As we explain in our brief guide to Motability, it’s a long-established car and scooter scheme which allows people with disabilities to lease and run a new car adapted to their needs in return for their mobility allowance payments from the government.
Here we take a more in-depth look at how Motability works.
There are two key parts to Motability. The Motability Foundation is a registered charity which is responsible for the direction and oversight of the Motability Scheme. In turn, Motability Operations Ltd. is an independent company responsible for the finance, administration and maintenance of the Scheme. Motability Operations is owned by four banks: Barclays Bank, HSBC, Lloyds Bank and NatWest. They have waived the right to shareholder dividends and any profits made are reinvested for the benefit of disabled people.
All scheme vehicles are leased by Motability Operations Ltd, and it’s authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. It publishes an annual report with financial statements.
Motability is a huge player in UK new car sales. With over 800,000 customers, it operates the UK’s biggest fleet of cars and is the biggest single-source supplier of used cars. In 2024, the Motability Scheme saw an increase of 15% in new car leases.
Because of its buying power, Motability Operations says that the cars it offers are at least 45% cheaper than alternative options, especially when you consider that insurance and servicing are included.
Who is eligible for Motability? Exploring the different mobility categories
People who receive a benefit because they have a disability or illness that makes it hard for them to get around are likely to be able to lease a vehicle on the Motability Scheme.
Parents and carers in receipt of a mobility allowance can also lease a vehicle for a child, subject to the degree that the child’s mobility is limited.
In order to be eligible, you must get one of the qualifying mobility allowances, with at least 12 months left. You sign up to the Motability Scheme website and its advisors can answer any questions about your eligibility and particular needs. The allowance will cover the monthly hire of the car, insurance, road tax, servicing and any adaptations such as controls and wheelchair access.
The government mobility (and daily living) allowances have two rates, a higher and a lower which for mobility depends on the degree the disability makes getting around difficult. The Motability website advises that you cannot apply to join the Scheme if you receive a lower rate or component of the mobility allowance or if you receive Attendance Allowance, Carer’s Allowance or Employment and Support Allowance (ESA).
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) allowances:
PIP: Higher rate mobility part of Personal Independence Payment
This is also sometimes called the ‘enhanced’ rate mobility part. PIP helps with the extra costs of living with a long-term health condition or disability. It’s not means-tested or affected by earnings or savings. For example, the higher rate mobility part of PIP is £75.75 a week (as of March 2025).
DLA: Higher rate mobility part of Disability Living Allowance
The DLA is for disabled people aged between 16 and State Pension age. It helps with the extra costs which you might have because of a disability and is not means tested or affected by earnings, other incomes or savings. A child can claim DLA if they are under 16, disabled and need extra help to look after themselves or have difficulty walking or getting around.
Note: Social Security Scotland is taking over disability assistance payments from the DWP for people living in Scotland, and the allowances have different names. The DLA equivalent is the Adult Disability Payment (ADP). The Child Disability Payment (CDP) has replaced DLA for children living in Scotland aged three months to 18 years old. More details on the Scottish government website.
Veterans UK allowances:
AFIP: Armed Forces Independence Payment
This is for service personnel and veterans who have been seriously injured in service on or after 6 April 2005. The higher rate mobility part of AFIP is currently £75.75 per week. You cannot get AFIP if you already receive Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payment, or War Pensioners’ Mobility Supplement (WPMS) below.
WPMS: War Pensioners’ Mobility Supplement
The WPMS helps you with any extra mobility costs you might have because of a disability caused by military service. As of March 2025, the flat weekly rate was £84.55.
The Motability leasing process – how it works and what’s different to regular contract hire
Every three months, the Motability Scheme renegotiates prices and updates the Motability Scheme Price List. There is a huge choice available – 892 specific cars as of March 2025, although some will be different versions of the same model. Users set up an account on the website.
You choose the type of vehicle and who drives it
Aside from phone or web chat advice, there’s a tool on the Motability website which helps users choose what transport best suits their needs, whether cars, Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles (WAVs), scooters or powered wheelchairs. For a car, you start by specifying whether you want to drive yourself, be a passenger or have the choice of both. There are specific guides to help work out if any adaptations are needed, such as a hand-controlled brake or left-foot accelerator.
Test drives and Motability dealers
The cars are provided through over 4,600 dealerships which are Motability-accredited. To apply to join the Motability Dealer Partnership (MDP) and supply vehicles under the Motability Scheme, dealerships must hold an approved manufacturer franchise. They must also be FCA accredited and be able to provide their FCA number. To meet minimum training standards, dealers must have two trained Sales Specialists and two trained Aftersales Specialists.
For trying out adaptations and general mobility advice/assessment, Driving Mobility is a government-supported charity with 20 main disabled driving centres throughout the UK.
The lease agreement and how it differs from non-Motability leases
Much like other leasing sites, you can click on ‘search cars’ and see what the options are. There’s a separate search for WAVs. You can filter through things like fuel and transmission types in the usual way, and the results are listed in ascending order of monthly cost. The length of the lease is either three or five years.
Like any other lease, it’s a long-term rental. You don’t own the car or have the option to when the lease finishes.
Advance Payments
With a conventional personal contract hire (PCH), you have to put down an initial rental as the first month’s payment, and you can choose terms between one and 12 months upfront. A large initial payment lowers the subsequent monthly cost. It can also lower the overall cost of the lease.
With Motability cars, you either choose no Advance Payment (for the lower value smaller cars) or contribute from £379 upwards. As with PCH, it’s not a deposit and is non-refundable.
Advance Payments are in addition to contributing the weekly mobility allowance. Apart from four small cars which start the current list (Dacia Spring, Kia Picanto, Hyundai i10 and Toyota Aygo X), the entire weekly allowance is required for the rest of the choices.
If you want a very high value or prestige car, you need to put down a hefty Advance Payment. For example, an electric BMW i4 (retails from £62,950) requires an Advance Payment from £7,999 and the very big Hyundai Santa Fe hybrid (retails from £51,885) needs £6,999 upfront. A Mercedes-Benz CLA is also on the list for £7,799 upfront. Given that disability allowances are a flat rate for everyone, it covers the gulf in leasing costs compared to the starter small cars worth maybe two-thirds less.
All the Motability Scheme’s WAVs require a large Advance Payment. For example, a Vauxhall Combo Life’s Advance Payment starts at £6,895. Motability says that this is because of the specialist conversion costs of these vehicles and because they are not mass-produced. If somebody needs a WAV but cannot afford the Advance Payment, the Motability Foundation offers grants, depending on their circumstances.
Advance payments are set on a quarterly basis, so every dealership of the same brand offers the same products at the same price. That said, an individual dealer can give additional offers,
Unlike a standard PCH (where it’s optional), every Motability lease includes insurance for two drivers, servicing, maintaining and repairs carried out by specialists, specialist RAC breakdown cover and tyre and windscreen replacement. The insurance includes features such as foreign use cover. If needed, business use cover can be added on.
Are there the same penalties if I end the agreement early?
Unlike regular PCH customers, you won’t be hit with a major bill for leaving a lease early, maybe if your needs have changed. There’s an administration fee of up to £250.
Or, if you want to extend your lease, perhaps if the car has low mileage or lots of adaptations which suit you, you might be able to extend your lease for up to two more years. This option becomes available during the last three months of the lease.
What about mileage limits and damage?
At the end of every PCH, there’s an inspection and extra cost to be paid for damage beyond fair wear and tear and mileage beyond the limit agreed at the start of the lease.
Motability users can drive up to 60,000 miles over a three-year lease and 100,000 miles over a five-year lease, which is extremely generous compared to a regular lease, but reflects that for some people with a disability their Motability car will be their sole means of transport.
At the end of a Motability agreement, the car is inspected for damage. Motability expects vehicles at the end of their lease to have fair wear and tear based on the age of the vehicle. Minor scrapes or tyre damage are considered fair wear and tear.
Damage to the inside, including rips, stains and burns to the trim may not be covered under the insurance policy but damage from mobility aids such as wheelchairs or crutches is considered fair wear and tear.
There’s an incentive to return the vehicle in good condition, called the Good Condition Payment. This is money returned to you if the car is handed back with a new MOT, both sets of keys, the parcel shelf, the charging cable for an EV and that any uncleared debts have been settled.
Motability and electric cars
There are currently over 70,000 Motability Scheme EVs on the road. The charity says the reduction in the availability of new petrol and diesel cars means its customers are experiencing the EV transition ahead of many others. It is encouraging further growth by increasing the number of EV models and variants on its scheme. (It currently has around 200 options.)
For now, there are still plenty of petrol-powered cars on the Motability list, but the choice will decrease over the next few years. The prices of electric cars are starting approach those of petrol cars, but many are more expensive, which means that Advance Payments have increased on some of these cars. Motability says that it’s doing everything it can to make sure it offers great value and is still cheaper on average than leasing elsewhere.
Like many manufacturers and some leasing companies, if you’re leasing your first fully electric car on the Motability Scheme, it will arrange and cover the cost of a home charge point and a standard installation and space to move around the car and plug it in, but you may need to pay if it’s a non-standard installation, for example if the cable route is very long or the electricity supply needs to be upgraded.
Of course, like a large chunk of the population, many disabled people live in flats or houses without access to their own driveway and have to reply on public chargers. Longer journeys also require public charging for all EV users. Motability says that it has have committed £300m to support the affordability of EVs and is working with local authorities to help plan for accessible public charging infrastructure.
To make paying for public charging simpler, all Motability EV drivers get the Go Charge card and app which allows them to use over 58,000 public chargepoints from over 40 different chargepoint operators. Public charging costs are paid by the user and not currently discounted, but Motability says Go Charge users will never pay more than the operator’s ‘pay as you go’ tariff.
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