This week, a reader has two questions.
1. I bought a Hyundai Kona 211 in March 2023 for €37,500. It was an ex-Hyundai company car and had only 8,000km on the clock. I now want to change it for a bigger electric vehicle (EV) as I need a bigger boot for a wheelchair-using passenger. Am I better off going with a finance package for a new car – I was thinking of a Volkswagen ID4 – or go for a second-hand model? I can afford both options.
2. When I sought a quote in Volkswagen, they said the check on my Hyundai threw up a query about the mileage. If I contact the original Hyundai garage, will they be obliged to give me the original information on this?”
Answer
Let’s deal with the second part of the question first. It shouldn’t be any hassle to get confirmation of mileage from the original dealer. Car dealers are required by consumer law to disclose all relevant information regarding a car, and if it was an ex-Hyundai company car, then the mileage ought to have been recorded when it was serviced, so presenting the service history should suffice. If you’re not getting anywhere, try contacting Hyundai Ireland directly.
Now to the first, and slightly trickier, part. There are two conflicting pieces of advice here. On the one hand, with second-hand electric car prices still fragile, it makes themost sense to buy a new EV on a Personal Contract Plan (PCP) plan – that way at least you know that your second-hand value is guaranteed, and you know what the car will be worth as a trade-in in three years. PCP guaranteed minimum future values (GMFVs) tend to be set on the conservative side so you should have a little bit of value retained in the car over and above that figure to allow you to trade-in and pay for at least a chunk of the deposit on your next car. That’s how PCPs work, after all.
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However, that ‘should’ in the last sentence is carrying a lot of weight. In the last few years, the volatile market for used electric cars has seen car buyers with PCP plans discovering that the value of their cars, to the wider market, has dropped below that of the GMFV. This means they still get their guaranteed used value, but there’s no ‘equity’ left above that amount to roll into the next deal.
There may be a silver lining here, however. All the signs point to the slump in used EV prices bottoming out, if not right now then most likely as 2025 rumbles along.
That makes it a great time to buy a used EV – assuming certain levels of condition and battery health – because you can currently get an enormous amount of car for your money in the used electric car market. VW ID 4s in particular are good value because they’ve been the most popular electric car on sale in Ireland for the past three years, and there is ample stock on forecourts.
A good used ID4, with a clean bill of battery health, from a franchised VW dealer offering you a good warranty could be a very good purchase.
