Selling an EV with a battery problem.

Check the warranty before anything else

Your statutory rights sit alongside any warranty — GOV.UK sets out consumer protection rights, and the Consumer Rights Act 2015 applies to a vehicle bought from a trader.

Manufacturer battery warranties typically run longer than the general vehicle warranty and usually include a minimum capacity retention threshold. If your car falls below it within the period and mileage, the remedy may be a repair or replacement rather than a write-down.

This is the single highest-value hour a seller in this position can spend. A car with a warranty claim available is worth dramatically more than the same car assumed to need a private-cost repair.

What buyers need to know

• The specific symptom — reduced range, a warning light, a failed module, or a refusal to charge
• Any diagnostic output or main-dealer report you have
• Whether the fault is intermittent or constant
• Warranty status: expiry date and mileage
• Whether any work has already been attempted, and by whom
• Charging history, particularly heavy reliance on DC fast charging

Why the offers will vary enormously

A buyer without EV technical capability has to price the worst plausible outcome, which on a battery is a very large number. A buyer with a relationship with a repair specialist prices the actual job.

The gap between those two positions is frequently larger than the car's remaining value. This is the clearest case on the whole site where a single valuation is close to meaningless.

What not to do

• Do not clear a fault code and hope. It returns, usually on collection day.
• Do not describe the car as fault-free. An undisclosed battery fault will unwind the sale.
• Do not scrap it before getting offers — specialists buy these cars routinely.
• Do not assume degradation is a fault. Some capacity loss is normal and expected.