How it all started
Sadly this story is repeated over and over by thousands of people on a daily basis, and it covers the mobility cars that some of us are entitled to, first of all let's be clear about this, they are not "free cars" , we exchange our award either high dla or enhanced pip payment towards the lease of the car, but sadly far too many car dealerships can't be bothered to deal with us on the Motability scheme because there is nothing in it for them. I've seen so many horror stories on social media, but I will share my own, I tried to order a mobility car that was ideal to suit our family's needs, and like most people spent along time on research and after finding the ideal car, went to our local dealership to order it. Day 1, went to dealership and spoke to someone and told them the car I wanted, colour, engine size, etc and he was all over me great, then came the question, is the car on finance or outright sale, I say motability, with that he said you can't have it, no such model available, to which I knew full well their was, he told me to come back tomorrow and speak to someone else as he can't help. Day 2, I go back and see someone else who tells me yes it's available but your not allowed any test drives, rules are you must take a test drive first to ensure the car is suitable, but he was having none of it, so I left and went home and spoke to motability who said you must have a test drive. So day 3 I called the dealership up and said I would like to pop in for a test drive, and I had to say it was retail sale on finance, and the test drive was arranged for lunchtime, so I go back to the dealership arrive and it was the first man I saw on day one, he knew I was motability, but as his manager had said yes to a test drive he had no choice, he got the keys and just as we was leaving another man walked in and asked for a test drive of the same car, the sales man looked at me and said, sorry I'm taking him first and dealing with him because we get money from retail sales and nothing in it for us for dealing with a free car on motability. I was left shaking and gobsmacked, I got home and reported all of this to motability and the brands head office, and that's when I did some research and found all the horror stories on how some car dealers treat us. Needless to say I was shocked and did not use that dealership, I found another dealer an hour away who could not have been more helpful, free tank of diesel as I had to travel to use them and not my local dealer, and he restored a little faith, but so many have low esteem or mental Health issues, we should all be treated fairly and the same, retail or mobility customer.
What I did to try to overcome it
Spoke to their head office who spoke to the dealership manager , sadly never had any feedback.
How it made me feel
Gobsmacked, angry, worthless.
The outcome
Uses another dealer and was well looked after.
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