FORD has asked disabled motoring charity Motability to defer for six months plans for Motability Finance Limited to take residual value responsibility for its massive 370,000-strong fleet. The manufacturer wants the half year extension to allow negotiations to continue between car makers and the charity without affecting Motability customers.

Unless Motability grants the deferment, Ford, Peugeot and Rover, which supply about 40% of Motability's fleet, will have to stop taking orders which cannot be fulfilled by the end of February. This means they will stop taking orders from Motability from this month, because each contract takes about three months to process.

Rover followed Ford and Peugeot this week in writing to its dealers informing them of its intention to withdraw from the Motability scheme from March 1, 1999. The manufacturers object to MFL's residual value plans, arguing that this will damage prices in the UK's used car market. A spokesman for Ford said a new independent report commissioned by Ford and Motability indicated MFL's proposals will add cost to the Motability scheme, to the detriment of the end customer.