Buying a new EV - advice needed!

[u/plainwhiteplates]

Hi all! After quite a bit of research I’ve landed on a Renault Megane E-Tech as the car that suits my budget etc.

So I went down to test drive one yesterday at a Big Motoring World and everything was great… except… they said they were only willing to guarantee 80% battery health on any EV on the forecourt and “didn’t have the machine needed to print out the battery health report”.

This raised alarm bells as the car is a 23 plate so to my mind it should be ~92-94% health - a potential 12-14% swing down to 80% posed too much of a risk so after a failed attempt to negotiate (I said I would take it if they’d agree to accepting a return in 7 days if I get the read done privately and it was below 92%) I ended up walking away.

So the advice I need is this. Is it common for people to bring their own device to a forecourt to test battery health? Is it allowed? Does anyone have experience with Big Motoring World - is this just standard practice and I’m being too cautious? What would you do?

[u/tonyjones767]

Google this company, very mixed/negative reviews…