Motability car shopping

I’m lucky enough (or unlucky enough depending on how you look at things) to qualify for a Motability car. The way the Motability scheme works is you give up some or all your motability allowance that you get as part of ESA (Employment & Support Allowance) which is what used to be called Incapacity Benefit. You get to choose the car and it can be adapted to meet the needs of your disability. You lease the vehicle for 3 years and at the end of the 3 years you get to choose a new car and that’s what I did last weekend.

At the moment I have a lovely Honda Jazz but I’ve had it for nearly 4 years. When the 3 year lease was almost up I was in hospital and too unwell to even think about looking for a new car so I got in touch with Motability and they gave me a 6 month lease extension. When those 6 months were almost up I was, yes you guessed it, in hospital again and so I got another 6 month extension. I’m 4 months into that extension and now I’m out of hospital I’ve decided I need to pull my finger out and get car shopping. Having been so unwell for so long I’ve got a lot of ‘life admin’ to catch up on. Last week I renegotiated our sky package and got 25% off the price we were paying, cancelled our AA membership as we have other breakdown cover in place now, booked the dog into the groomers, had Big Girls new bed delivered, booked eye tests and dental appointments for us all and sent off meter readings to the energy company so I can get up to date bills and find a new cheaper supplier. And that’s not even half of my to do list!!! 

I had looked on the motability website at the list of cars available. I need an automatic car as I have mobility issues in my left leg so not having to use the clutch to change gears makes driving considerably easier for me. There are less automatic cars than manual so that narrows the list to begin with. Hubby has a fully electric car and while it’s great for short journeys for longer ones it can be a bit of a nightmare. Two years ago we went down to Cornwall in it and instead of the journey taking 5.5/6 hours it took us more than 12! So we decided that we needed our second car to either be petrol or a hybrid; having two fully electric cars just wouldn’t work for us right now. The more expensive the car you choose the higher the advanced payment is. This is a one off fee that you pay when you order the car and you don’t get it back at the end of the lease so you have to think about whether you can afford the payment and whether it’s worth paying. There are cars that have no advanced payment but then there are cars that require £2000/3000+ and as a general rule automatic cars are always more expensive. 

Now the kids are getting bigger and the dog is a fully grown Labrador we need something that’s a bit bigger than my Honda Jazz. I had seen the Kia Nero when searching the list of cars and liked the look of it so booked an appointment to go take a look and have a test drive. The Nero had plenty of space in the car and although it had a big boot it was much higher than other boots based on the fact that the hybrid battery was underneath. I was concerned that Buddy wouldn’t fit in the boot because he likes to sit looking out the back window watching the world go by. There’s plenty of room if he wants to lie down but I would need to actually put him in the boot to check he could comfortably sit up. 

The Nero has 3 different ranges: the 2 is the basic car, the 3 has alloys, a sat nav and other features and the 4 is top of the range. The 2 had an advanced payment of just £199, the 3 £1249 and the 4, £1999. I felt I couldn’t justify spending the extra money on features that weren’t important to me. The alloys I would end up scraping, I have Google maps on my phone so can do without a sat nav snd I’ve survived without heated seats so far so I reckon I can manage another 3 years. 

The salesman tried to get me to sign on the dotted line there and then by offering to waive the £199 advanced payment or reducing what I would have to pay if I chose the 3 or 4 model but there was no way I would agree to a contract on a car when I didn’t know if Buddy would definitely fit in the boot. To me he’s an important member of our family and I wouldn’t get a car that didn’t suit the needs of everyone in the family, including the dog. I agreed to go back two days later, with Buddy, to see whether he could fit comfortably in the boot and only if he did would I then sign my life away. 

The following day I had an appointment at Honda which was more out of courtesy than anything. I have received fantastic customer care from my first visit to the showroom four years ago right up to last week when I took the car to get new windscreen wipers so although I really like the Kia Nero I thought it was only polite to see if Honda had a bigger car that was suitable. The next size up from the Jazz is the Civic and it’s a lovely car but unfortunately the advanced payment for an automatic was nearly £2500 which was well out of my price range. 

Before taking Buddy to the Kia garage Mum, Dad and I took him for a walk in the woods in the hope he would evacuate his bladder and bowel fully and not then do it in the showroom. Driving from the woods to the car showroom Buddy threw up in the boot so when we got to the Kia garage I was terrified he would be sick again in their lovely brand new car. Luckily he didn’t but I didn’t keep him in the car for too long as I thought it was tempting fate. The boot is a little tight when he sits up but not so much so that he’s having to sit in a funny position and there’s loads of room for him to lie down. Having put my mind at rest that he fits I signed all the paperwork and ordered my new car! It should arrive by the end of November so that’s something to look forward to.