Buying a car - what to check?

JonathanRyan

JonathanRyan

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I'm looking at buying a second hand electric car from a dealer. This is a second hand car dealer - not manufacturer dealer.

What should I check? I can do an hpi check but that's possibly not necessary from a reputable dealer. I can ask the rac/aa to inspect it but they mostly look at oil seals and pistons and things.

Shall I just rely on visual insurrection, dealer's assurances (iirc as a professional dealer some sort of warranty applies?) and a test drive?
 
Depends on the exact car and where you are buying it from. Biggest issue with EVs is seized brakes. Find your nearest HEVRA garage that is level 2 or above and ask them if they'd do a post purchase inspection. Dealer has to supply a road worthy car. If dealer organises an MOT assume it's bent and get it done again or at least inspected.

If you buy from somewhere like Cleevely EV they're likely to supply a decent car in the first place.

Which make and model are you looking at?
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
Perhaps try the RAC advice page: https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/electric-cars/choosing/buying-a-used-electric-car/

Or the Money Page: https://www.money.co.uk/guides/buying-second-hand-electric-vehicle

Or here: https://carexamer.com/blog/problems-buying-used-electric-car/

And again: https://heycar.co.uk/guides/the-10-things-to-check-when-buying-a-used-ev
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Thanks. From the RAC guide....

If you’re looking to buy a used EV, there are some specific checks you’ll need to do. An important one is to look at the range of the battery to ensure it hasn’t suffered excessive degradation.

Funnily enough I just rang them and asked which of their checks they would actually do on an EV for £189. They said they wouldn't look at the battery because only a main dealer can do that..... 3rd article is the best :)

srichards said:
Which make and model are you looking at?
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Tesla Model S.
 
@JonathanRyan

Battery degradation is only much of an issue on the Leaf and the Kia Soul first gen 27kwh cars. Rest of them don't really have much of it.

Tesla model S has an 8 year unlimited mileage battery and drive motor warranty so it's not worth worrying about. Mine is 8 now with 80k and it's probably lost a couple of kWh which isn't much. Can't check them yourself and Tesla are buggers for telling you nothing about the car.
 
wyx087 said:
@JonathanRyan Did you find your dream car in the end?
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Maybe.....as I posted in another thread, I found a Tesla Model S that had everything I looked for at a reasonable price. I became concerned about the dealer and sadly didn't buy it.

So I've just bought what I fully appreciate is a rebound car :) It's a Model S from Cazoo which I haven't even seen and can't check the detailed spec before collection. Yes, I know how crazy that sounds.

Picking it up next weekend and then I have 7 days to decide if it's right. Currently tidying the garage as it turns out an S is quite big.
 
JonathanRyan said:
Maybe.....as I posted in another thread, I found a Tesla Model S that had everything I looked for at a reasonable price. I became concerned about the dealer and sadly didn't buy it.

So I've just bought what I fully appreciate is a rebound car :) It's a Model S from Cazoo which I haven't even seen and can't check the detailed spec before collection. Yes, I know how crazy that sounds.

Picking it up next weekend and then I have 7 days to decide if it's right. Currently tidying the garage as it turns out an S is quite big.
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Congrats on the new car, I'm sure you'll love it!

I know the general stuff to look out for with cars, but before I bought my S4 I ploughed through model specific YouTube videos as all cars have their unique inherent issues. I learnt a fair amount about what to look for for this specific model. Dedicated forums are good to scour through as well, but YouTube vids were quicker and easier.

I'm sure you've already done this but videos such as this. Hope it all works out well though.

 
Nice one. A bit risky for me but hopefully turn out to be good. Those cars are indeed on the fat side. But they look fantastic, Model S is the best looking Tesla by far.

If you are on Octopus, be sure to consider sign up for their Go tariff. It is fixed for 1 year and currently still at 7.5p/40p despite Ofgem's announcement today. Otherwise charging EV at 50p/kWh is never going to save any money.
 
wyx087 said:
How do you find out the level of the garage? The HEVRA website map doesn't say.


@JonathanRyan Did you find your dream car in the end?
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I usually look at the garage's own website via the HEVRA details. It's usually got their level on. Gives you a rough idea of what they're like.
 
wyx087 said:
Nice one. A bit risky for me but hopefully turn out to be good. Those cars are indeed on the fat side. But they look fantastic, Model S is the best looking Tesla by far.

If you are on Octopus, be sure to consider sign up for their Go tariff. It is fixed for 1 year and currently still at 7.5p/40p despite Ofgem's announcement today. Otherwise charging EV at 50p/kWh is never going to save any money.
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I'm with octopus and will be taking to them as soon as my zappi is installed :)

Meantime, I can granny charge while the sun shines. We currently have a 2kw/hour surplus most of the daylight hours.
 
gman said:
Congrats on the new car, I'm sure you'll love it!

I know the general stuff to look out for with cars, but before I bought my S4 I ploughed through model specific YouTube videos as all cars have their unique inherent issues. I learnt a fair amount about what to look for for this specific model. Dedicated forums are good to scour through as well, but YouTube vids were quicker and easier.

I'm sure you've already done this but videos such as this. Hope it all works out well though.

Click to expand...
I don't know why I never thought of YouTube for this (I've watched dozens of model s Vs model 3 videos) but that video is excellent. Thank you.
 
Update: so, there's a very large Tesla taking up most of the space in my garage. Still working through a couple of issues with the dealer and they have extended my trial period until they can resolve them so technically it may still be going back...

But it's lovely. By far the nicest car I've ever driven and genuinely good at all the things you expect Tesla to be good at. The most shocking thing is the sound - the sound system is certainly better than any HiFi I currently own and probably better than anything I've ever owned. I found an excuse yesterday to "check some things" on the car's computer and just had to put on some music while I did it :D

Predictably, since I got it home, it's been cloudy and/or raining so the solar panels aren't adding much charge ATM.
 
That's a thing of beauty. Proportions of the car is just perfect.
Very nice photo, good lighting and background.

Much better than my half arsed attempt with wonky angles on the driveway. I need to get my both EV's out somewhere and take a group photo of the ugly pair.
 
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