Aussie car salesman issues a brutal reality check to electric vehicle owners
A car salesman has delivered a harsh reality check to electric vehicle owners - warning the vehicles depreciate very quickly.
Jerry Kam, from Melbourne's Bayside Brothers Motors, filmed his recent encounter with a man trying to trade in his year-old Mini Countryman EV.
The customer had paid $80,000 for the car just 12 months earlier and wanted to offload it for $65,000 because he 'needed the money'.
But Mr Kam quickly pointed out the problems: not only had the Mini lost almost half its value in a year, the owner had also overpaid at the time of purchase.
As Kam explained, the EV had a market value of $64,000 when new, meaning the buyer had forked out $16,000 too much.
'Oh no, they didn't give you a good price,' Mr Kam told the man while inspecting the vehicle.
After lowering his expectations, he made a conservative offer of $50,000. The seller, shocked, dropped his asking price by $5,000 - but Kam stood firm.
'No. I have to work from what car sales indicate (to) me and also it's my experience,' he said.
Jerry Kam, from Melbourne's Bayside Brothers Motors, filmed his recent encounter with a man trying to trade in his year-old Mini Countryman EV, warning that EVs devalue very quickly
The owner tried again, lowering his price to $58,000, before Kam suggested he try elsewhere.
'If someone paid more than that I'm happy for you. But this is one of those cars I don't desperately want to buy because I don't see a lot of money in it,' he said.
Kam later uploaded the video to YouTube as a warning to EV buyers about steep depreciation in the first three years.
'This unlucky customer is losing close to 50 per cent of his Mini EV,' the clip was captioned.
'I really didn't want to offer him a price because I knew I wouldn't get the car no matter what. His expectation was too high for us to even come close to making something happen.
'For anyone with a very new car, keep it for three years at least because that's when the depreciation starts to slow down. If not, you will be losing heaps of money in a short time.'
He also urged buyers to think long-term when purchasing an EV.
'In this very unstable market for the EV, unless you're happy to drive the EV until it dies, until it can't drive, otherwise if you're planning to drive the EV for three years, four years, five years, you will lose a lot more money than you could imagine,' Mr Kam told news.com.au.
According to Kam, the Mini's owner later returned after being offered just $40,000 elsewhere.
'He wanted to get my $50,000, but I told him that if you're not selling me the car at 50, the deal is off. It has to be fair,' he said.
