatory, and many customers choose to drive their vehicles without any modifications. In fact, the vast majority of Motability cars - more than 90% - are not modified in any way. 

Adaptations are fitted for free at the beginning of the lease by the Motability expert at the supplying dealership, and they are removed when the car is returned.

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Next: What are the challenges facing disabled drivers in going electric?