The global car market has faced many challenges over the last 18 months, including supply issues caused by uncertainty over Brexit and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on both production and sales.
The car industry is now experiencing a new challenge with stock levels and vehicle build times due to the global shortage of semiconductors, or ‘chips’, and availability of new cars is likely to be further restricted in the coming months.
To highlight the scale of the problem, recent statistics from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) show that in July 2021, only 53,438 cars were built in the UK. A drop of 37.6% compared to July 2020 when Covid and lockdowns were having a significant impact on the industry, and the lowest July build number since 1956.
What does this mean for Motability’s beneficiaries?
Ordering your vehicle
Your grant award letter will include a list of suitable vehicles or vehicle categories that the charity is prepared to fund along with the amount you have been awarded. Motability Operations offer a price guarantee meaning the Advance Payment of the car on the date your order is accepted is the price you will pay when you take delivery. Even if it has changed during that time. For this reason, we ask you to order your vehicle, even if it is subject to delays by the manufacturer. Your grant award will remain valid regardless of delivery time.
Your grant award
We are taking increasing numbers of calls from beneficiaries asking us to raise their grant award as the vehicle they are ordering is currently unavailable or has a long delivery time.
We award grants in line with our policies and with thorough consideration of the information submitted in the application. This is essential to ensure we support as many beneficiaries as possible with the charitable funds available. For this reason, we will only consider increasing a grant award to speed up delivery of a vehicle in exceptional circumstances, such as when the beneficiary has a life-limiting condition.
Charitable Grant lead times
Our Charitable Grants department is currently experiencing a significant increase in the number of phone calls and applications we are receiving.
Please be aware that it is currently taking up to six weeks to review a grant application. To help us reduce the time it takes to get to your application, we would ask you not to contact us to check its progress. A Case Manager will contact you when your application has been allocated and is ready to be reviewed.
Please read our Charitable Grant FAQs where you will find helpful guidance regarding each stage of an application.
We thank you for your understanding and patience at this time.
More Information
You can read more about the microchip shortage and the effect it is having on the car industry here.