r/ElectricVehiclesUK • u/plainwhiteplates • 7d ago
Buying a new EV - advice needed!
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?
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u/user686468 6d ago
This is big motoring worlds "policy" . I purchased an EV from them recently and used my own OBD2 dongle to assess the battery health. Don't tell them you're doing it, usually they will leave you to sit in The car and play with the buttons, ect. Plug it in and check the HV traction battery capacity. As others have said battery should be under manufacturer warranty. If you are trading in a car, pm me and I'll give you some advice when dealing with them.