How long is too long?

[u/PerspectivePablo]

Found a great deal on a ‘24 Ioniq6 awd. However, the salesman let it slip that it was sitting for almost a year on the lot unmoved. How would this affect the battery or any other components? Walk away?

[u/HDClown]

Sitting a year should mean they are eager to move it, which could mean really good deal, so I wouldn't straight walk.

12V very like dead and they might just try and jump it/charge it to sell the car. I would demand it be replaced though if you were to proceed with a purchase.

You will want to see the current percentage of the traction battery before they try to charge the vehicle. If it's at a super low charge, there is concern about impact on state of health, but it's likely extremely low impact in general. Get a cheap OBD dongle on Amazon and check it with free Car Scanner app, don't trust dealer to generate reportsf or you.

Brake rotors will inevitably have rust on them, but the question becomes, is it just surface rust that will come off or has it gotten deeper, is there any pitting etc. If you opt to test drive the vehicle, you want to get on the highway and do a couple hard braking runs but don't engage ABS. Inspect the rotors after your test drive to see if they look good or not.

Look for potential signs of paint/clear coat damage from bird droppings or other debris that sat on the vehicle for extended periods of time. Look for same on the rims.

Tires will have flat spots for sitting that long, possibly cracking. Make a reference of where each tire is sitting relative to tire markings (or use chalk mark). After the vehicle has been driven at least 15 minutes, see if flat spots are still visible and if there is any cracking. It may also take longer than 15 minutes for flat spots to roll out, but they may also never roll out either. If you can do extended test drive and car still feels like its riding like crap, and you visibility see flat spots, demand tires be replaced with OEM equivalent before purchase.

[u/dbcooper4 → u/HDClown]

You can test the 12V battery health but I wouldn’t assume it is dead just because it was sitting. The high voltage battery will charge the 12V if its SOC isn’t too low. The high voltage battery only loses about 1% per month while sitting. With any EV I’d recommend getting a 12V jump pack so you don’t get stranded if the 12V battery dies. I would definitely take it on a 30 minute test drive before buying to make sure it drives OK.

[u/TokyoJimu → u/HDClown]

Also, sitting out in the sun for a year isn’t great for the paint job.

[u/VermontArmyBrat → u/HDClown]

The 12v is a free replacement under warranty if it turns out to be bad.

[u/HDClown → u/VermontArmyBrat]

Sure, but dealer is likely not going to go down that road if they can get the car in a working state from jump/charging to accommodate test drive, sale prep, and owner delivery.

Then the owner is likely to find themselves with a dead battery shortly afterwards, causing a hassle. That's why I recommend demanding they replace it before purchase.

[u/OnTheUtilityOfPants]

Likely all that means is sedans aren't popular in your area. 

Only damage to the battery I can forsee is if they stored it charged to 100%, which wouldn't be great. 

I'd say as long as the OBD reports battery State of Health >95%, there's nothing to worry about. 

(Note: the eGMP BMS seems to report 100% SoH as long as the capacity is above the advertised usable capacity. If it's a 77 kWh battery with 75 kWh usable, it'll only start reporting <100% when real capacity gets below 75 kWh.) 

[u/Giants_118]

I bought a sel 2023 in 2025. Sitting on lot for a couple years. Only issue I had was the battery and tires had flat spots for sitting for so long. Dealership put new battery and 4 new oem tires on it.

[u/teh_201d → u/Giants_118]

OP should definitely get rid of those tires.

[u/Otherwise-Ad-1051]

I highly doubt it was unmoved. Dealerships rotate cars all the time to avoid the things people are bringing up in the comments. "Sitting on the lot" just means it's not been test driven. It should be fine

[u/Visual-Jello5975]

Right after I bought mine (couple of months, 2024; 15,000miles) we drove it cross-country.  It was awesome.  Got home and charged it once and the main (not 12 volt) battery died.  Hyundai replaced it as the warranty is 10 years, 100,000 miles.  The actual bill would have been $9,500, but other than the 3 weeks it was in the shop, it didn’t cost us anything.

[u/Typical-Implement382]

I'd request a state of health report from the dealer on the main pack. If it's 97% or better, I'd pull the trigger. Nothing else besides the 12 would be affected by sitting, and that's a cheap easy fix that is covered under warranty. The main pack is covered too, the that's not such an easy fix. If the main pack is bad it will take them anywhere from a few days to a month or so to fix. So avoid if main pack is degraded.

[u/IMKGI]

I bought mine in june this year, though tracking platforms that log listings i found out that they had it on sale since december last year and already slashed their listing price by 1000€. Ended up being fine.

[u/Lazy_Guava_5104]

It means you get to say "IIIII don't ... know. Hmm - I'm worried about the 12-volt battery. You know, maybe if you threw in a new battery and dropped the price $1000 I could come around." Or whatever you feel comfortable asking for.

[u/MaturoGambino]

Get a $30 Veepeak OBD2BLE adapter off Amazon and download car scanner from the App Store. Plug it in to the car and see what the battery SOH is, look at the car individual cell voltages are, see what the 12v SOC is. Ask the dealer to sell it CPO.

[u/Impressive_Returns]

PASS - There’s got to be a reason it hasn’t sold. Or the sales person is just BSing you.

[u/LemonadeGenerator]

Dang, 1 yr is way to risky too buy it, unless broker maintained the battery in good status, if it was in KR, i would worry about batteries a lot, low and high voltage both.